New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-11-19
WHERE PRESIDENT GRANr Is NEEDED

their clans for the division of the spOIs
of tho late victory, and before the pOSlS
of greatest trust and responsibility are allotted
we beg those interested. as every sincere KepuD-
lican must be, in the success of President Grants
administration, to bear in mind that the three
posts of greatest importance in an economical
point of view are those of Secretary OF the
Treasury, Chief of the Bureau of Internal Rev
cnue, and Collector of the Port of New I ork'
The first needs not so much a popular politl-
clan as sound financer and an able, prompt
honest administrator of affairs. Oh ALUM OH
GERS of the Government, upward of l6,OOOare APP
pointed through, and are under the orders Of, inc
Secretary of the Treasury. We do not thihh
it ought to require two officers to collect anu
pay out the money necessary to pay the otheI
three for the services they perform. But IL is
true that two-ffths of the officers of the United
States are doing only this and nOthinS
more This shows that our laws for collecting
public revenue are less wisely adapted to the
end than our rules for transacting private
business. Our Revenue laws can be so framed
and administered that it shall be the interest
of tariff and tax payers to pay honestly anu
prompty. and il will bc mainly the fault OF
the management of our Treasury Department
if this be not done. Congress stands ready To
pass any laws which the Treasury Department
may show to he adapted 10 obtain the prompt
and economical collection of the revenue. We
believe that the worst and most coIruptng lea
turc of our Import Tariff and Internal Revenue
laws is the system of dividing the proceeds OF
seizures for violations of the Tax ana farm
laws, and of compromises made on such sell-
ures, among the officers of the Government rs
informers. This pcTnicOus and rotten system
dsgraces both our Custom Houses and our In
ternal Revenue Offices What is the result The
officers of the Government are not interested
in an honest collect on of the revenue, for that
masses all the money into the Treasury, and
thew get only their salaries. Their pccmiary
interest lies in having, or pretending, "a many
violations of the Revenue laws as possible, Tor
out of those result seizures, suits, compromises
and the division of hundreds of thousands oil
dollars among the Revenue officers as m
formers the Government getting nothing on
next to nothing. One of the phases OF couup-
ton to which this system gives RISE u the
seizure of the establishments or goods OF inno-
cent persons in order TO share In the profits oil
n compromise. In one instance, IN tins city,
Collector was removed, partly because he
would not make a seizure of distlilery when
he believed was paying its tax honestly. His
successor seized it, and for the next year the
entire district did not pay as much revenue to
the Government in one year Is that one dis
tillery had paid per month during the year
preceding But where the revenue stopped,
the plunder of the Revenue officers and IN
a tualt nm
the ruined establishment like vulturcs on
carcass, until its owner, first surprising himself
driven in sclf-dcfense to manufacture without
paving the tax and ,hen convicted for 30 DO
ing. was ruined, and his fortune divided among
the Revenue officers rs informers. The value
TO the Collectors OF this feature of the Internal
Revenue law may bc judged from the sworn
statement of Sheridan Shook. during the Inn
parchment trial. that the object for which the
$4,000 was raised was not to buy the Presi-
dents acquttal, but TO buy an amendment in
the Internal Revenue law, which would secure
To him as Collector little larger share IN the
informers fees in a particular class OF cases.
So in our Custom House, in the very act
which an innocent public is asked 10 believe
is intended a. the enforcement of the law by
merchant who is alleged to have violated 1t,
closer investigation reveals only a conspiracy
on the part of the Revenue officers 10 stop M
once the business of the merchant and the
revenue of the Government. by making 4
seizure with the intent that II shall result IN
compromise and the division of great part of
the value of the goods seized among the Roye-
nue. officers as infoners Fortunate, indeed,
is the merchant if behind the cupldity of the
Customs officers there Is rot the deeper motive
Of bride from some rival merchant willing to
pay for and promote the seizure of his COM
pettor's goods. Very often those merchants
and manufacturers who are most ylllmnous III
evading payment Of the revenue are most sue
cessful in escaping seizures, because the Rcvc-
nue. officers are in their pay. On the other
hand, men who have had no design 10 eyade
the revenue, and who therefore, have not
bribed the Revenue officers are subjected TO
seizures. Sooner than endure the expense and
risks of a litigation, they either compromise
or buy their way through. In either
case the officers divide the plumber, while
the Government gets next to nothing.
To such a system has this corruption grown,
and so accustomed are our merchants To buy
ing and bribing their way through when sciz-
urcs are made, that a new profession of bar
pies or Custom-l House and Revenue shystcrsr
has grown up, who extort large sums from
those whose goods have been seized, I'M
der pretcnsc that they have to divide the
sums so cxtOrtcd among high officers of the
Treasury.
There is evidently in our Internal Revenue
and Customs Departments ample field for Pres
ident Grant to distinguish his administration
by conquests over corruption and iniquity even
moro difficult and thnrefnrn mnre rlnrinne 1hnn