A number of tables have been omitted and are on file in the Bureau of Insular Affairs, War Department, showing in detail the following information: Customs expenditures at all ports during fiscal years 1904, 1905, 1906, and 1907. Chief articles of imports, by values, 1901 to 1907. Principal articles imported, by ports, for 1907. Value of merchandise entered free of duty, 1904 to 1907. Government free entries, 1905, 1906, and 1907. Coastwise and foreign vessels entered and cleared, with tonnage. Summary of articles imported, 1906 and 1907. Summary of articles exported, 1906 and 1907. List of vessels with official numbers and signal letters. Vessels totally wrecked or lost during 1906 and 1907. List of vessels which have changed names. List of seamen shipped, discharged, and deserted. Certificates of inspection issued. Steam vessels being repaired, awaiting repairs, condemned, lost or burned at sea. EXHIBIT No. 4. REPORT OF THE COLLECTOR OF INTERNAL REVENUE. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND JUSTICE, SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report on the operations of this bureau during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1907: During the fiscal year 1906 the total collections made by this bureau were #11,366,606.70, and during the fiscal year 1907, 12,748,963.91, an increase of #1,382,357.21, or 12 per cent. Of this amount #202,252.70 represents the increase in the city of Manila taxes collected. The increased tax collections were mainly on distilled spirits, cockpits, cedulas, opium, Manila real-estate tax, franchise tax of the Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company, and water rents. There was a falling off in the tax collections on mining concessions, due to an adverse decision of the upper court; on forest products, due to the amendment to the law providing more liberal exemptions from the tax; on municipal court receipts, on pail system, on building permits and cemetery fees, due to a variety of causes; and on market-stall rentals, due to agitation of market matters during the entire fiscal year. Weights and measures law (act No. 1519, Philippine Commission). 8,803,356.91 37,420.00 552,201.77 24,225.00 57,199.89 589,621.77 b81,424.89 Summary of collections-Continued. Item. During the fiscal year 1907. 1906. City of Manila taxes (various acts of the Philippine Commission): Real-estate tax... Rentals of city property. Municipal court receipts- Pail system... Vault cleaning.. Building permits.. Water rents... Board of health fees. Of the total taxes given above, 63 per cent were collected in Manila, and 37 per cent in the provinces. APPORTIONMENT OF INTERNAL-REVENUE TAXES. Under the apportionment provisions of act No. 1189 the internal-revenue taxes collected as above will accrue to the various treasuries as follows: The total cost to the government for the collection of these taxes was P640,461.47, equal to 5 centavos for each peso collected. This sum includes 100,000 paid from the city of Manila appropriation as salary and contingent expenses of the assessment and collection of city taxes, from July 1, 1906, to June 30, 1907. The above sum, however, does not include the expenses of collection incurred by the provincial governments. The partial merging of the former office of the city assessor and collector in the bureau of internal revenue, on August 1, 1904, and its complete merging, under the provisions of the reorganization act, on January 1, 1906, has resulted in a distinct economy to the city of Manila in the cost of collecting its taxes during the past three or four years. The following figures represent the annual cost to the city of Manila for this service during the fiscal years stated: The percentage cost for collecting the city of Manila taxes during the fiscal year 1906 was 4.2, while during the fiscal year 1907 there was a decrease in the cost for collection, and an increase of over $200,000 in the amount of taxes collected, resulting in a decrease in the percentage cost for collection from 4.2 to 3.7. PART 1. INTERNAL-REVENUE TAXES." ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO PRODUCTS. DISTILLED SPIRITS. There were collected as taxes on spirits removed for domestic consumption #1,681,419, as against 1,303,573.04 collected during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1906. This represents a gain in the tax collections of P377,845.96, equal to an increase in the output from the distilleries of 1,889,229 proof liters of distilled spirits or compounded liquors. There were 2,464 liters of proof spirits of domestic manufacture exported to other countries. During the year the majority of the 450 cauas heretofore in operation have disappeared and about 50 stills of a more modern type have been installed, or are being installed, in their place in the various provinces. As fast as the modern stills are installed gaugers have been detailed to service therein. In 1905 the distillers of Bulacan and Pampanga, where modern equipment was in use, were the first to receive attention, and the output of distilled spirits during the following tuba season of 1906 showed a satisfactory increase in the quantity produced, as well as a better control of the output. In 1906 more serious attention was devoted to the smaller distillers in the provinces throughout the islands in the way of betterment and control, and regulations were issued regarding the equipment and operations of the distilleries, both large and small. The substitution of the modern continuous process of distillation for the ancient form of cauas in use by the small distillers was generally opposed by them, because, first, the distilled spirits produced by the modern continuous method lacked the distinctive flavor of the nipa palm or cocoa tree; second, the cost, about #3,000 and upward, was beyond their means, and, third, there is always a strong disinclination among these distillers for partnership or association ownership. Active work was done to satisfactorily answer these three objections. First, a sample still, or modern caua, as it has been named, was devised that does preserve the distinctive flavor demanded by the consumers; second, this type of still or modern caua is being installed at the cost of approximately 1,200; third, on account of the automatic arrangement of the plant, partnership or association ownership is encouraged, for the reason that from the instant the vapor from the tuba is condensed and becomes distilled spirits these spirits can not be diverted to any other receptacles than to one of the official receiving tanks, of which two or more are required, and which are continuously under official seal. No distilled spirits can be drawn from these receiving tanks until the seal is first broken by the official storekeeper-gauger in the presence of the owner or manager of the distillery, and all withdrawals measured, gauged, and certified to by the gauger. Samples of the distilled spirits produced are invariably gauged by the gauger in the presence of the owner or manager of the distillery, and the production and removal of the distilled spirits from the distillery is entered in the official a Collected under authority of acts Nos. 1189, 1257, 1338, and 1370, Philippine Commission. books of the distillery by the owner or manager under the supervision of the gauger. The samples of distilled spirits produced, as well as those removed, are set aside, under seal, for inspection on the next visit of the supervising internal-revenue agent in charge of the district, who sees that the entries in the books are of the grade of the samples he has inspected. This insures to the absent owner a supervision of the distillery as close as he could give were he present. FERMENTED LIQUORS. There were collected as taxes on beer removed for domestic consumption 122,390, as against P121,158.40 during the year ended June 30, 1906. This represents a gain in the tax collections of 1,231.60, equal to an increase in the output of the one brewery in the islands of 30,790 gauge liters of beer. Eight hundred and seventy-eight liters of beer of domestic manufacture were exported to other countries. German and American beers continue to be imported in small quantities, mostly in kegs; the prices at which these foreign beers are sold prevents serious competition with the domestic product. For the present it is believed that the customs duty on imported beer is ample to protect the local brewery from foreign competition. LEAF TOBACCO. The demand for leaf tobacco suitable for the manufacture of cigars for export continued during the past year to exceed the supply. Little has been done toward improving the quality of the leaf or increasing the area under cultivation. The stocks of seasoned leaf are becoming depleted and the use of green tobacco is being resorted to. The regulations prepared by this office for the guidance of tobacco growers, manufacturers, and internal-revenue officers have now been printed and will at once be put into operation. MANUFACTURED TOBACCO, SMOKING AND CHEWING. There were collected as taxes on manufactured tobacco removed for domestic consumption, #106,287.54, as against #120,695.25 during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1906. This represents a loss in the tax collections of 14,407.71, equal to a decrease in the output from the various manufactories of 30,016 kilograms of smoking and chewing tobacco. In addition to the manufactured tobacco consumed in these islands, and which paid the tax as above, the exports of smoking tobacco, free of tax, during the year to other countries were as follows: |