The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-11-18

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Some men, being short Of cash and 1nding
out that Whiskey was : paying article, set up
fbr themselves - sort Of extemporissd rev.
suus board. They taxed the whiskey that
came under their hands very heavily. but were
careful mot to tax II more heavily than the reg
however, to the extent Of connscation, that
being the usual government rate. All the pro-
oeedings were in the regular way. They found
the whiskey somewhere, q the odicials do they
declared In the time-honored manner that II
had not paid the tax they condemned Il, seized
II, sold itsud spent the money. In every step
Of the story the people win recognise the true
conduct Of fnnctionaries Of the internal rev.
enue department Yet - . singular end Of
all this, these men have Just been sentenced 70
State Prison, and II is alleged that their act in
condemning and seising the whiskey is only the
latest form Of highway robbery. Very well !;
but II il evident there b an error somewhere.
Not only an error, but an outrage. Either II 3
an outrage that these men are thus sent to
prison, or It b IN outrage that . great many
others have not been sent before them; for con-
6scation Of whiskey for private account has
been common occurrence. since We had :
revenue department Here Is Mr.. Bailey, rev.
enue o6acial, who has just seized somebody's
whisksy establishment and condemned it,
and shut II up, and oil that ON 90
count Of certain mysterious pipes found
Communicating with houses q distance,
which pipes ara said 10 contain more whiskey
than The law allowa Perhaps Il y al very
proper but great deal Of this buslnsm y
done in the true bull-in-a-chinA-shop style,
and n TIE end seems 10 BE- not nuch nearer
right than the acts for which TIE quasi officials
rot themselves sent TO prison.
Our laws for taxing whiskey ere in Tho sams
claa with those laws whose recognised exoss-
sive severity prevents enforcement and secures
b psFsons violating them the sympathy Of
popular sentiment WiAs Legislators have seen
N every age that moderate penalties were moro
e1sctivs than immodersts ones becsuge laws
imposing the former were carried out while
sucA - imposed The lsttsr were psrnittsd 70
become Of no eject through tsansoeadlng Co.,
non humanity. II Is practically ths sans with
our onsrous taxation Of vhiGksy. Hws placed
moderate tax on that article W could collect
Il and II would be q source Of large revenue |;
but BY taxation that actually counscatss the
thing taxed we prevent IL Legitimate mauufAc-
turs, and our tax becomes merely demoraliz-
Ing incentive to the violation Of law. More
ever, the next result OF all this will
b that extensive manufacturers win make
their whiskey in Cansds, nesr Dc lines, and
organize system Of smuggling that viii defy
the revenue o1Boers, just - the lace smuggling
on the FrAnoo-Bslgian frontier has dsnsd Tor
years, and still denes, al efforts 10 atop IL II
may be that they viii develop the pipe system
that Mr.. Bailey has discovered communicating
between warehouses. and Illicit stills and 20
ssnd The derry Huid BY secret sluicss under lAad
and water but II h ~ least certain that they
viii make smuggling more feature thsn \
has ever hitherto bssn in he history Of our
frontier. w..vt
THE InrEAcuxxSr ouasrIox.-O~r washing
ton despatohss on ~ sahjsot warrant The con
elusion hat Ne Conmlt&es - ~ Judiciary
win hardly b ready = hanA y tAsir reports
On NJ Impeachment qusstisa innsdistsly On
~ resa,omhlinr u OoukxoW The leto oleo