The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-03
spB1r or THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL orDIoEs or THE LEADma yoURNALs
UPoE CURRENT T0PIOs--CoMPmKD EvERy
DAT FOB THE EVENING vELBGRARW.
GENERAL Grant and tae Commissioner OF
Internal Reyenue.

From the w. n. ItWeS. r...r.
General Grant is reported as saying to Mr.
Delsno that If he could judiciously do so he
would gladly give him place in his Cabinet,
bnt the position of Commissioner of Internal
Revsnue he regarded as among the most
;mnortant offices in his gift fully equal to q
Cabinet position.
n General Grant be correctly reported, It is
manifest that he fully understands the great
;mnortance of this Office to his administration.
mia conversation, together with the faot that
tha announcement OF this appointment pre-
.oSos that of the Secretary of the Treasury,
III .,,r,at have been determined on without
oonsultation with the person VINO Is TO MI that
oS;oa sbows that under the next administra-
tion The Commissioner, although nominally
snbordipate of the Treasury. department., Is,
In fact TO be the Responsible heao OF the heve-
~ ,"IS p,rsan This is as it should be. Mr..
poIIins was never more than the nominal head
81 that bureau, always liable to be overruled
bv the Secretary, and not infrequently by
mara olefk in the Secretary's office. We believe
n Ia true that, although Mr.. Rollins has held
the Office for nearly four years, no assessor or
collector was ever appointed on his recon-
meudation, while for the last two years the
Secretary has hardly gone through the form
of consulting him upon the minor appoint
ments of the department. Such course Is
destructive of all discipline and OF all eff
cienov. No subordinate cared for the Com
missioner, and they obeyed or disobeyed his
diYeotiops lust as it suited their pleasure. All
understood that to quarrel with him was to
gain the active support OF the President. The
Commissioner found himself at the head OF a
bureau the subordinates OF which he could
neither appoint nor remove, and whose ofhcial
action even he was unable to direct.
Mr.. Rollins administration has not been
suooess. but no one can truly affirm that he is
responsible for the failure. Opposed as he
has been almost from the start by the Presi-
dent. with the whole force of the administra-
ton. and particularly its thieves, which GER
taiply have constituted its most active If not
its most numerous class of adherents, arrayed
against him, success was never possible.
man with different temperament from that
of Mr.. Rollins might have attempted more,
but his failure would have been equally GER
tain and perhaps even more disastrous. Dis
sension and weakness at Washington have
been the bane of the revenue service and the
primary cause of its complete Generalization.
But under the incoming administration all
this will be changed. General Grant under
stands, as only military men can understand,
the moral power OF discipline. He knows that
to be useful his commissioner must be re-
spected, and to be respected he must be the
actual head Of his department. He must have
power-s0le and absolute power and control
over his own subordinates. The President
elect will never hold the head of depart
ment responsible for the conduct of subordi-
mates he did not appoint, and whose
removal from office he is powerless to effect.
We expect, therefore, that entire control of
the revenue service will be accorded to the
Commissioner, and for that branch of the
Treasury Department he will be held respon-
sible.
Thus administered, the office of Commis.
sioper of Internal Revenue is one of the mos,
important Offices within the gift of the Presi
dent elect, not surpassed in consequence by
any in the Government.
In giving the Revenue Bureau responsible
head, General Grant will have taken the first
step requisite to a successful enforcemen o
the Revenue law; but even with united
Executive Government at Washington, sue.
cess will not be attained without an effort.
He who supposes that all whisky rings are
to expire with the present administration, and
that no bad men are to seek and obtain Office
under the next, has but little knowledge OF
the widespread decentralization which exists
when 1t Is only question of cheating the
Government. Many bad men will obtain
office. Many who enter Office with entirely
honest purposes will be corrupted afterwards,
for human nature will not change with the
change OF administration, and the temptation
to cheat will be as great as ever.
fraud he must be able to establish the fact OF
its existence. Specific allegations of fraud
must be supported by specific proof. How is
the Commissioner in Washington to obtain
the knowledge, first, that fraud exists, and
second, the proof by which its existence may
be established This at best is extremely
difficult for him to do, and under the present
law we deem 1t well nigh impossible. Oh
couEse the matter would be greatly simpli-
he'd If the l0ca1 ntfaarS do afu d,1txy
But the greater proportion Of the local officers
In the great centres of revenue collection
will not do their duty These never have and
"sper uM;; and under the present law it is
not within the power of the Commi ssione
to compel them TO do 1t. The difficulty Il
Tor the Commissioner to know what particular
otiioer Is violating his outy. Take the cas-
OF distillery in New York, that accounts
regularly for 80 per cent, of its assessed
capacity. Now how is the Commissioner T.
know whether the distillsr actually produce
80 or l25 per cent. of the estimated capacit
OF his distilleryi Under the present Law it
all in the hands OF the local officers, and the
are close corporation. The law proceed
upon the theory tha. the mere declaratio
that the local officer ia to be held to a stric
responsibility for the frauds committed in hi
district is So tfcient TO secure his vigilance an
fidelity, and leaves the Commissioner n
means but the impossible one of person
supervision, OF tracing the vague and shap
less charge OF fraud to the particular distri
where it has been committed.
Local officers should undoubtedly be he
responsible for frauds in their respective d
triots, but human nature will have to n
dergo radical change before men are foul
willing to convict themselves, either of coll
sion or incomr etency, by reporting the exi
ence of corruption in their own districts
long as the law affords them the means of q