The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1867-11-26

on hand, the people would pay the tax In
the shape of augmented price, while no part
of this tax would reach the public treasury.
The job was too palpable to be ventured
upon in the first instance by the House,
whose members come before the people for
reelection every two years. The senator's
/ with their six years Office, were put forward
to bear the brunt of the storm. The form
adopted, was to have the House yield, with
a well acted reluctance, to the senate. 1t
was the best form in which such thing
could be put, and the actors performed their
| parts well.
The managers were happy, not only ri
| selecting the senate, rather than the ho"s1'
to stand good father to the swindle ~. "a, a
| so in selecting the particular nsSS ICY ~ u
| to lead off in the senate. as 'ney
wonld baye failed withr-t the senate, so
would ,has have faileS IN the senate but for
NJ Eessenden. not merely as chairman
of.,a E;nanc~ committee, which reports on
III e maasr.ss of this kind, but by character,
| ha We. Che only man in the body who could
s-swer the purpose. He enjoyed and Il be-
'heve1 deserved the reputation. of not max
ing money for himself out of his official
votes, merit which is said to be rarer than
it ought to be. Mr.. Fessenden had it, and
it was the power which this gave him, quite
finance committee, which enabled him to
force this whiskey swipdle through to its
complete and infamous contamination. 1t
was overlooked, that politician who might
from principle, pride, or policy, or all com
bined, refuse to sell his vote directly for
money, might yet sacrifice the public inter.
esti upon much greater scale, to coneili
ate the support of the moneyed class for the
qualification of his ambitious views. Such
| motive, combined with his habitual defer
| ance for the rich and contempt for the mass
| es, made Mr.. Fessenden the ready, as he
was the powerful instrument of the whiskey
| jobbers, just rs the same motive, coupled
| with the same characteristics, controlled him
afterwards, as secretary of the treasury, to
| frame his loans, for the interest, not of the
| country, but Of the lenders of money. The
/ whiskey jobbers who are rioting in their
spoils, and the capitalists who are rioting in
their usury, are the men upon whom he re-
lies, and has good right to rely, to take
care of his political future.
You were entitled to credit, for the I'M
sparlng ylgor with which you denounced this
whiskey swindle, and it admits of many ex.
cuses that you became silent after the deed
was actually accomplished by the party to
which you belonged. The crime having
> l
you left to others the ungracious task of pun.
ishing the delinquency OF your own political
friends.
But while excuse or palliation may be
found for your silence as to the irrevocable
| past, you will, doubt not, be ready, not on
" with your own powerful pen, but by open
ing your widely circulated columns to others
| to assist in putting an end to another whis'
. KEY swindle under which the country is suf'
fering to-day, and which is, in its annual
burden, nearly as gigantic in its proportions
as the original fraud which you denounced.
The case is, in brief, that the public pay
augmented price, the tax of two dollars a
gallon, upon all the whiskey distilled in the
country, while the treasury gets but an in
, significant proportion of what is so paid, the
balance being divided, in the apt Language
tors and the uiolators Of the la,c.' Whal
this balance, is, is q matter of estimation
but that it is something enormous is appar
ent from the two facts that, the treasury gets
tax upon only about fifteen millions o.
gallons, whereas the quantity known to have
been distilled in 1860, was ninety millions Of
gallons,
1t will be most satisfactory to you and to
! your readers. if describe the actual condi
ton of things, by quoting the words of Col
Forney's Washington Chronicle and of the
Commercial Bulletin, a journal ofhigh char
acter, and printed in Boston Mass.( in the
interest of commerce and manufacturers
| Authorities like those viii no, excite vou,
| n;a;a.,
-. u,h;.o, (,z..o.,..7. or ~.
| i 'e 'A'AS'o = ''' 0'''''e va w
i<th., 1901
at is estimated that the government has los
| upwards of two hundred millions of dollars in
| excise duty upon whiskey alone, during the pas
| wear, through frauds against the revenue"
| From the Commercial Bulletin of Oct
18th 1887
|
ne goVernlhen. mas oeeh sss'enaticallS SWIM
died to tune OF hall million dollars per d,em
which the tax payers ana consumers OF INC
whiskey and tobacco are made to pay but whict
goes INTO the pockets OF an army OF hungry Ane
corrupt ohce-hooers iiS'eAa oi 'he euefs' AreAs
ory;
heSe ONCE -uoiueis anu oo.ai AoAhu ol,ei".oi
~ 49, IN ..a'.a ~
present erorbitant ta1 domestic .pfr1.-,
DO a'0ay ,''m me ia. p'eh'ngs and steot'ngs ,ea'c
o th e"ao o' Of fs ron.hs y .bs
long suffering and abused neonle The pres
sure among petty politicians to obtain Office un
! der the Internal Revenue Department is easil,
accounted for. TO be sure, the salary of dis
!rie' coi,ee1or py tsel, cons,oerea no great 90
e } to the nosit;on But az !, + TsII nndsrst.o,
that shrewd office-holders of this rank can, an,