The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-30
The Character of the Revenue service

SECRETARY MoCUIIocH, in enumeratlng 'ne
causes which are conspiring to produce re-
duotion of the revenue, omits to men'loi one
which in our Judgment, is a very important
one, viz, the Generalization oil Ine io'0-iI0
service itself If the taxes which are nonesuy
due to the Government under the eAi'Vi"s
laws were faithfully collected ana pau OVER
there would be very little falling OIL IN the
revenue. But the fact is, that from some Oh
the most important branches OF the revenue
onIv n small percentage of the taxes is realized.
The enormous, unblushing, and persistent
frauds perpetrated in connection with the
manufacture and sale of distilled spirits is
matter of common fame, notorious to every
body. Were the taxes on distilled spirits
honestly collected, there would be no percep-
tible falling off in the revenue. This branch
of the revenue ought to yield the Government
one Hundred millions per annum. We doubt
if for the present fiscal year it reaches thirty
millions.
Now, in regard to this matter we are very
well aware there are tremendous combinations,
political and monetary, embracing prominent
men in both parties, and some in official posi-
tions, formed for the express purpose of de-
frauding the Government of its just revenue
from distilled spirits. We are aware of the
character and extent of the influences welded
by these combinations. 1t would not be diff
cult to point out the chief actors in them.
But, after all, they could accomplish very
little against a pure administration of the
revenue service. 1t is because these corrupt,
defrauding combinations sweep into their foul
''rings' the officers of the Government itself
who become participators in their ill-gotten
gains and grow rich by perjury and plunder,
that they gain such Overbearing power, and
are enabled to rob with impunity and on such
a gigantic scale. There are certain revenue
districts well known to the people-and they
must be known to the Government too-which
for months have been stencil in the nostrils
of the community on account of the gross
abandoned, shameless corruption of the Off
GERS of the Government. Those who should
guard the public interest have become its
enemies-those who are the sworn officers to
defend the revenue are themselves the vile
harbies who are engaged in plundering it.
Now, it cannot be that these things are
unknown to the authorities at Washington.
On the contrary, they are known there. Why
is not the remedy applied
We say, without fear of contradiction by
any person who has investigated the subject,
that there is no great trouble in enforcing the
revenue law upon the makers and venders of
distilled spirits, provided the Government has
bOooc and or
sustained at Washington. There are no inhe-
rent difficulties in the case. Honesty and
capacity are all that are required. There are
districts in this city now-at least one-where
this is eXemplifed. But the trouble is that
during the past year the revenue service has
been shaken and demoralized, because made
subservient to political ends. When Secre-
tary McCulloch lent himself to the general re
moval of the revenue officers throughout the
country, because of their fidelity to the primo i
pies of the Union party, he struck blow at
the interests of the revenue service from which
it has not yet recovered. He turned out a
class of men who had been long in the service,
and were familiar with it-men who had char
acters worth preserving, and who as a class
were honest and vigilant. The whole service
was temporarily broken up, and the interests
of the revenue jeopardized, for political end
The only wonder is, not that the revenue has
fallen off, but that it has kept up as well as il
has. And now, worth more than all theorizine
about the currency, or the public debt, or the
restoration of the South, is the simple pre-
scription of honesty and efficiency in the reve
nue. service. No scale of taxes will suffice Il
produce a revenue when the officers of tn,
Government itself are in league with th
thieves and the plunderers. The difficulty il
radical one. It threatens the stability of tn
entire revenue system.
It is not our purpose to cast universal suspi
cion on the revenue officers of the Govern
ment. Many of them are men whose charac
ters shine the brighter from contrast will
the prevailing corruption. But there is no
an intelligent man who does not know tina
the evils to which we have alluded are wide
spread and most threatening. It is the com
mon topic OF conversation among our business
men, 1t is the crying vice of the times, and
unless arrested will test the stability of tn
toverGment itself. If Mr.. McCulloch is no
already aware OF it, he ought to be; and if h,
is aware OF it, he owes it to the nrbIic =,
take some more efficient means for its srr
Iression than have yet been manifested.
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A BOTANICAL GARDEN.-The interesting coro
monies which opened the new Horticultural