The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-01-24
Mr.. Wells Report.

= Commissioner of Revenue, just pull
S lished, is an able state paper, an
c covers several suggestions of gres
C practical value. We are little SUI
0 jprised that he should recommend
J, reduction of the whiskey tax frol
S two dollars to fifty five cents a ga
5 Ion, because he must have learned
while recently in England, that it
entirely practicable to collect tina
p amount of tax under the improve
! system which is in force there, an
q which he, elsewhere in his report
+ recommends for adoption in thi
, country. With his suggestions 70
, reducing the national expenditures
, we entirely concur, and have insist
j ed ON them in these columns. Regar
ding the annual appropriation at th'
present time of S50,O00,0O0 TOWARD
the extinguishment of the principa
of the debt, we think that until th'
revenue service is SO reformed,
that the taxes as assessed can be
COLLECTED, in other words. that hon
esty, instead of fraud, should be tn,
rdle, il would be better merely II
; recognize the principal of extin
Iguishing the debt by annually appro
priating, we will say, S5,00O,00(
for that purpose, and leave the
amount to be increased after the civ
il service has been reformed.
Mr.. Wells places the customs rev.
enue at the minimum of one hun
dred and fifty millions the internal
revenue at one hundred and eighty
one millions, making total of re
ceipts Of three hundred and thirty.
one millions. or the internal reye
nue. receipts, seventy-six millions
. are to be raised from spirituous and
malt liquors and tobacco, thirty six
millions from income and salaries,
twenty nine millions from special
taxes and sales, and the balance
from stamps, banks, legacies, &c,
The taxes on manufactures are to
be abolished but on licenses and
sales to be increased.
Regarding the expenditures, one
hundred and thirty millions, the in
terest of the debt, is fixed quan-
tity. The other appropriations are
subject to reduction. For the civil
service. he would reduce the basis
tof 1867, which was fifty-one mill
ions, to forty millions for the War
Department, from eighty-three mill
ions to fifty three millions for the
Navy, from thirty one millions to
twenty one millions. For Pensions
and Indians the estimates are slight
ly increased. This would make 6
total of one hundred and forty mill
ions for the current expenses Of the
present year, to which the interest
of the debt, one hundred and thirty
millions, being added, We have a
grand total of two hundred and sew
enty millions, leaving balance in
favor of the government, without
making any appropriation for re
demption Of debt, Of sixty one mill
ions. or of eleven millions, if fifty
millions are appropriated, for that
purpose. The only basis, however,
for estimating future income is
past receipts. Mr.. Wells is hopeful
of reward of general business pros
perity, and attributes the present de-
preston to over production, excess
i've taxation, and the reduction fol.
lowing the speculative movements
and the abnormal prices of the war.
But even if he is right in this par.
ticular, and all the avenues of indus
try again become active and profit
able, his suggestions regarding the
necessity of reform in the ad-
ministration of the revenue only be-
come more imperative. Should the
country again get on the high road
of prosperity without an entire alter
alton in the mode of appointing rev.
enue officers, the frauds of the latter
will increase in frightful ratio, and
extend to every department Of the
service, and only end with the CON-
plete bankruptcy of the Govern
ment.
On this subject Mr.. Wells says,
that if ii does not soon receive, vol
UNFAIRLY, the practical attention of
the legislative department of the
Government, it will of itself, ulti-
mately, and at no distant day, CON-
pei that attention to tho exclusion
of every other subject; inasmuch as
the necessity involved imperils not
only the revenue, and consequently
the public credit, but even the very
existence and maintenance Of frepub-
lican institutions. Regarding the
pressing necessity for > complete re-
form and reorganization Of the ad-
minlstratiye part of the revenue
system, we quote Mr.. Wells own
words. He says: "What a spec
tacle is to- day presented to the coun-
try of the law in repeated instances
breaking down and demanding for
itself additional safeguards in the
nature of mechanical expedients; of
a large proportion of the assessed
internal revenue taxes remaining,
uncollected, or collected for the ben
eft of some other recipient than the
National Treasury and OF fraud and
incompetency in the official position,
becoming daily more apparent and
disastrous in their consequences"
But in this exhibit, painful as it is,
the case is only half stated. The de-
moralizing influence OF successful
evasion Of the revenue, and the ac-
emulation of profit thereby, has
penetrated deeply into the commu
nifty, and public sentiment has be-
come influenced to such an extent
that no serious disgrace attaches to
in which the Govern
ment is aparty, which if, commit
ed against individuals would be
branded as infamous. t.is not prob
able, that the public as yet fully ap
preciate the infinitude of the frauds,
or the degree to which cheating
the Government" has been reduced
to science. Thus, for example, the
fraudulent transactions involved in
the manufacture and sale of distilled
spirits are popularity supposed to
transcend all others and yet if the
whole truth could be revealed, it
would, in the opinion of the Com
missioner, be found that the frauds
in tobacco and cigars have been COM
paratively greater than in whiskey,
and that those in coal oil, in proper
Ition to the amount invested, have