, 1865-07-18
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
The Great Whisky Fraud
Letter from a Rev.
enue Officer.
NEGRO SUFFRAGE III TIE, socTu;
The Fourth Army Corps--:A Soldiers
P1otttt-.The Order Of the
White Arrow.
the WHIsEf FRAUDE-INTEREsTlN LET.
TEE IRON Revenue OfElCER-COS-
GRESS PARTLY TO KLAEE.

|
frauds, and The more general collection Of t
tax on distilled spirits. Therefore Nv
much interested In your *'leader OF the Is
inst, On "Whisky Frauds, J" and quite pleas
with the decided ground taken in favor Of
thorough enforcement Of the law. Not loI
sinee, the question Of Its. enforcement,
against men who claimed to be "tnuoeeI
holders" came before the CommissIonc
He decided that tho Government lien Il
lakes was paramount to all others; that Il
failure to pay dutIee, whisky becomes forfei
| ed, and even In the hands OF IN innoceu
hc1der, is eus,ject to seizure. The decIsfo
6nuucinted no new principle. That the lie
Of the Government for taxes oye.fides a
otbtrs, and can only be discharged by pa1
mcnt, Is rule as veocrah1e as 1t is universal
That an Innocent purchaser cannot hold du
table goods, which have gone into market b
tfand Of revenue lava, is a1so principle a
which hss been repeatedly sanctioned by th
ULfted 6.ates Supreme Court. The Comn,,s
6icner only applied old rules to 3 new srsten
rules essential to the ytgor Of the Old svs
t nj, and equally essential to the new.
Yet The sympathies Ut the press were cen
orally against ,be Commissioner, and IN.
1T'ount, II rightly remember, p1edicnd tia
49, NesH-+S "VA4Q sREE4H3 IEFEft9 LIE dRcf
sion. With what prop1fety' tic applicant,
Tor relief claimed to be Innocent pnrchasers
or holders, Is anothtr question, on which
nsy have word or two to cay. cannot arrrf
With you that the present Frauds upon The
revenue amount to two millions per week, 0,
mar that eum. Nor can believe that 81 tbr
most frequent method Of cheating is. OF
tnue oIlcers,H How csn t.csrtifrates Of f'io IN.
sPection. issued for more whisky than is re.
lusred to pay the excise" aid any one in
cbeasings OF this, and Of What nsses:ora
and collectors may or uay not certify to,
thall nave NJ re to say presently. With all
the casee Of fraud which have come to iigat
~ tie West, am more or 1ess familiar; aud
where Eueh colluston was met With. thourh It
must be, admitted that there was reason to
suspect it tn one or two other instances. and
generally, 1t may be said that local oillc -rs
wtle quite too unsuspcctipG. Their fxcnse
tt, that their epe ciflc duties epg,ossed thsir
tine to such al extent that they conld not
give attention to outsde swfndlinr.
It Is said that the stock Of llehwIhes on
Eard july 1st wos little II any less than On
the 1st OF January, 1865. This Is probable ):
lut 1t docs not follow that any considerable
quantities Art now produced. The traffic in
~ Ines" Las very nea-ly CEASED. because Of
The frauds that have zen perpct1n1e9, and
TIE Consequent uncertainty Uf title. Dealers
are dtcidcd'S inclined to Keep hauds oil.
Again, tic system Of taxation adopted WAS
prospective and calculated to docd The conn-
uy with an immt nse surplus, produced under
low tatts Of duty. =
Tho earnest efforts If Mr.. Washhurue aud
others, 10 tax socks On hand, signaliy fa.lea,
1he 1ate Wns At arst fixed vt twenty cents.
then advanced at different times to sixty
ecnts, 6ne ds llaf and ~ : cents and finally to
advance was made prospective, and each lima
Congress carefully provided that spfrits al
ready manufactured should escsps :thA in.
ccased duty, and thus enjoy the benefit OF
the certain rise In prices. The result wal
what might have been Anticipated, an euor-
nit us uanutaeture while the iax was low,
snd the production OF comparatively little
afleE the present rate took effect.
