Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-03-20
what shall be Done fora Revenue.


There are some difficulties attending thecollec-
ton of the revenue in the seeding States, which
it will be we'll to look at attentNe.y-
That either the revenue from duties must be
collected in the ports of the rebel States or the
ports must be closed to impOrtatons from abroad,
is generally admitted If neither of these things
be done, our revenue laws are substantially
pealed; the sources which supply our treasury
will be dried up; We shall have no money to carry
on the Government the nation will become bank
rupt before the next crop of corn is ripe. There
will be nothing to furnish means of subsistence to
the army; nothing to keep ournavy aAoat; nothing
to pay the salaries of the public officers; the pres
ent order Of things must come to dead STOP
Allow railroad iron TO be entered at Savannah
with the low duty of ten per cent, which IS all
that the Southern COnleteracy think OF laying on
imported goods, and not an ounce more would be
imported at New York; the railways would be
supplied from the Southern ports Lei cotton
goods, let woollen fabrics, let the various manu-
features of iron and steel be entered freely at
Galveston, at the great port at the month Of The
Mississippi at MObile,at Savannah and at Cherries
ton, and they would be Immediately sent up the
rivers, and carried on the railroads TO the re
hottest parts of the Union. Nay, they would be
sent directly from these ports by to Baltimore,
Philade phia, New York and Boston. Shop
keepers would be supplied with Their silks and
laces from the same quarter. The shoe shops
would be furnished with their assortments from
the French stalls, and the hatters' shops would
be filed with the work of French artisans which
have never paid a penny to the Government.
When these and other kinds of merchandise were
once in TIE country there would be nc way to
prevent their free circulation and sale in every
part of the United States. The mighty Missis
sippi and its great tributaries. the long rail
ways reaching from one extremity OF the
Union 10 the other, the active feet OF merchant
vessels employed in our eOasting trade. would
rapidly convey the untaxed merchandise TO the
most distant neiehborhoods of our great domain.
The Government, without special authorization
from Congress, will have no power to create
line of custom houses along the North Carolina
and Tennessee frontier, or to cover the Arkansas
border with stations OF revenue officers to inter
cept the contrabandists. The whole country
would be given up to an immense system of
smuggling, which, on near two thousand miles OF
coast, would meet with no obstacle, or interrnp-
ton, or Encouragement. What would Mr..
Wood screw Simmons, the Rhode Island Sena-
tor, who caused prohbitory duty on wood
screws to be inserted in the ttrff which had just
been passed by Congress, in order that a single
screw-mill might make all the wooden screws
used in the United States, and that its fortunate
owners might grow rich beyond the dream OF
avarice" what would this patriotic and most dis
interested legislator say if cargoes of mtaxet
wood screws were to be brought from the south
ern coast BY our rivers and railways and OH board
of our coastng vessels and dispersed all over the
country, and his hopes OF gain dsappointed2 Mr..
Simmons would weep tears of hickory
To protect the interests of Mr.. Simmons in the
first place, and those OF the Federal treasury in
the next. something must be done. The general
expectation seems to be that the duties will he
collected On board of armed vessels nj the differ
ent ports of entry in the seeding States. Are
our readers aware what a fleet this would re-
quire? There are seven collection districts III the
little State of Florida alone; there are four in
Alabama. At every port there must be collec-
tor, with his army of appraisers, clerks, examn
ers, inspectors, weghers, gaugers, measures and
so forth; there must be Naval Officer and his
staff of entry clerks. The Morrill, tariff law
which we have just enacted, will make Larger
number of all these necessary than would have
been required a month ago. Where twenty men
would have then answered the purpose thirty will
now be needed. FIVE collect the revenue in this
manner, with fleet at every port and corps of
custom house officers on board, it will cost US a
great deal more than all we shall get
But can the revenue be thus cJllected? The
importers arriving at the Southern harbors will
know how to address the custom house officers.
I've have CARGO" they will naturally say, ION
which do not care to pay duties Just at present.
We must deposit it in the warehouses for the term
during which we are permitted to do so by law"
What will the officers of the customs do in that |
case? The Government has no longer any ware
houses in the seeding ports. The hold of an
armed vessel would neither be a proper nor a
sufficiently spacious repository for the goods |
The duties in that case can not be collected; and
the collector will be puzzled to know whether to
let the ship proceed to her port to detain her.
happen to know that there are importing |
houses at this moment preparing TO take advan-
tage ofths opening for an unIncumbered trade.
They are getting ready to convey their cargoes
to Charleston or Savannah; the goods will be Ian
ded there. and then brought cosstwise to New
York, where, being importations from a port
within the Union they will be subject to no duty.
The new tariff, with its strange formalities and
ingenously devised DELAYS, forms an additional
inducement with them to take this course
What, then, is left for our Government? Shall
we let the seeding States repeal the revenue
laws for the whole Union in this manner? Or
will the Government choose to consider all for
eign commerce destined for those PORTS where we
have no custom houses AMI no collectors, as con
traband, and stop it when offering to enter the
districts from which our authorities
have been expelled? Or will the President call
a special session Of Congress to do what the last
unwisely failed to do-to abolish all ports of
entry in the seeding States.-Nep York Post
Republican