New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-10-12
falsehood 7

II is not often that We nave OCCASION 10 susso''
that the constituted authorities of this best OF all
possible countries, and especially of this best or.
| dered of all imaginable cities could be benehted
by a hint taken from the example of the decrepl'
| tudes of the elder continent. In the matter oil
| taxation. for instance we have bettered the in-
stuctons even of London herself, and can boast,
probably of being the besttaxed city IN the civil
lied world In this particular, then, there Is MOTH
inc left to MS TO desire; but something may yet be
learned as to the proper distribution and application
of the sums thus gently solicited from the pockets
| of the people, and also as to the method OF re-
placing such moneys as may be Withdrawn from
public uses by just regard to private claims. AS
to this matter. We think that profitable lesson
may be learned from the fiscal usages OF the mother
country.
Our readers are probably aware that the great
science of defacation in all its branches of embez-
element and peculation, is not monopoly OF the
new world nor even one of our boosted American
inventions. Though we may perhaps have carried
its study to higher degree ofculture and applied
il more extensively to the business of life than the
slower English have done, still they are by no
means insensible to ts theoretic beauties, nor to
the many practical advantages it brings to an adept
in il. And in one respect they certainly have the
| better Of us. In this country so Tar as we are
| ACQUAINTED with its financial practices, when
public collector of customs or receiver OF taxes
| thinks that the sum of human happiness would be
promoted BY the diversion OF the sums he has re-
ceiyed from the general treasury to his own private
and particular uses and acts upon the faith that is in
him, the loss falls upon the community in general;
| and though it may unsvoraby affect taxation in
| future years, it is somehow showed aside and
patched up with loan the like, so that 1t is not
Immediately felt, aud is soon forgotten until re-
called by new example of financial dexterity.
In England on the contrary, whenever a colec
tor of the Assessed Taxes has /" embezzled and
50 Incorporated large sums of money, belonging
"to Her Majesty" as the bills of Indictment not
vet obsolete in cases Of this harmless description in
that misgoverned country set forth the expert
ment, one might perhaps suppose that Her Majesty
would have to suffer loss by the adventure, or that
the nation at large, or the whole municipality at
least, where it occurred, would have to make it
good Nothing of the Sort we are happy to assure
our readers As soon it is ascertaned that
collector of the Assessed Taxes has put the pro-
ceeds of his collectonsnto his own pocket instead
of the ample fob of John Bull, and has retired
beyond the jurisdiction to enjoy the fruits OF his
considerate industry his successor, on his appoint
ment, as his first official action, goes round to the
taxpayers of the same district and collects over |
again the sums which they had just paid to the re-
firing fnnctionary, and which constitute the proyl-
sion for his declining years. Cantankerous indvid- |
uas in those ATTITUDES complain Of this method of
conducting the numlsmatic depletion OF the lieges,
and affirm that, inasmuch they have no voice IN
the appointment of the collector and obliged to
do as Theodore Heck advised in improyisatoral |
verse:
Here comes Mr. Winter Collector Of Taxes.
advise you 10 pay him whatever he ares
advise you 70 pay si,hou, any fumm-ry
For, though his . Winter his processis 'armary
These macontents AFFIRM we say, that it is hard
they should have to pay the money second time,
when they were in nowise to blame, nor able to
prevent the loss. This paying over again they es-
teen double trouble" worse than Falstaf's
hated "paying back" after the adventure on Gad's
hill.
As We are careful to avoid even the appearance
Of meddling with other mems matters, we shall
abstain from pronouncing any dogmatic opinion on
this state of things in England. But We cannot |
refrain from condoling with public-spirited charac
tiers in the fiscal service Of the nation the city,
that an arrangement 50 satisfactory to them does
not prevail in this otherwise favored land. As the
first duty of men in power, whether national or
municipal, is to repay the services Of those
Instrumental in putting them there, BY impsrting
to them portions from the public table pro-
portionate 10 their merits, such rule /
as the one we have described, would greatly /
enlarge the field of this retributive gratitude and
encourage that most amiable of virtues. For in /
stance, a new President appoints OF his main /
supporters TO the Colectorship Of this or some
other wealthy port. The beneficiary, when the /
treasury is apopeciic reduces the plethora after the
fashion Of that eminent practitioner, the late Mr.. I
Samuel Swartwout, whose skill and success in that I
operation al once enriched himself aud the yocabu-
lary of the English language with a new verb T
formed out Of his hOnored patronymic. The .
operator having retired with the reward of his 4
labor his successor, another pillar of the State,
incontinenty re-colects anew the deficiency from
those merchants whose duties made up the neces-
sary amount SOin this City, for another example,
the richest man in America has just paid his taxes,
amounting to the sum of $4,000. Now suppose
the receiving officer thinking this moderate amount
sufficient for his modest needs, should withdraw
foreign parts in company with 1t, If the beneheent
custom in question We're in force here, he would be