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CHAPTER IX.

FEDERAL STATISTICS OF BEER PRODUCTION, ETC.

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IN the following pages will be found a digest of statistical information of peculiar value and interest to the brewer. All this matter is gleaned from the latest official reports and has been arranged in tabular form by experts. It will well repay the most careful study.

To the ordinary reader, as well as to the brewer, the fact that stands out most prominently from these statistical exhibits is the INCREASED PRODUCTION OF BEER IN 1908! That over two hundred thousand more barrels of beer should have been consumed in 1908 than in 1907, in spite of the "prohibition tidal wave," the hard times and other unfavorable conditions, is surely a surprising fact, and in our judgment it vindicates both the good sense and the ever growing temperance of the American people.

Not long ago the New York Sun, in a remarkable editorial, pointed out the great advance of habits of sobriety among the people in general within recent years and directly attributed it to the substitution of beer for ardent spirits. "Beer drives out hard drink," justly averred the Sun, and it cannot be contested that our people have advanced in sobriety proportionately with their increased consumption of beer. There is a wide moral as well as industrial interval between 1863 and 1908-during which period the production of beer has risen from less than a million to over fifty-eight million barrels.

STATUS OF THE TRADE.

I. INTERNAL REVENUE RECEIPTS FROM BEER.

The receipts from the tax on beer for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907, showed a net increase of $3,925,959.62 over 1906, which was mainly due to the larger production of fermented liquors as compared with 1907. The fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, shows a net increase in receipts from the beer tax of only $239,798.63, which is below the normal.

TABLE I.

INTERNAL REVENUE RECEIPTS FROM TAX ON BEER DURING THE FISCAL YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1907 AND 1908.

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During the first four months of the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1908, a marked decrease has occurred in receipts from the tax on beer as compared with the corresponding period of 1907, except for the month of September, as shown by the figures below:

TABLE II.

INTERNAL REVENUE RECEIPTS FROM TAX ON BEER DURING THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF THE FISCAL YEARS BEGINNING JULY 1, 1907 AND 1908.

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TABLE III.

INTERNAL REVENUE RECEIPTS FROM FERMENTED LIQUORS AT VARIOUS RATES OF TAXATION PER BARREL,
PAID QUANTITIES, AGGREGATE COLLECTIONS, AMOUNTS REFUNDED AND AGGREGATE
PRODUCTION, FROM SEPTEMBER 1, 1862, TO JUNE 30, 1908.

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TABLE III.—Continued.

INTERNAL REVENUE RECEIPTS FROM FERMENTED LIQUORS AT VARIOUS RATES OF TAXATION PER BARREL,

PAID QUANTITIES, AGGREGATE COLLECTIONS, AMOUNTS REFUNDED AND AGGREGATE

PRODUCTION, FROM SEPTEMBER 1, 1862, TO JUNE 30, 1908.

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NOTE. Prior to September 1, 1866, the tax on fermented liquors was paid in currency, and the full amount of tax was returned by collectors. From and after that date the tax was paid by stamps, on which a deduction of 7 per cent. was allowed to brewers using them.*

*The Act of July 24, 1897, repealed the 7 per cent. discount. The Act of June 13, 1898, restored the 7 per cent. discount. Under the Acts of March 2, 1901, and April 12, 1902, no provision is made for any discount.

The difference in quantities beginning with 1891 is to be accounted for as reported.

Of the $687,550.83 refunded, $355,485.76 was refunded from Fermented Liquors to Brewers and $332,065.07 to others than Brewers.

TABLE IV.

AMOUNT OF INTERNAL REVENUE DERIVED FROM FERMENTED LIQUORS AT ONE DOLLAR AND TWO DOLLARS PER BARREL, AND AT ONE DOLLAR AND SIXTY CENTS AND SIXTY CENTS PER BARREL, THE QUANTITIES ON WHICH THE TAX WAS PAID, THE DATE WHEN EACH RATE WAS IMPOSED AND WHEN IT ENDED, AND THE LENGTH OF TIME EACH RATE WAS IN FORCE, FROM JULY 1, 1862, TO JUNE 30, 1907.

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NOTE. The act of July 1, 1862, went into operation September 1, 1862. The act of March 3, 1863, provided that the tax on fermented liquors should be 60 cents per barrel from the date of the passage of that act to April 1, 1864. Hence the tax of 60 cents per barrel having expired by limitation April 1, 1864, the tax of $1 per barrel under act of July 1, 1862, was again revived, and this rate under different acts continued in force from and including that date until the passage of the act of June 13, 1898, when the tax was increased to $2 per barrel. The act of March 2, 1901, reduced the tax to $1.60 per barrel, to take effect July 1, 1901. The act of April 12, 1902, restored the tax to the original tax of $1.00 per barrel, to take effect July 1, 1902.

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