Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-22
ETaTrr0RY PTLIAGE.

\ tax Of wodollsrs per gallon is levied
/ 10y the United States on domestic distilled
| spirits. An increase of a similar b~utlighter
duty in 1874 produced therebelion known
ever since as " the whisky insurrection "
in that State whose good fortune it ia, as
it ought to be her pride. that she did not
give birth to THAnDE Penn
sylvanis, bribed for years with a duty on
iron 10 support the Democratic party,
and now become the rotten borough Of
SIMON CAMERON, who finds thRt the
surest way Of gaining q seat in the Senate
is to buy it.
In 1864, when the whisky tax was
from twenty TO sixty cents per gallon,
the amount of revenue collected on that
tax was SIS, 43l, 3gS. In 1868 the produc-
ton ofdomestic distilled spirits was forty
millions of gallons. The revenue on this
quantity should have been $50, coo, 600.
Il actually was only SO, 1913, SIS. or only
S7G5, 80 more than in 1854; that Is, the
tax was paid on less than one gallon Of
every i've distilled. The Commissioner
Of Internal Revenue deems himself
Obliged to report that the evidence pre-
scented to him indicated that smuggling,
under the inducements offered by the ex-
isting high rates Of duty, is largely on
the increase and in the place Of being,
as heretofore, irregular, is rapidly be-
ing systematized. In proof Of this, il
may he stated that offers are now made
in Europe and Havana 10 deliver foreign
goods, OF certain descriptions, in New
York city, free Of duty, for q premium
Of twenty per cent. on their invoiced
value. This singular state Of affairs, he
says, is not owing to the d~erelicti0n of
revenue officials, but 10 their low rate Of
wages, which he recommends shall
be raised.
The people that force dishonesty on
others, soon become dishonest them
selves, especially when they have re-
sorted to a general system Of " Statutory
pillsge." It viii be remembered that Of
tweBty-nine revenue officers on the lake
frontier, twenty-eight have been
officially reported to be thieves. The
Commissioner Of the Revenue recon-
meuds to Congress to compromise with
the distillers and reduce the duty to one
dollar q gallon, thus acknowledging HIM
self " whipped out " by the ~violators Of
the pillage act.
This evasion Of that law, and SNUG
Cling, are no more regarded as dishonest
or immoral in the North, than the dis
tilliDg OF poteen was in Ireland years
ago, when it was deemed a merit to kill
4 " guager, " or the smuggling Of laces
and brandy and elaret from France into
England. The crime consisted in being
caught.
But while Mr.. Commissioner recon-
mends reducing their tax one-half he
insists on continuing that on raw cotton
d" for one or two years vet" OF until
the crop of the world renders il neces
sary to reduce the tax SO As to compete"
And he adds, hat this tax " is collected
ia the Southern States, from which but a
small quantity Of revenue can now be
collected IN any other shape, and Is re-
peal would innict more g~rievous burthens
On other industries"
Upon this the New Orleans Bulletin,
whose remarks we have almost literally
rep oiueed, says:
The justification of this tax is alike
faliacious aud cruel. The theory is that
Il comes out Of the consumer. But $
large portion OF the crop is consumed iD
he United States. Some computations
make the amount manufactured here
one million OF bales, OF twO-thirds Of the
whole crop. This article then reaches
he American burdened with
the tax, because, although the home
manufactures gets 8 drawback for the
AK yet as the foreign manufacturer
ends his fabric IN, charged with both the
tax ard the cost OF importation and ex-
~portation, the home manufacturer can
adjust his price by the competition, aud
put the protective surplus in his pocket
But injustice is always uDwise. This
enhanced cost Of American cotton in the
world market is a direct bounty to for /
sign production. It will stimulate q
competition that did not formerly exist,
u when tkis competition shall have
oeen established by the application Of
capital, the education Of labor and the
adaptation Of machinery, it may not be