1890 were $16,030,923.79 and the expenditures $15,739,871 in excess
of those of 1889. The customs receipts increased $5,835,842.88 and the
receipts from internal revenue $11,725,191.89, while on the side of
expenditures that for pensions was $19,312,075.96 in excess of the
preceding year.

The Treasury statement for the current fiscal year, partly actual
and partly estimated, is as follows: Receipts from all sources,
$406,000,000; total expenditures, $354,000,000, leaving a surplus of
$52,000,000, not taking the postal receipts into the account on either
side. The loss of revenue from customs for the last quarter is estimated
at $25,000,000, but from this is deducted a gain of about $16,000,000
realized during the first four months of the year.

For the year 1892 the total estimated receipts are $373,000,000 and the
estimated expenditures $357,852,209.42, leaving an estimated surplus
of $15,147,790.58, which, with a cash balance of $52,000,000 at the
beginning of the year, will give $67,147,790.58 as the sum available
for the redemption of outstanding bonds or other uses. The estimates of
receipts and expenditures for the Post-Office Department, being equal,
are not included in this statement on either side.

The act "directing the purchase of silver bullion and the issue of
Treasury notes thereon," approved July 14, 1890, has been administered
by the Secretary of the Treasury with an earnest purpose to get into
circulation at the earliest possible dates the full monthly amounts of
Treasury notes contemplated by its provisions and at the same time to
give to the market for the silver bullion such support as the law
contemplates. The recent depreciation in the price of silver has been
observed with regret. The rapid rise in price which anticipated and
followed the passage of the act was influenced in some degree by
speculation, and the recent reaction is in part the result of the same
cause and in part of the recent monetary disturbances. Some months of
further trial will be necessary to determine the permanent effect of the
recent legislation upon silver values, but it is gratifying to know that
the increased circulation secured by the act has exerted, and will
continue to exert, a most beneficial influence upon business and upon
general values.

While it has not been thought best to renew formally the suggestion of
an international conference looking to an agreement touching the full
use of silver for coinage at a