Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1869-01-05

that In the course Of the next six or eight years
the annual amount disbursed for pensions will
be reduced so per cent, thus enecting rednc-
from Sl0,000,O00 to el2, 900. coo per annum.
Fourth. Gain from reform Of revenue ad-
miristration. A very large increment OF re-
ceipts can also, undou btedly, be secured by
means Of a thorough and elective reform Of
the administration Of the internal revenue
Assumingtsl55,0 ,0OO, 900 as the annual average Of
receipts from internal revenue, as the law and
It's administration now stand, the Commissioner
believes that an increase of s7S,Oo0,O00 in the
receipts as a minimum could be obtained with
out any practical difficulty.
On the other hand, an Offset to these esti-
males, we may have reduction OF treasury
receipts from miscellaneous sources-which
are largely derived from the premium on sales
OF gold-and also from certain unforeseen ex-
penorures. But allowing for all these contin-
gencies, II seems possible for the treasury TO
nave at Its command at the close Of the next
nscai year an available surplus of from
slU,OcOOOO to Sl25,OO0,OO0; and with such eie-
ments OF strength there is net q single fiscal
problem OF our immediate future which will
not be greatly aided in its solution. The Com
missioner furthermore maintains that the real
lZation OF such surplus involves nothing i'm
practical, and nothing which partakes OF the
nature OF an experiment.
1t requires, however, that there should ee
unity of purpose on the part of the Executive,
OF congress, ano of the people, anu a full
anEf1cn OF the tact that the work TO be accom-
pilsned is OF such paramount importance that
noinlng else shonld be allowed To interfere
Win H. 1t requires that the agents W no are to
be intrusted with the collection aud disburse-
Ment OF the revenue shall be eppoint-d on
some other grounds than the de vetion TO party
service, the length and humber of their cam
palgn speeches, or the amount of money con-
rlbuted TO aid in elections. 1t requires that
congress shall exercise the most rigid econo.
my IN respect 10 appropriations, and that the
sums heretofore expended for fortilcauons,
rivers and harbors, coast survey,new buiidiags.
the manufacture of arms, for private claims
ana war damages, and as subsidies to railroads,
snail constitute no precedent for the immediate
future. 1t requires that no more meaey shall
De olsoursed for the purchase Of foreign terri.
uoIy, and mat no reciprocity treaty shall be ne.
sotiated like that proposed with the Sand
wien Islands, the operation Of which is calcu-
lated 70 Immediately impair the revenue Ii
requires there shall be q broad distin ctiSn made
between the promotion of mere private and
selnsn ends, and the true protection OF imeri-
can industry. 1t requires that we shall stop
talking about the letter of the contract in re-
spect TO the payment Of debts, but in the spirit
OF the same honesty determine that the debts
shall be paid.
The Commissioner favors a contraction Of
the legal tender currency. Resumption Of
specie payments can be commenced at any
tlme but the question is not one of commence
meHt, but Of continuance: and in order that
there may be eontin uance, there must be a cer-
tam proportion or ratio first established be.
tween the amount to be redeemed and the
agency (coIn) which is to redeem. This ratio.
considering the amount of legal-tender and
national bank currency in existence, could not
probably with safety, at the existing premium
OF gold, be assumed at less than the total
amount OF United Sta es notes now outstand-
ing.
The Commissioner sees no economical oblec.
ton to an increase of the national bank Clrcula-
ton equal TO the proposed decrease OF the
United states notes, inasmuch as the banks are
required TO resume specie payments whenever
the government shall do so. The authority for
such increase OF national hank notes would be
Immediately availed of in the event of mon
etary strIngency, but not otherwise. Ii we
assume that the aggregate paper circulation is
not TO be increased until specie payments are
fully restored, the Commissioner cannot con.
ceive OF any better mode of giving fiexibility TO
the currency than this. The national bonds
and the legal tender notes being once brought
TO par with gold, and the national credit thus
fully restored, the gradual refunding of the debt
at lower rate of interest becomes then, for the
nrst time, really practicable. One OF the most
wholesome measures, i'm the Judgment of the
Commissioner, for smoothing the way 20 specie
resumption would be an act legalizing gold
contracts.
In regard to the reduction OF taxation with a
view OF reducing the cost OF production, the
commissioner holds that in the department OF
internal revenue, the removal of the taxes on
the transportation of passengers the receipts of
Telegraph and express companies. the manu-
facture of gas, and possibly upon sales, would
reduce that branch Of our revenue system to
almost the simplest form that can be
devised for the collection of the requisite
the treasury may necessitate.
In the matter Of the tariff, he comes to the
conclusion that, as il now stands, il is in many
respects injurious and destructive, and does
not aford 10 American industry that stun ulus
and protection which is claimed as its chief
merit. He believes that TO grant, in the main
the advances asked in the bills now perding
before Congress would be but to aggrayate the
very difficulties under which the country now
labUrs to impair the revenues and hinder the
return TO specie payments In fact, our present
tarln Is in many particulars apparently based
upon the old fallacy that, in the exchange OF
commodities between nations, which consti.
tutes commerce, what one gains the other loses
He enters his most earnest protest against
would, on the contrary, recomnend-First
an enlargement OF the free list. Second A re-
Oucton OF some rates of duty, and, as an ex-
ception, an increase OF a few others, with a
view to the increase OF the revenue. Third. A
reduction Of some rates Of duty with a view TO
an absolute abatement, on the simple ground
that the reduction Of a duty is the reduction of
q tax, and that the most efficient method of
protecting home industry is by the removal
OF obstacles in the form of taxes. Fourth.
Ine conversion 10 the utmost possible extent
OF the present ad valorem duties mo specifics,
as the only practicable method Of insurlng
certainty and equality in the assessment OF
duties and the prevention of undervaluations
and the abrogation of the privilege which en-
an amount of goods corresponding to their
real or supposed social position.
In behalf Of the conclusions thus expressed
the Commissioner confidently appeals to the
true friends of American industry for counte-
nance and support; for nothing can be more
certain than that If unnecessary and iniq sltous
burdens of taxation under the tariff contin ue to
De laid upon the people, the day is not far dis
tant when reaction OF public sentiment will
compei either a sweeping reduction of duties,
or induce through agitation such an instability
IN legislation as will in itself prove most in lur-
Gus and destructive.
HORRIBLE AFFAIR ERAR BYHALIA, MISS
The Memphis Avalanche has received the par.
uculars OF horrible case, of recent occur
renee, near Byhalia. Tom Still, a colored
foreman on the plantation of Mrs. Bronson,
had wife who was criminally intimate with
another black man named Edmund Tuntsall,
and at her instigation Still was murdered.
She tried to poison him, but not succeeding,
Iuntsall beat out Stills brains with an axe.
Tuntsall and Mrs. Still then, while Snll was
yet all ve put him in a hole about two feet deep,
and Tuntsall, jumping upon the body, forced
1t down. Still being missed, search was made
and the body found. Mrs. Still and her para
mour were arrested, and are now in Holly
Springs jail.
~A mouse nest, feathered with fourteen
dollars of greenbacks and fracuonals vas
found in q store AZ Green Bay, Wisconsin
whereupon q local paper observes ssThis is
a strong argument for the resumption of specie
payment, as even the lower animals are 0rorr
ing wasteful and extravagant under an ,nfiation
Of paper curren cy."