Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1865-1872, 1868-07-31

Senator Morton stated. in his place In
the Senate, on the 7ih inst, that. our re-
venue from whisky, which ought 10 have
been between ffty aud one hundreds mil
lions ri dollsTs, has never been quite thlr-
iy millions, aud nov. by reason " frauds,
has fallen TO thirteen millions; that the
Government bas been defrauded out Of one
hundred and Gfy millions Of reyenue;
that there have been thousands OF frauds,
hundreds. aud perhaps thousands, Of com.
promises, not twelve authenticated eases
Of conviction 10 imprisonment for these
many ihenspnd frauds, and less than
twenty persons brought TO trial.
The great failure is the failure TO enforce
the laws. The grea, failure comes right
home to the courts, aud perhaps to the
District Attorneys more than TO all other
officers. While this great fact y staring
the country in the face, we propose, sub
stantially, TO continue the same system.
Will we learn nothine2 Are We ineapa-
BILE Of instruction by experienced That's
what is substantially said again by this
section. One hundred and hfiy millions
OF revenue has been stolen, or.ihe Govtrn-
ment deirauded out Of il, snd there have
been thousands of ofienses committed, ard
yet less than twelve persons have been
convicted throughout the whole United
States. Sir, we need not wonder that the
whisky tax has failed. There need be NO
surprise on that subject. The law has not
been enforced. How docs il oceur7 In
dieimea,s have been found by the hand.
red, / might say by the thousands, in the
different States. What has become OF
then? Sir, they are frittered sngsy, ono
way and another, mol pros, upon the ad-
vice Of the District Attorney, perhaps
with the consent Of the court, taking 10
for granted that the District Attorney
knows about the character Of the cases;
'compromises have been made by the hun
dreds, and the thousand; and the general
result is that detection in frana spon
the revenue carries with il no oiher pen
atty than that Of compromise, in which
the offender escapes by paying much less
than the honest tax woa,d be. Need We
wonder, then, that the whisky tax has
failed? We are now doing that which is
humiliating aud mortifying 10 me-ac.
knowlcdging the incapaeity Of she law,
aud surrendering to the whisky thieves
by bringing down the tax from two dol-
lars to tifty ccnts--a confession that, be-
cause Of the corruption Of tho judiciary
and the revenue systems of the country,
we are incapable of collecting the tax.
Why. sir, when q man is detected 10 u
fraud upon the revenue the first thing he
does is to start to Washington city with
his friends. II he is man of wealth, or
has any kind of respeeiabilify. he can get
mep 80 20 with him, and members Of Con-
gross sometimes TO the Office Of tie Com
missioner Of internal Revenue, or to the
Secretary Of the Treasury, aud, ii We refer
this satierlo him, TO the Solicitor Of ln-
,ernal Revenue, aud represent that this
man is an honest, intelligent man, Who
did not intend TO do any wrong. and the
thing is fixed up in some way. Ii has
been dore to such an enormous extsnr
that the revepue upon whisky is fail
ure. Shall We repeat the same thing and
provide for tbsse compromises? l dare
say that every dollar tia, this Govern
ment has obtained in the way Of compro-
mise Of these whisky cases has cost the
Government s200. We have lost 500
where W, have made one dollar by com
promise. I would great deal rather not
provide for any compromise At all.
Mr.. President, sometimes tbs greatest
fact will fail to rNsks any impression wpos
the public misd. here is the great fact,
and | must repeat il, ihs, there have besu
thousand Of cffenses and many @ihiens
have been saoiss, and these cffenses have
become so public and notorious that they
are scarcely disguised, aud yet less than
twelve convictions have taken place TO ia
prisobmeut in the United States.