was long connected with the Sunday-school Union as president of the city organization. He was one of the founders, and long Principal and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Rutgers Female Institute (now Rutgers Female College), then in Henry Street, but now in Fifth Avenue, and subsequently was deeply interested in the Ferris Institute. In 1853 Dr. Ferris was prevailed upon to accept the chancellorsip of the University of New York, then laboring under serious embarrassment from its heavy debts. He had a high reputation as an able administrator of educational institutions, and his services were sought primarily to complete the subscription for the payment of the debt and place it upon a sound financial basis, and secondarily to give that dignity and character to its course of instruction which his eminent scholarship could command. He was very successful in both undertakings. He collected about $74,000, outside of the rentals and other receipts of the university, and thus relieved it from its financial embarrassments, and raised the standard of scholarship materially. Having accomplished these results, he retired from the chancellorship in 1870, but was immediately chosen Chancellor Emeritus, while his successor, Rev. Dr. Crosby, performed all the active duties of the position. Chancellor Ferris retired the same year to Roselle, near Elizabeth, N. J., where he continued to reside till his death. Dr. Ferris was a tall man, of very large frame, and great dignity of manner. He was a man of great benevolence and amiability. In his intercourse with his parishioners he was genial and sympathetic. He was eminent as a scholar, and bore a high reputation for integrity and ability. As a preacher he was logical rather than brilliant or original; still his sermons always held the attention of his hearers. He endeared himself to them more by his character. His venerable appearance and kindly manner first drew people toward him, and he was ready to labor with them in all good works. Though an able writer, Dr. Ferris was singularly averse to the publication of his productions. Aside from some occasional sermons, essays, and addresses, we have been unable to find any thing from his pen. He received the degree of D.D. from Union College in 1833, and that of LL. D., we believe, from Columbia College.

FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. The general prosperity of the country was undiminished during the first three-quarters of the year 1873. The revenues of the Government were maintained, and the reduction of the debt continued during this period. But, on the 18th of September, the most extraordinary financial panic began which the country has ever experienced. It reached its extreme point about the middle of the ensuing month. In that short space, of less than thirty days, it prostrated thousands of commercial establishments, and cut off the wages of hundreds of

thousands of laborers. It overthrew the stock exchange and banking-houses, trust companies and manufactories. In one day it broke off the negotiation of American securities in the money-markets of Europe, and suspended the construction of all public works dependent upon such sale. It swept down the entire banking system of the country, and paralyzed the monetary circulation to a degree that carried distress to that vast mass of the people with whom credit for the necessaries of life has little or no existence. Even the savingsbanks closed their doors. The effect of this disturbance upon the national revenues was immediate. Instead of being able to continue the liquidation of the public debt, as heretofore, at the rate of one hundred million dollars annually, the Treasury Department could not prevent its increase in the same proportion, making a difference, in a single month, of eighteen million dollars.

In the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury, made December, 1872, there was presented a statement of the receipts and expenditures of the Government for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1873, and an estimate of the same for the remaining three-quarters of the fiscal year. The receipts and expenditures of the first quarter above mentioned, ending on September 30, 1872, which is the first of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1873, were as follows: Customs...

Sales of public lands. Internal revenue...

Tax on circulation, etc., of national banks Repayment of interest by Pacific Railways Consular, patent, and other fees.. Proceeds of Government property. Miscellaneous sources............

Customs fines, etc....

Net ordinary receipts.. Premium on sales of coin..

Total receipts..... Balance in Treasury, June 30, 1872, including $1,014.48 received from "unavailable

Total available......

$57,729,540 27

797,824 57 34,169,047 22 3,307,238 69 119,093 73 103,787 30

Internal revenue...

Sales of public lands..

Tax on circulation and deposits of national banks..

Repayment of interest by Pacific Railway Companies.

Customs fines, penalties, etc.; labor, drayage, storage, etc...

Sales of Indian trust-lands..

$188,089,522 70 113.729,314 14 2,882,312 38

6,830,037 67

514,206 04

1,966.469 36

818,246 58

1,877,221 67

1,627,283 15

333,003 03 259.092 56

815.254 51 489,134 62 252,181 12 2,184.394 25

$322,177.673 78

11,560,530 89

$333,738,204 67

106,567,404 74 $440,305,609 41

The net expenditures by warrants, during the same period, were:

$19.348,521 01 1,571.362 85 7.951,704 88 29,359,426 86

Balance in the Treasury June 30, 1873...

To which add special deposit of legal tender notes for redemption of certificates of deposit, added above....

31,730,000 00

Total cash balance July 1, 1873..... 131,192,028 50

Total.....

By the foregoing statement it will be seen that the net revenues for the fiscal year

were...

And the ordinary expenses.

Leaving a surplus revenue of.......

tion of the debt, as follows: This surplus has been applied to Reduction of principal account, exclusive

of certificates of deposit. Decrease of cash in the Treasury, exclusive of special deposit of United States notes for redemption of certificates of deposit, as compared with June 30, 1872,

Reduction in debt..........

