The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1866-12-24
TIE UNITED STA TEs DzsTILLER1Es

1dE tNIIEO STATES DLS7ILLERLES.
The New York z7t6une's Washington CORES
pondent, a few days ago, wrote that the House
and Senate Committees on Finance are much
troubled about the extensive frauds that have
oeen committed on the revenue, during the
past year, by the various whiskey distilleries
The estimated amount Of whiskey made last
year was little over 10000, 900 gallons. At
81 gallon, the Government ought to have had
$40, ,0OQ,O 900 revenue, whereas the Bureau did
not collect over 100000 The correspondent
says:
One Of the ablcst members Of the Commit
tees sees but one solution Of this Important
matter. The English and French system. he
maintains, will cfectually put a stop to the
frauds Let the Government take possession
OF al Of the distilleries in the United States,
and 40 all the manufacturing. The aggregate
! amount OF property invested in the dstllation
Of spirits in the United States is estimated at
S2O,OOO,OOO. The Government can seize and
conhscate the property, and pay this amount in
the hrst year, and save over $50. OOO 600 to the
Government
This is very simple way of getting over
the difficulty. Let Congress distil their own
whiskey, and charge any price they like. Why
not $5a gallon, in place Of $2.25@2.27?
They will have the matter entirely in their own
hands; and if at 50 the whiskcy business Yields
Sic, 600, 900, at $5 the revenue will be $780,
100000, and pay very handsome annual in
stalment Of the national debt. Of course there
will then be no frauds, no jobbing, no stealing,
no embezzlement, and not the least speculation.
How could there be? Is it not all III the hands
of Government? What splendid vista open;
here for Congressional patronage. The young
Radical business man, in burst of patriotism,
may then exclaim, s.Columbia, with all her
faults, love her still r.
I'm Fdssdnt, we may as well say here, that
S'one OF the ablest men Of the Committee is
mistaken about France and England Those
two monarchies have not yet gone into the dis
tilling business. They collect excise duties:
and, like Uncle SAM they are largely cheated.
It is well known that genuine potcen never paws
the duty The touch Of the. guager is thought
to act as an evil spirit upon the ssstuff'' Snug
Cling is profession wherever guagers and
| custom house officers are to be found. The in
variable association Of the two appears to be
analogous to the old saw, that sswherever there
is house Of prayer, Satan soon has his chapel
there" 1t excites more attention here at
present only because the whole system Of ex-
else is new, and the Finance Committees, pure
and unsophisticated themselves, are astounded
at the depravity of mankind. That men should
buy and sell whiskey at 25 cents cal
Ion, when the Internal Revenue man saws the
price is 1925, is to them perfectly inexplica-
Bile.
But what crops out most prominently in all
these Congressional discussions, just now, Is
the utter recklessness with which the most gi-
gantic schemes of Capitalization are viewed and
proposed Tobacco and salt are Governm ent
monopolies In several Of the European States,
but we are not aware that any Of them have set
up in the whiskey Cline If Congress should
carry out such plan, we may soon expect to
see the Maine Law declared unconstitutional.
Gen. NEAL Dow himself, under such a stimulus.
may see the error Of his ways, and take charge
Of the Office Of Chief Of the Distil1ery Bureau
for the State Of Maine. Should not Congress-
stop, however, and ponder, before they commit
themselves in this matter, lest Mr. BANCROFT
have an opportunity Of recording another whis-
key rebellion in the United States? u
With Freedmans Bureau in the Sonth an
Educational Bureau all over the country (Which
it is reasonable to suppose will be established
this session), Whiskey Bureau, and q per
petual Congress, the country win have no oc
casion to complain Of being neglected, Of hav-
ing no one to look after its affairs Why not
have Bureau Of Fashions, that shall prescribe
the size and cut Of the bonnet, substitute the
Stevens" for the ttPrincess Lamballe,' - and
the Republican" in place Of the Empress,
trail {?
Seriously speaking, the country is threatened
with dire despotism worse than Russia, be-
cause q polycracy always has been worse than
9 monocracy. It was 50 among the Jews of
old; 50 in Athens; in England, in the days of
the Long Parliament; and in France during
the Reign Of Terror. The commencement, in
every instance, was very similar to what is
now passing in the United States. True, we
are powerless to any means Of preventing it;
but we are too deeply interested not to take
note Of what is passing around us, and seeing
IT, jot down the ideas suggested by these pass
ing events.
From correspondence communicated to the
House Of Representatives BY the President On
Thursday, il appears that for twelve months past
Santa Anna has been making persistent efforts to
induce the United States Government eeto sid him