The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-25

lOF bu8 mOSb eNDofleuCeO ana cunning Au0ptS
in the violation Of revenue law.
Another point gained is a more exact know
ledge of the relations between the law an all
parties concerned in operations in illicit
spirits. II, as is so currently reported and
reiterated, the law is inadequate and defec-
tive, IL will be easy TO find a remedy by
amending it without delay, so as TO reach
every case which it now fails to cover. Con-
gress can readily extend its operation so as to
embrace every form. Of violation and every
species of ng-doing which the recent sci
cures and proceedings disclose, and it should
be one Of the first acts of the present session
to make these new penal and remedial pro
visions. Nl.Ia. t..F n
But we venture to affirm that the law as it
stands to-day is sweeping and comprehensive
enough TO bring within its provisions all the
cases in which proceedings have been com
menced, and in which the facts may justify its
application. 1t is true that the frauds are in
geniously Hcontiived, and no doubt are
arranged with special reference TO what are
supposed to be the weak points in the Inter
nal Revenue system as now in force. But it
is difficult TO find on any statute-book a more
thorough or complete array Of prohibitory
penalties and forfeitures than that which
applies to the dealing in illicit spirits. 1t may
be that Congress will do wisely If it sweeps
away the whole framework of the legislation
on this subject abolishing the entire bonded
system, and requiring the payment outright
and in the earliest stage of whatever tax is
levied upon spirits, in such a manner as to
dispense with all the checks and safeguards
by which it is now attempted to keep the COM
modify in the custody of the Government
until the tax is actually paid or the goods are
out Of the country. Be this as it may, we ap-
prehend that so long as the existing law
remains unrepealed, it is the plain duty of all
officers charged with the responsibility of en-
forcing it to do their utmost to make 1t efec-
tual, and of all Courts and magistrates to aid
in its enforcement.
Just here we may be confronted by recent
and somewhat extraordinary decision of Mr..
Commissioner Rollins, dated November l,
1867, which has been given to the public with
all despatch, and on which, probably is based
much Of the apprehension as to the INSULT
cheney Of the law. He announces the absolute
immunity Of all spirits Sin bond'' from any
liability Of forfeiture, and thus virtually shuts
the door upon any attempt to proceed against,
seize, or forfeit any spirits which have been
placed by their owners in the bonded ware
houses authorized by the law. This would
exempt the greater part of the whisky and
spirits which are already the subject of sell
zure; and while the Importance of the decision
does not appear to have been fully recognized
by the public, it is doubtless duly appreci-
ated by all the private parties owning spirits
in bond which had been placed in jeopardy by
the vigilance of the seizing officers.
They had good reason for anxiety; their
whisky had been seized under provisions of
the law which seemed to point plainly to its
condemnation and forfeiture, provided the
facts on which the proceeding was based were
proved; applications for the release of whisky
in bond made to the United States Circuit
Court in this District had been considered and
denied; the prosecuting officers and the Dis
trict Attorney announced their readiness to
proceed to trial. AT this critical juncture it
seems like very special interpostion which
brings the Commissioner to their relief
in decision in which, with few easy
strokes of his official pen, he releases
them from the delays and uncertainties of
litigation, dispenses with proofs of inno-
cence, forestalls the judgment of the court,
and decides, off-hand, against the Govern
ment, whose officer he is, by construc-
tiou of the law as favorable to the whisky
interest as if it had been condensed in
one of their own stills He has made the sud
den discovery that the statute, which, with
severity almost unexampled in our legislation,
denounces the forfeiture Of all spirits in any
way involved in violations, actual or attempted,
OF any of its provisions, is so tender-footed in
respect to spirits in bond that it will not touch
them ever so lightly. The Commissioner
says:--"While it is too true that frauds in the
manufacture and sale of distilled spirits have
been vast and notorious, yet that to allow the
forfeiture Of spirits in bond, even when owned
by violatOrs Of the law, and when themselves
the Instruments Of such violation, would not
only be contrary to tho best interests of the
revenue, but contrary to the true intent of the
statute" and he "prefers that the culprits
be punished in other ways than by the
forfeiture of the spirits" This is just what
the whisky dealers prefer. So long as the
grasp of the law is held off from their pro-
perty they will not complain of SUITS prose-
cutions on other grounds, or Of the other
methods of punishment at which the Commis-
soner rather Obscurely hints, "Shylock" was
not so anxious about his life as about the
means whereby he lived, and the vital part of
the fraudulent whisky dealer is in his casks.
1t is Just here that the Commissioners order
protects him, and to make assurance doubly
sure, land certify the 'culprits" against any
lingering dOubtsas to the fnality of the deci-
sion, he announces that the Secretary Of the
Treasury fully ooncurs in the views he has
expressed, so that whatever may happen to
other spirits, the state Of spirits in bond is one
of complete exemption from any Of the pains
penalties, and forfeitures of the law.
But the plain provisions Of the Internal
Revenue law, fairly construed, seemed to stand
directly in the way of the conclusions of Mr..
Commissioner Rollins and the Secretary of
the Treasury. The section under which the
seizures of the whisky in bonded ware
houses have been made is section fortY-eight
Of the law. II is broad and sweeping in its
terms. 1t declares the forfeiture to the
United States OF "all goods wares, merchan-
disc, articles, or objects subject to tax,
which shall be found in the possession or
custody, or within the control of any person
or persons" for the purpose of sale or re-
moval, in fraud OF the Internal Revenue laws,