$440,305,609 41

$333,738,204 67

290,345,245 33

$13,392,959 34 the reduc

$50,498,335 58

7,105,376 24 $43,392,959 34

This statement treats solely of the principal of the debt. By the monthly debt statement of the public debt, into which enter the accrued interest, interest due and unpaid, and the cash in the Treasury, as ascertained on the day of publication, as well as the principal of the debt, the reduction of the debt during the last fiscal year amounted to $43,667,630.05; and the total reduction from March 1, 1869, to November 1, 1873, has been $383,629,783.39, the annual saving of interest resulting therefrom being $27,432,932.04.

In the following table (see page 281) is given a statement of the outstanding principal of the public debt of the United States on June 30, 1873.

The receipts during the quarter ending September 30, 1873, which is the first quarter of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874, were as follows:

46,323,158 31

Naval establishment, including vessels and machinery, and improvements at navyyards..

23,526,256 79

Consular, patent, and other fees

Miscellaneous, civil (including public buildings, light-houses, and collecting the revenue)...

52.408,226 20

Interest on the public debt..

Premium on bonds purchased..

Total, exclusive of the public debt.... $290 345,245 33

Redemption of the principal

of the debt, exclusive of the certificates of deposit issued under act of June 8. 1872, for the redemption, of which a like amount of United States notes was set apart and held as a special deposit........

Proceeds of Government property..
Miscellaneous sources....

Net ordinary receipts..

Government of Great Britain-payment of the award of the tribunal of arbitration at Geneva..

Total receipts......

Balance in Treasury, June 30, 1873.

$49,195,403 68

573.768 07 25,640,454 41

3,490,743 66

198,970 56

431,514 21

503.941 12

303,765 32

1,507,931 21

$81,853,492 24 2,350,818 34

15,500,000 00

$99,704.810 58

181,192,028 50

$50,498,335 58

were as follows:

Military establishment.

Naval establishment..

Miscellaneous civil, including public buildings..

Interest on the public debt.

6,500,000

18,000,000

Total..

In the preparation of these estimates the probable effects of the financial and business derangement were somewhat taken into account, although it was too early to determine their full effect upon future revenues. By the alterations made in the tariff laws by the acts of Congress, passed May 1 and June 6, 1872, adding tea and coffee, and other articles, to the free list, and fixing a reduction of duties on other merchandise, as well as by the removal of a considerable amount of internal revenue_taxation, the receipts for the year ending Jnne 30, 1873, fell off much below those of previous years.

The value of merchandise imported into the United States, during that fiscal year, was $642,029,539, as against $626,595,077 for the previous year.

An analysis shows an increase in the imports of merchandise admitted duty free, in raw materials, and in some articles of necessity, while in some articles of luxury there was a reduction.

The increase in the importation of coffee was $6,164,339, and in tea, $1,522,519, in addition to the amounts in bond July 1, 1872, and which were withdrawn therefrom during the year. Coffee was so withdrawn for consumption to the value of $16,901,126, and tea to the value of $18,024,217. There was an increase, also, in the importation of copper and copper manufactures of $1,818,488; soda and salts, $1,719,408; tin in plates, $2,681,222; hides and skins, $1,427,784; fur-skins, $188,170; melado, $2,656,138; wood and manufactures thereof, $2,141,766; earthen-ware, $745,140; manufactures of cotton, $9,893,870.

There was a decrease in silk goods, $5,723,582; precious stones, $182,905; fruits, $713,203; fancy goods, $278,577; fine linen, laces, and other manufactures of flax, $1,054,115; as well as in some articles of a different class, such as barley, $440,626; opium and extracts thereof, $128,839; leather and leather goods, $1,829,917; wool, $8,105,114.

The gold value of the exports of merchandise from the United States was $522,478,892, as against $444,177,586 for the previous year. There was an increase in certain articles exported as follows, the value being stated in currency: Cotton, $47.201,672; wheat, $12,537,194; wheat-flour, $1,425,980; bacon and hams, $13,895,545; pork, $884,727; lard, $1,068,196; cheese, $2,745,092; oils, $7,256,514;

The balance of trade in merchandise has been largely against the United States for many years, and the country has exported, during the twenty years ending with the last fiscal year, gold and silver to the extent of more than a thousand million dollars over and above the amount imported.

The disturbance in financial affairs, and other causes, largely diminished the importation of foreign merchandise, and stimulated the export trade, so that the balance of trade for the months of October and November was in favor of the United States. Gold and silver, therefore, flowed into the country during those months at a more rapid rate than ever before, except in the year 1861, when, for the whole year, the excess of imports over exports was $16,548,531. During the last twenty years, there has been no other single year in which there has been an excess of imports of gold and silver over exports.

