Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1865-1872, 1868-05-22


ton imply that the new revenue bill, soon
to be reported, will continue the s2 excise
on whisky, with six months Limitation
Of tho time Of payment on whisky In bond,
aud considerable increase Of special
taxes on distilIcries. In short we are to
continue the present system, with few
nominal turns Of the screw. No matter
how honest the motives In this, tho inevi-
table effect viii be TO play into the hands
OF the whisky ring Of plunderers, by pre-
serving all the conditions which have
worked to transfer from 80 TO 100 millions
Of dollars year, from the pockets OF the
people to their pockets, under tho name
Of revenue TO uphold the public faith. aud
to support the hest government tho sun
ever shone on.
To maintain this tax, win do just what
this powerful organization Of thieves Is
working TO have done; just what Il has its
agents at the Capital TO do. and just what
II Is ready to spend, and undoubtedly Is
spending, millions Of dollars to accomplish
Aud every turn Of the impotent screw, in
the way OF more severe penalties, aud more
sacrifices Of all the safeguards Of law, un.
der pretense Of summary action against
these thieves, will only put moro power in
the hands Of this organization Of dealers
and revenue officers. to crush all business
outside OF their own ring and thus to
swell their monopoly and their profits
When II is perfectly plain that this course
of legislation is just what the whisky ring
want, aud what they can afford TO pay
millions of dollars TO preserve, il suggests
grave doubts Of its Legislative wisdom.
We do not suppose that there is prac-
tical business man who believes that any.
thing which Congress can do will help the
collection Of this excise, or that tax of s2
gallon can ever be collected. Ii has
reached point fur beyond the reforming
power OF a new administration, and more
especially Of one which is but a temporary
provision, while an election canvass il al
ready open. When the gang Of thieves
embraces the whole revenue service, with
but rare exceptions, tho more arbitrary the
laws, the more power IL puts in their
hands to crush those who would distil
honestly, to destroy all the influences that
would instigate their exposure, and to
monopolize the profits Of the whole trade
in their own hands.
AT this time the arbitrary laws which
were made for the summary treatment of
fraudulent distiilers, under the theory
that the fraud had grown so enormous
that the class were entitlcd TO no protec-
ton oflaw, are simply instruments in the
hands OF the organized thieves to monopo-
lie the whole business and to transfer the
revenue from il to their own pockets.
And so ii will be with any further aggra-
valions of this arbitrary legislation. There
are acts Of legislation on this matter, en-
acted under pretense oil preventing and
Furnishing frauds upon the revenue which
It is mockery to call laws; which strike
down the principle of law, aud which no
revenue necessity could justify, even If
they were etfec,ual But, in fact, they
merely put weapons In the hands OF cor
rupt officers to carry on their trade and
to destroy any honest business.
There are acts 10 authorize seizures,
which put it in the power Of officers, no
toriously corrupt, as class. to ruin any
business establishment into whose trade
distilled spirits enter in any of the forms,
There is no necessity of revenue that
could justify Government in enacting
such acts. They are not laws, for they
destroy the principle Of law. There is al.
so an enactment that officers may seize all
the distilleries in any district where dis
titled spirits are sold for less than the
amount of the excise, which is merely a
plunder law. Ii is recognition that the
revenue officers are corrnpt, aud license
to them to plumber the distillers. 1t is a
sweeping act to pillage men against whom
no charge is brought. 1t is a confession
of failure, aud lashing out of impotence.
No such act of legislation could stand be-
fore competent court that was fit to ex-
list.
Legislation has followed in degradation
its administration. 1t has become blind
raging of franticism. Upon the spur of
hot Indignation against fraudulent dealers,
the agony of arbitrary legislation is piled
up higher, only to result in playing into
the hands of the gang of thieves. The
whole structure, the acts and their admins
traitors, and the tax upon which they have
arisen, ought to be swept away together in
to common infamous memory.
And there is mingled with this fanatic
ism of legislative impotence, a moral fana.
ticism toward distilled spirits, which
blindly regards the whole trade, aud all
the commerce that has any relations with
it, as having no rights that anybody is
bound to respect; which supports acts
violating all rights Of property, and vainly
enacting indIscriminate penalties, upon
the idea that they can not 90 amiss in such
an iniquity. These have no concern be-
cause the people are robbed Of 80 millions
a year by the whisky gang. They look
upon the whole trade as matter or drink,
and think it no matter how much drinkers
are robbed. They are not excited at the
plunder vf the revenue. They think that
somehow moral work is being wrought
Or they are satisfied with legislation, no
matter how impotent, which treats the
whole trade as Infamous, and disregards
all principles of law in legislating upon
it.
The moral work accomplished by these,
consists in transferring so millions year
from the pockets of the people and the
revenues Of the Government, into the
pockets ofthe gang of whisky thieves.
The continuance of this system will de-
stroy all the revenues, will break down the
Government, and ought to break down any
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