The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-10
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF rag LEADIEa- ioURNALs
UPON CURRENT TOPICS -ooMPlhsD 2vBRY
DAY PoK THE EVENING rELgeRAPH. a
The Late Session Of CONGRESS.

little harm, and in some positive good lt Is
impossible to bestow very great praise upon
session which has brought no particular re-
form in the civil service. in which revenue
bill was smothered through absolute laZness,
and which has done nothing towards removing
the doubt which overclouds our nauonal
credit. Yet the reduction OF the whisky TAX
70 practicable rate, the removal OF taxes
from cotton and domestic manufactures, the
1,rogress made in the work OF reconstruction,
and the defeat of all the dangerous schemes
for an enlargement of paper currency, aud OF
many other plausible but injurious measures,
are matters Tor which our national legislators
deserve credit.
The first important subject that was
brought before Congress on the opening OF It's
regular session, was the report OF the Com
mittee on impeachment. The feeling of the
House was then so strongly opposed to the
measure that it was only by the use OF dila-
tory motions that the minority could obtain
chance TO be heard as fully as they believed
to be their right. impeachment was then
voted down by vote of 81 to los. The
House and the country felt relieved at this dis
position of the question, and it was generally
supposed that the President would eudeavor
so to conduct himself as to avoid giving any
excuse for revival Of the project. Bat this
hope was disappointed. Mr.. Johnson's pug
nacity and perversity would not let him rest
in peace. Whether his proceedings were
that his removal of Mr. Stanton was inspired
chiefly by his anxiety to do something ofsn-
sive to Congress, and to prove that he had
still some power to annoy his enemies
Had Congress been able to bear the
insult then put upon it, We have
little doubt that Mr.. Johnson would
have been encouraged to proceed to some clear
violation of the Tenure OIL Office Act; in which
case his conviction aud removal would have
been certain. We shall not, however, renew
here the discussion of all the many questions
that arose out of the imp peachment. To speak
1T from merely party point of view, although
we had become so thoroughly weary of Mr..
Johnson's .'ugly'' disposition, his perverse
attempts to defeat reconstruction on any plan
except his own, and his suspicious Affiliations
with corrupt men and women, that our SYM
pathleS were at the outset entirely with the
prosecution, yet we became satisfied before the
close of the trial, and are now more than ever
convinced, that the success of the Republican
party next fall is far more nearly certain under
the acquittal OF Mr.. Johnson than it could have
been If he had been convicted by the casting
vote of Senator Wade. .. . :
The release of cotton and of manufactures
from taxation was. in our opinion, a beneficial
measure. We have always been opposed to
any system of taxation which undertakes to
collect little tribute from every producer.
Although looking fair on its face, it is open to
at least two insuperabe objections: it cannot
be so levied as not to tax any article twice,
and it cannot be collected from every one who
ought to pay it. The tax on manufactures was
perpetual source OF annoyance to honest
manufacturers, a constant temptation to fraud,
and much greater burden on the country
than it was ever meant to be.
The only method OF taxation on manufac-
lures which can be fully carried out is one
which lays the burden on a few articles of
general use, SO that the revenue officers may
Confne their attention to those. Unequal as
this mode appears at first sight to be,
it is only at first sight that it appears so-the
tax thus collected would be drawn from a
vast number of persons, paying the enhanced
price put upon the goods by the manufacturer
and in this manner the burden is about as
equally divided as it would be if all branches
of production were taxed. The tax being
thus paid to the Government by a few
persons in the first instance, the assessors and
collectors can keep strict watch upon them
and need not depend upon their representa-
tions, as they generally must where every
manufacturer is taxpayer. The Govern
ment thus receives vastly larger proportion
of the taxes due to it, while the people are
freed from the oppression of a system which
necessitates espionage and official investigation
into every mans business or else leaves
honest men to pay the whole tax, and to be
nndersold by their perjuring competitors. The
plan of taxing everything has been perma
nently abandoned, after a long and thorough
trial, in countries where honesty among excise
officers is as common as it is rare here, anC
we thank the Fortieth Congress for putting al
end to it.
The reduction of the tax on whisky was
also wise act, though for different reasons
The tax ought to be at least one dollar pc
gallon, because the article is a mere luxury
and the system of taxing few articles only
requires that those articles should bs heavily
assessed. A tax of one dollar could be born
by whisky without diminishing the production
to an extent which the most ardent oppo
nent of teetOtalism could believe to be- injuriou
to the country. But the simple truth is, tina
q tax of the proper amount furnishes a margin
for bribery which it is impossible for Ou
officials to resist. 1t is not necessary, let it b
observed, for the "whisky ring" to contrO
all, or even one-fourth, OF the revenue officer
of the country. All that they need Il
do, or have usually dOne is Il
control the officers of a few districts
and then confne the business to those dis
tricts. This plan leaves them millions of dol
lars, If necessary, with which to influence
hundred petty officers. Millions never wer
necessary, however. So far, it does not ap
pear that the brbes used attained to tn
dignity of six figures. The officers wer
hungry and eager TO sell themselves for con
temptible sums. Indeed, the friends of one @
the persons recently convicted of the mos
outrageous connivance at forgery allege, an,
we think truly, that he received no brbe a
all, and committed what was practically per
jury merely out of good nature. Certain it i
that he was too poor to pay his counsel.
Now, when our revenue service has falle
go low that 1t seems impossible to get an hon