The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-18

wfeie thor inI bonded warehouse shall be /
toid' or oDeTed Tor sale, at less price than the
Offering for sale as aforesaid shall be taken and
dtemt q as pTfnd Jucte evidence that said spirits
have not been removed from bonded ware.
house according to law, and that the tax i'm.
PCS. by law on TIE same has not been paid,
be liable 10 seizure and forfeiture: Provided
IT. at his section shall not apply to spirits sold
OF public sale, by an auctioAeer who has paid
the special tax as such, under such rules and
regulations, and upon such public notice. as
may be prescribed by the Commissioner of In.
ternal Revenue nor TO sales made by judicial
or executive officers under the order or decree
OF any court
Sec. ~. And be II further enacted, That no
distilled spirits which have been forfeited to
the Government in accordance with law shall
be sold Tor price less than the amount Of tue
tax pqulred Chereon by law at the time OF such
sale. And Il the officer, having such spirits in
charge, shall hRve been unable for a period of
ninety days, To sell the same for price equal
to The YAK such spirits shall be destroyed, under
such rules and regulationsas the Commissioners
Of Internal Revenue may prescribe.
1t is clear that by this legislation Congress
intended to prohibit and prevent every con-
sumer in this country (whether as beverage
or for other purposes) from getting gallon
of whisky for a less sum than the amount of
the tax. No matter whether the policy be
wise or unwise, the Federal Legislature in
tended that by means of no bogus sales, pre-
tended contracts, or any manner of indireo-
tion, should anybody, anywhere get proof
gallon of spirits for less than two dollars.
And to be consistent Congress provided that
if the Government fell into possession OF any
whisky, it should be destroyed rather than be
! sold for less than the tax.
The practical effect of the twenty first sec
tion of the law which we have quoted is that
market lists or price currents give the price
| of whisky out of bond, or elsewhere than In
| a bonded warehouse" The much extolled
| Cin their own estimation) Revenue Board has
not been able by three months effort to make
Il l. 1taIwv
| the price, ''tax-paid ~ If we believe the
market reports, there is no consumption of
| whisky, it being never out of bond. This
/ state of things, while it makes it somewhat
| difficult to establish the market price in New
| York of a proof gallon of whisky, makes it at
the same time clear that it does not bring 81.
We have, however, satisfied ourselves by
undoubted testimony, drawn from many
sources, that the prices of free whisky have
this year ranged as follows -
| In June, $1'15 to $1'52R.
In July, $1'55 to $2'05.
In August, $l'45 to $1'60.
| In September, $1'52 to $l'65.
| The dates are suggestive. The law was
| passed in March, and the Revenue Board
/ organized June q.
Now unless all the condemned whisky in
New York and Brooklyn, amounting to many
thousand gallons, sold previous to the first
day of this present month, was sold on the
every few days. in July when the price
jumped up to $2'05, the public will be as curl
Gus as ourselves to know how it can be that 9
Government auctioneer could sell at price sc
far above known prices in the street.
We pass by the laughable commentary
upon the way the Metropolitan Board reforms
matters, which is afforded by the claim. tina
the Government cannot at sale get more al
the end of seven months effort than the tax
circumstance holding out bright hopes fol
all honest distillers, under Mr.. McCulloch'G
administration
If VIC were asked what motive the judicia
or executive officers, including district attor
neys, marshals, and informers, can have tC
get up sales which are bogus, and in fraud
of the spirit and letter of the law, we reply
that unless a sale for two dollars is reported
the whisky must at the end of three months
be destroyed; and if destroyed, these officers
lose their large percentages of the value of th'
confscated property.
We cannot come to any other conclusion
than that the replies of the District Attorney
are superficial, so far as the gist of our inquir,
is concerned, and that, upon probing the mat
ter deeply they will find it necessary to ad
NIT that whisky demoralization has reaches
the sales referred to. Can it be that the Dis
trict Attorneys who, ON the Revenue Board
had to deal daily with the fact that whisk
was selling for less than the tax, never won
dered how it happened that the whisky i
| WHICH Iney were interested could De sofa Tor
sum equal to the tax Did it never occur
them to ask for record of the sales and as
certain who were the purchasers ? 1t canno
be that under the twenty ninth section,
would be tolerated by the law officers that in
formers should, out of their share, settle wit
the purchaser for the difference between 81 an
the market price, any more than such humbu
would be permitted, as between private pun
chasers, under the twenty-frst section.
We command To the law officers of the Gov
eminent careful examination into the mar
ner of these whisky sales. How are the
managed