The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-03-27
The whfskey Dealers

TOO MUCH FOR THE GOVERNMENT.
To the Editor Of the Press:
Ihave before me the report of Mr.. Van Wyck
to the House of Representatives on Whiskey
Frauds and the Remedy.
The distillers have been at open issue with
the government on the question OF the amount
of duties to be paid by them, and Mr.. Van
Wyck confesses that the government has been
beaten, and proposes that it should surrender
to the "w hisker ring!'
It seems by the report, that the administra-
ton has Systematically appointed dishonest
men as inspectors and collectors of ths whis-
key tax. The proof is clear and startling that
the administration has known for a long time
that frauds upon the revenue to an enormous
extent have been perpetrated by great num-
Ders OF officials, and not only have no meas
ures been taken to punish OF reprove the GRIM
inals, but the ofenses have been openly con-
doned by the administration. Mr.. Van Wyck
says:
The above schemes (of fraud) are practiced
in all the large cities of the Union. Men rush
into them with the same zeal and recklessness
that enthusiasts do to new gold fields. Men
who had been demoralized by contracts and
cotton brokerage during the war; those who
were engaged in the rebel service suddenly re-
sort to this, to them, more harmless eXpedient
to njure the government. Very many have
retrieved the fortunes they lost in the field
One bond on which the Treasury lost $4,000
was aided through by one who a few years ago
WIS a distinguished rebel general.
The whiskey wing is stronger than political
combinations, controlling the selection of In
spectors; in some instances it has dictated the
appointment of Consuls, to have a willing tool
at foreign courts. In New York city to-day
consular certificates can be obtained as easily
as tax receipts. Some of the worst
men secure appointments as inspectors and
agents-some who have lately graduated from
the States Prison. and others who have been
in the rebel service. Men from
other States, strangers in New York, obtain
commissions for thirty days as whiskey in
spectors. For what object? There can be but
one explanation. One such man, a farmer
from Tennessee was appointed expressly by
request of the President" man who would
be lost in the mysterious labyrinths of the
city without the aid of the police.
And so the report goes on, disclosing a
shameless system of profgacy and fraud in
whiskey business, carried on without conceal
ment not only with the knowledge of the adj
ministration, but with its free permission.
The extent of this plumber of the treasury is
stated at one hundred and seventy-five mil
lions of dollars. This is well known to the ad-
ministration, and no steps whatever have been
taken to prevent it, nor does there seem to be
any desire to do SO. The committee, however,
whose report was offered by Mr. Van Wyck,
make recommendation-and it is, that the
government should surrender unconditional
ly to the whiskey ring, and accept the terms
offered by it, viz:-to take one-iourth of the
present duty-if the whiskey dealers are will
ling to pay it, So we have the humiliating
spectacle of this great country confessng its
inability to control the distllers, and stand
ing with hat in one hand and contribution
box in the other, entreating the whiskey
ring to please put in something to help pay
the enormous public expenses! Such is the
recommendation of the report.
Now with all Difference to the able men of
that committee, L say that the whiskey tax,
and the whole of it, is as easily collected as
any other, more so than the tax on many 9th
er articles. To do this, however, to collect any
tax properly, honest officials are necessary.
The distilieries in this country are large es-
adjustments carrying on their work openly;
it cannot be concealed to any extent and can
not evade the observation of the officials, any
more than first class ship can enter one of
our harbors and discharge struggled cargo
unknown to the Custom House officers. The
whole difficulty, the only difficulty, lies in the
details OF the system OF collection and in the
dishonesty of the officials.
The duty in England on whissey is ten shil-
lings gallon, equal to two. dollars and sixty
cents in gold. In Holland the duty is five
dollars, and in neither case is there any COM
plant that the government is defrauded. 1t
would be well think, if our Congress should
avail itself of the experience of those countries
and adopt their system. As to the rascality of
the officials, that cannot be corrected until our
bad President shall be expelled from his posi-
ton, when it will be promptly done. The Eng
lish system of collecting the whiskey tax is
very simple and certain one. There the dis
tillers are charged for the full capacity of their
coppers. There are no meters to measure the
product, to be watched or to be tempered with,
no false certificates of production certified to
by dishonest inspectors for a consideration
The coppers are capable of producing certain
quantity in twenty-four hours, and on that
quantity the distilers are charged. Illicit
distilleries may exist to very limited extent,
but cannot materially affect the amount of
taxes received by the government. The bust
ness cannot be carried on secretly. 1t will be-
tray its presence, not only to the sharp senses
of the detectives but to the mere passer by.
It would be shame to our government TO
continue the onerous taxes upon many of our
oppressed branches of industry on the ground
of its inability to collect any tax from distil-
tiers more than they choose to pay voluntarily.
The British government derives a revenue
from the Liquor Trade of e22 100000, while on
a scale of production and taxation that should
yield us nearly twice that sum, we confess an
inability to collect one-fifth Off. N.