The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-13
NOVEMBER l3, 1867.

catechism for these hopeful neopbvtes in tba
art Of protecting the revenue, and we shall not
be surprised II the shrinking modesty of the
catechumens interteres with the olearness and
alacIity of their answers, and prevents very
satisfactory exhibition of their proficiency.
We expect, moreover to show, by carefully
tabulated returns, that the amount Of tho
whisky tax collected under their rfgime
instead of being greater, as has been claimed
is considerably less than before.
We postpone our catechism for the sake of
asking question, which the public is as well
qualified to put without any minute know
ledge of facts as we are with. Why did not
this pet Board anticipate Collector Bailey in
the wholesale seizures by which he has
startled, amazed the country Mr.. Bailey
was appointed to collect the revenue in one
of the districts of this city; the Board to
watch over the interests Of the revenue in all
the districts of the metropolis and the neighbor-
ing cities. How does it happen that the Board
has, from first TO last exhibited nothing but
piddling inefiiciency, while this alert individual
though burdened with more local duties than
any other collector in the United States, makes
seizures on so gigantic a scale that his opera
tions cover the whole country from Boston to
st. Louis 1t is not our purpose to discuss
at present the merits of Collector Bailey. His
motives are of no public consequence. Itis
all the same, as far as the efficiency of Secre.
tary McCulloch and his Revenue Board are con-
cerned, whether MI. Bailey is publc-spirited
or merely ofioious; whether he is seeking an
honorable notoriety or merely his share of
forfeited property. Time, which tries all things,
will also test him; and if he goes through as
he has begun without flinching, he will have
rendered an important public service
The point to which we are concerned to call
attention is the demonstrated imbecility of the
Treasury Department, and its unauthorized
machinery for the detection and prevention Of
frauds. If it be said that the whisky knaves
are so covert and cunning that their operations
cannot be tracked, the public will at once ask
how then it has happened that within a short
time a single individual has been able to
unravel so extensive a web If one collector,
with the business of perhaps the heaviest
district on his hands, can detect and clean
out the whisky rOgues not only of his own,
but half the important districts of the
country that fast not only exposes the i'm
| becility of the Revenue Board but explodes
| and puts to shame the pretense that the
| revenue service needed to be supplemented by
any such extra-legal resort. If one efficient
collector is capable of ferreting out these
frauds, not only in his own district, but in
dozens of others, what but bad appointments
/ or want of vigor in the Department should
| prevent the whole body of collectors from
dealing decisively with the whole magnitude
of the evil What one man has doue is
surely not beyond the competence of a we'll
organized and vigorously superintended reve-
| nue. service; and whatever credit his achieve
ments may be thought to reflect on himself,
they certainly reflect greater disgrace on the
| Department which is distanced and eclpsed by
| one of its local officers.
The chief duty of the Secretary of the Trea-
| sury is to protect the revenues of the Govern
ment; and when he permits them to slip
| through his fingers into the pockets of dis
| honest distillers who outwit and circumvent
him at the rate of hundred millions year,
| he demonstrates his total unftness for his
position. OF course, he can find excuses by
magDifying obstacles; it is the peculiar pro
vince of feebleness to discover apologies
as it is of vigor and capacity to
accomplish results in spite of them What
has Mr.. McCuloch done to protect the
| revenue against the whisky frauds What
measure has he initiated for discomftiug
| the knaves who are diverting the most fruitful
source of internal revenue from the Trea-
| sury to their private bank accounts Done
| He has done nothing, and left undone every
| thing vigilant officer ought to do. And to
| screen his debility, he has Overstepped the
| law by creating revenue board as shiftless
| and helpless as himself; a board which for a
| year or more has met in a room somewhere in
| Cedar street, and dawdled over we know not
| what insignificant details, while every distil-
| lery in the city, and every bonded warehouse,
| was a foous of undetected frauds. And while
this dawdlng over small oozing leaks is enact
ing with the revenue streaming out of a thou
sand bung-hOles, the Secretary of the Trea-
sury is helpless spectator, neither abolishing
the board for its ineficienoy, nor starting any
other machinery for abating the frauds which
| have grown up under his administration to
| such prodigious such astounding proportions.
We have stood by MIR. McCulloch as far and
as long as it was in our power. We must now
tell him, in all honest frankness, that he does
not possess the confidence of this commercial
metropolis, and that the enormity of the
frauds which have lately been exposed without
any agency of his, must cost him the respect
| of the whole country. The people feel thai
| they have had enough of well meaning incom
petence, and as Mr.. McCullOch makes prsc
tical confession of his incapacity to protect the
revenue, it is time he retired and gave place
| 10 an officer o. more energy and ability.