The following statement shows the increase and decrease from each general source of internal revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1873, as appears from the report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue:

It will be seen that there has been an increase in the receipts for taxes on spirits, tobacco, fermented liquors, and from penalties.

The decrease in the receipts from banks and bankers is due principally to that provision in the act of June 6, 1872, which raises the exemption of all sums deposited in savings-banks, etc., in the name of one person, from $500 to $2,000.

The repeal of all stamp-taxes imposed under Schedule B, act of June 30, 1864, except that of two cents on bank checks, drafts, or orders, took effect October 1, 1872, and has caused a falling off from that source.

The class of articles and occupations formerly taxed but now entirely exempt includes incomes, gas, and other sources of taxation on lists repealed prior to the act of June 6, 1872, and the receipts from these sources constantly and rapidly diminish.

In accordance with the provisions of the act of December 24, 1872, the offices of assessors and assistant assessors of internal revenue have been abolished, and all their final accounts approved by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and referred to the accounting officers. The number of these offices varied according to the exigencies of the service, being greatest in 1868, when there were three thousand and forty-three, of which two hundred and forty-one were assessors; since which time the number had, up to the taking effect of the act above referred to, been reduced about one-half.

The system of collecting taxes by stamps, and without assessments, has been found to give general satisfaction. Since its application to special taxes they have been collected more promptly and thoroughly, and a more gratifying and healthy increase in the receipts therefrom is apparent.

Arrangements for refunding the debt were commenced in January, and have been continued during the year with considerable success. Subscriptions were made to the new five per cent. funded loan to the extent of $84,000,000, and the proceeds were, as fast as subscriptions matured, devoted to the redemption of an equal amount of five-twenty bonds bearing six per cent. interest. The $15,500,000 received from Great Britain, as the Geneva award, were used to redeem so far outstanding public debt bearing six per cent. interest, and an equal amount, so redeemed, has been invested in five per cent. bonds of the funded loan. At the maturity of the above-mentioned subscriptions there will have been effected a conversion of the debt amounting to $100,000,000, making an annual saving of interest to the amount of $1,000,000. The whole amount converted into this loan, since the passage of the refunding act, is $300,000,000, reducing the annual interest charge $3,000,000.

The condition of the carrying trade with foreign countries, though exhibiting a large adverse balance, shows some slight gains, with prospects of still further improvements. Of the exports and imports during the year, twenty-seven per cent. were carried in vessels belonging in the United States, which is a gain of three per cent. over the previous year.

The increase in ship-building in the country has been important. Official numbers were awarded by the Bureau of Statistics to 1,699 vessels, of the aggregate tonnage of 313,743 tons. During the preceding year the addition to the mercantile marine was 38,621 tons. Since the close of the last fiscal year still greater activity has prevailed in the yards of the Atlantic sea-coast. From July 1st to November 1st documents have been issued to 1,288 completed vessels, of 181,000 tons. Incomplete returns, however, indicate that there were building, in October, 386 vessels, of the tonnage of 177,529 tons, including 69 steamers, with a tonnage of 67,007 tons.

The action of the Treasury Department, during the financial panic which prevailed in the month of September, is thus briefly stated:

This year there was a great demand for currency to pay for the heavy crops of a bountiful harvest, for which the European countries offered a ready market. The suspension of certain large bankingof September, alarmed the people as to the safety of houses, the first of which occurred on the 18th day banks and banking institutions in general. Suddenly there began a rapid calling in of demand loans and a very general run on the banks for the manifested in United States notes, and even in nawithdrawal of deposits. Entire confidence was tional bank-notes, and they were drawn wherever they could be obtained, and were largely hoarded with as much avidity as coin was ever hoarded in times of financial distress when that was the circulating medium of the country. The banks found themselves unable to meet the demands upon them, currency in circulation became exceedingly scarce, and the business of the country became greatly embarrassed.

In this condition of things, great pressure was brought to bear upon the Treasury Department to afford relief by the issue of United States notes, The first application came from a number of gentlemen in New York, suggesting that no measure of relief would be adequate that did not place at the dollars in United States notes, and asking that the service of the banks of that city twenty million Assistant Treasurer of New York should be authorized to issue to those banks that amount of notes as a loan upon a pledge of clearing-house certificates secured by ample collaterals, and for which certificates all the banks were to be jointly and severally being clearly not within the duty or the authority responsible. This proposition was declined, it of the Treasury Department, under any provisions of law, thus to employ the public money. low rates, and indeed having become almost unsalaExchange on Europe having fallen to unusually ble in the market, to the embarrassment of our foreign and domestic trade, application was made to the Secretary of the Treasury to use the money in the Treasury in the purchase of exchange. The Treasury Department having no occasion to do this for its own use, and no necessity for transferring funds to Europe, was compelled to decline this proposition, which, if accepted, would have put the department in the position of becoming a dealer in exchange, a position clearly inconsistent with its

duties.