The duty was raised iom sixty cents to
cne dtllar fifty, on the 1st Of July, 1861.
Many large dietllltt1es have not run since
hat tsme. Most o; them would have stop
ptd then. hut for the TACT that tbs law pro-
yided- for IN advance to two dollars On The
increased prices up to that time. Couse-
1uenify .dis' to run to February
LIT, and now complain (pnss.bly not without
reaser q The subsequent legislation which
imposed the two dollae tar on the il. OF
JaE9aly 'nsteod q the 1st Of February. thus
hJn1.
AID cattle and hogs TO be fed, which they
coula not work OF o. dispose Of before tne
hitter date Let revenue officers be CEN
6rrcd when they deserve 1t, but let lenisla.
tors take their due share Of responsibility f3r
the signal failure to derive reYenue ftom
dlstilIeIics.
The statement Of the number of d1stflle.
ries IN operation In Mar aud June last, in
the etate Of New Fork, is startling. No
such condition Of things existed Ia the West,
OF the Euulrvds Of distillertes in this State,
probably not 3 halfGozen OF eny considerable
taIacity were runntng on tho lat OF May,
and by far the larger number had closed
large concerns wefe Obliged to run, even at i
loss on their vines, up to about February
1ss, 10 work of materisi and feed stock ol
lard hut nf eT that date all the laraer
tLes that ,an either bonded their Wines. or
cheated on huge scale. II 1t ia said that
collectors aid asseesers should hzsa gus.
Nc cd this, 50, also, may 1t be said
taat dca.els, commission m.rchants aud
bankc1e, who claim TO be as shsrp a. the
slou'd Lave suspected It and stood
ft1m uLGer. Tel dealers continued to bur,
md oumjesion tnen and bansezs continued
to advance Oh Vines up to the day w6en Gov
eIrment ofhcials exposed the general cheat.
lhtn business men discovered {the p'ess too
cfcn coinctd;ne) that the GIVE nneut WAS
doing great wrong in enforcing the forfeit
lle against these men! They acre cllss Of
uL sutpec citing tn1ccents, who, relying on the
csItsfcates and marks and brands Of Govern.
9ent officers, had act.d in good faith and
should be protected! What Certificates or
marks or b,arda they could have relied upon,
hare never been able to learn Clearly not
those Of the Inspector, for he merely obtains
the number OF. protf gallous made, brands
The quantity and date on the barrel. and c=r.
t,fies the amount to the assessor and collector
and 10 no one else. Not by law, or by any
eeu]asion of.thc commissioner, il he or The
as6essor required To certify to any ous that
Tie tAI has been paid, or to put anT mark on
the balrel indicating payment The saue Is
Etue Of the collector, save that from him
receipt may be obtained for the numoer Of
gallons On which payment has been made:
concealed etllla'' a1e words dtly and truly
spoken While the large establishments hare
generally ceased buslne "a, ,the5el little concerns
have been spLtnging up all over the land, aud
a:e generally no less fraud on the Gorern-
nent than curse to community. On this
subject, as we'll as on that Of rectifyfng, asd
making alcohol In connection with distliIing,
W means Of which ftauds 2re often perpe-
rattd, would ssy more fl this communira-
ion were not al1eady too long.
One word as to the instance you cite Of
IaLd IS between the leasor and Lessee Of dis-
i'ltry. The law cannot be Graded BY my
:ucs collusion. am confident that a careful
Of Its provisions will eatt.fy you,
Is 1t dies me, that IN such q case the tx
Eou'd be lien, which might be enforced
eainst the d,stillery building md lands,
' h!ic the sill, tubs, boilers, &C., could be
on6ecated, though " the property Of hon St
l." REVENUE AGENT,
MOTHER LETTER on THE SANE SUBJECT.
:t1to.s Chicago Tr1bu-e:
In your editorial OF Saturday On Immense
1T - L. T.