The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-14
THURSDAY, JANUARY ID, 1869.
HOW the PubIic Revenue is Collected
and How &c ~ Expended.

q large proportion Of those who are entrusted
with the administration OF public affairs are
incapable Of realizing the necessity OF retrench-
nent. They hear not, or treat with disda.n'
the groans OF tax x-payers; and instead OF oe'
voting their time and attention to the increase
of reyenue and diminution of expenditure,
they are ever on the alert for new schemes py
which more money can be hlched from the
Treasury. The corruption Of many officials is
soaroely concealed or denied. Public trials
md convictions OF the most glaring offenders
re not uncommon, but prosecutions are only
i sttuted in exceptional cases, and for every
Official peculator indicted there are dozens
. bo escape unwhipt of justice. The strict
.ecution of the internal revenue laws has
IN prevented by every imaginable species of
ception, artiice, and fraud; and one of the
u st potent agencies used in depriving the
loyernment of its just dues is the infdelity
its own officials. In hundreds Of cases they
We formed corrupt combinations, based on
understanding that assistance in evading
u laws was to be rewarded by a share of
: profits accruing from their treachery. The
cifoations OF fraud have gradually become 80
tensive that strict honesty is popularly re-
az ed rather as the exception than the rule,
O. officers of almost every grade and rank
; 3 become criminal particpators in these
.onest schemes. 1t is also well known
{ the customs are imperfectly collected,
that oollusion between smugglers and
tcm-house officials constantly occurs. Many
.Ncns of dollars in gold are annually lost
q this species of dishonesty alone. The
4. odern smuggler is exposed to none of the
yerilous adventures which we're encountered by
his daring progenitors. He need not choose
la TX night to seek an obscure harbor on a
rocky coast, nor store his wares in dusky
caves to be transported inland over by-paths.
He may entrench himself in the most public
streets of New York, and going boldly to the
Custom House, plunder the nation to his
hearts content, while pretending to obey the
laws, if he will only oil the greasy palms of
the treacherous officials, who are ever ready
to stain their conscience and violate their
Oaths.
While the faithful collection Of the revenue
Is thus thwarted, thousand channels are
opened for the exit Of the money that gets into
the Treasury, despite the tolls, exactions, and
deductions caused by the infdelity of attaches
of the Internal Revenue Bureau and the Gus
toms. Executive departments are constantly
growing more and more extortionate in their
demands. 1t is scarcely necessary to particu-
larize, but the prevailing tendency to invent
wants, rather than TO restrict them, is pain
fully apparent. The Department of State
does not, ordinarily, make large expenditures,
but II would not require much encouragement
of Mr.. Stewards penchant for the real estate
business to absorb large portion of the reve-
nues in purchases Of foreign territory. Alaska
has been bought and paid for. The earth
auakes and tornadoes of the Danish West
Indies stand next on the list Of the Secretary,
and the advocates of this purchase contend
that the American people are morally bound
to -consummate bargain they never in.
struoted or desired their diplomatic servant to
make. Mr.. Seward long ago avowed his aux,
iety to annex Canada, he ia dabbling actively
in the affairs Of Mexico, and he publicly advo
Gates government aid to the construction of a
ship canal in the Isthmus of Darien. II his
official term could be prolonged, he would show
quite as good reasons for expending hundreds
of millions of dollars in support of these pro
;ects as have been given for the purchase o
Alaska or st. Thomas. The Secretary of the
Navy asked from Congress at the last session
nearly as much money as WAS needed daring
the war, and he seemed to have entirely for
oottan that the navy becomes in timA M
peace, rather an ornament than a thing o.
positive utility. The Postmaster General has
entirely abandoned the old theory that the
department should be made self-sustaining, and
while an immense deficit must be made up by
the Treasury, there is a constant demand fOl
Improbable new mail routes and a continu
anoe Of ruinous old contracts. The interior
Department reeks with corruption. Its In
dian Bureau habitually connives at the mos
glaring frauds, and the reputation OF some
of lbs other bureaus is not much better. There
are also important bureaus of the War De
partment against which serious imputation
have been made; and Notwithstanding tn,
rare fidelity with which its affairs havt
been administered by Stanton, Grant, anC
sOhofeld, they Oeuld not always prevent th'
malfeasance of subordinates.
Nor is Congress free from blame Insidi
ously approached in hundred ways and per
petually besieged for appropriations, Senator
and Representatives are prone to repeat tn
0fense OF the Judge who yielded to importu
nifty what strict justice should have denied
Al e. 81 1.nIl