, 1870-06-14
C0n1lssf01ER WELLS.
The PxePsseA DAee@0sta0aaee ee Hi,
WM4ce~

does notlike 11r. WeIs' statistics, probably ind
| ing that they embazrass him with 1.-THE men
inside peGtss declares that - be 33. x1M not Pro,
Tor The Last FIVE yea,a the most cleditablo per-
son, And his reports the ono creditable thing
in American finance, always excepting the IN
bounded readiness Of the people to pay
taxes; and his being dropped i as dis
well were to begin to keep his accounts by
notches on stick. It will leave tho country
and Congress completely in tho hands Of the
great mtnufacture1s, who, i they rtre drsa-
angels, are not to ba trusted as guides in
financial legislation, because they have an enoz-
nous pecunia1y interest in making pa7t'c1-
lar kind OF legislation appear to have a par
ticular influence on tho national industry.
The consumers sre. therefore, entitled to the
services Of disinterested inquirer, and they
viii never have anybody better thsu Alr.
Weus- The President seems to be most
ton connected with revenue. il wo may
judge from his published utterances about it.
In one Of his earliest. he expressed his reliance
on the Western gold mines for the payment OF
the national debt, and more recently laid down
the astounding proposition that money paid By
Americans for the transportation OF freight
by foreign vessels might a. we'll be thrown
| ;rto tho sea- There has hardly heaa single
reform In the revenue effected within the last
| FIVE years which Mr. Wells has not been tho
first 10 recommend. and bis being permitted ID
go ont Of Office will be disgrace IS well Us
: misfortune
From the Ae4r York Tmka.
We think the Republican members Of Con-
| Erees ought to understand the very disagree
able impression which will be- prod1ced % thu
public mind, by their allowing Mr. D, A. Wells
to bo turned out Of his Office without IN etyoEs
to prevent it. We believe there WAS little
doubt that the Office would have been kept up
by the majority, il the President had not been
| Induced by Mr.. Boutwell, to withdraw his sup
port FROM II not to positively dIscountenan :e,
/ the plan. Mr. Boutwell, Is 20 intent On paying
Oh the debt-a 1Audable ambition enough IN
itself-that be has worked himself into 3 state
OF Indifference "a to the cost or Inconvenience
Of doing it, He Beems to care comparatively
| ittle how heavy tho taxes are. or where
they fAn, provided he is able to knock
| twelve Or fourteen millions every month on
the total amount Of our liabilities. But We
tent OF the country under its burden has
grown in the direct ratio Of his success, and
that nothing has done 80 much to quicken, and
even embitter, the demand tor reduction OF
ta1ation ~ his Last noathly statement. show
ms that he was contributing to tho Sinking
Fund at the rate Of about one hundred and
| seventy millions q year. People will stand q
good deal, and have STOOD : good deal, but
they are not yet quito ready to fight great
waE, with loss Of half . million OF men, and
pay on II the cost Of it within tho same gene
rat1on. The country consequently wants time
on the debt, 1nd viii have It. We eau under
stand very well Mr. Boutwell's not liking this,
! and as nobody has done 30 much a9 Mr. Wells
to show what the present burden and incidence
| OF taxation is costing the people, We can also
understand bis desire, Q! st Al events bis vii
| lngnees. to have him quietly disposed OF.
| The majority in Congress- has, however,
something else to think Of. 1t has, first OF
al, the popular feeling to consult. II the
! people do not want to pay the debt before It Is
| due, nobody has any business to force them to
the interests Of the party, and We tell the Con-
greesional majority, frankly, that il they CAP
not in some way furbish up their financial
record before the fall. it will go hard with the
party The party has, until last session. done
little or nothing for the finances, except plc
on taxes in q confused. 1ndiscriminate way,
and too often in blind compliance with the de-
| ruandB Of yoracious monopolies- We sup-
Pose no financial system in the world was
! ever go devoid Of 1hyme or reason as that
with which We came ont OF the war. But the
country was quite ready to pardon all e1rors,
| whether OF omission OF commission, which &C.
Cured during the war. While the fighting
Was going on the government bad to get
money, by hook or by crook, and had to
postpone the proper distribution Of tho burden
sally acknowledged that. in creating the Office
Of Special Commissioner of tho Revenue. the
very best thing WINS done that could bo done
| by way OF preparation for the work of f1nan-
cial reform: Nobody knew anything, in 1856,
7bont the effect OF the war on the national IN
Industry, CT about the results Of the system
Of taxation entered on in 1923. Legislation
was impossible without evidence collected
and digeated by q trained economist
and statiatician. hr. Wells was such
man. Moreover, be vasa protectionist- He
| atare7 The rrtrinra ~ En11
ley, and Carey rs to the duty Of the govern
| ment to help manufacturers; and yet he was
not manufacturer, or politician, or any
thing but very accomplished man Of science,
! bred in p1otectionist ideas. The high-taritf
men were perfectly satisfied They had no OBJ
man who Was selected to fill il. In fact, they
could not hare hkd 3 more satisfactory ar
raugement so far as they were concerned, and
they confidently expected that Mr.
Mxaas, Mslle would a, report veR much .s Is Horace
piled On the duties, the mora prosperous
would tho country be; that foreign COM
mnrcs was an evil, 4nd that, 10 use the
Language Of the Tribune, when the "1ocomo-
motive takes the farmers wheat, aud aesh,
ing centre, '"-those Of Illinois to Nassachu-
setts, for instance,--stit it ia an exhaustar; its
smoke Is \ black fog, and ita whistle the
SCREAM Of an evil gonius." Well, on inquiry,
and = survey Of al the facts, he came to con-
clusions with which body Of gentlemen. who
nous fortunes, cannot agree. They are con
illusions, be it remembered, which thousands
q the beat and purest men OF this and al
foreign couptEies share, and on which the
Mlsss1 and ableat men may, and do, differ.
So those who have been profting largely by
os sosdmas atats g sf t45pgs 592gs Ehih r., M m Wells
only ought not to say what he says,
but that ho never would have said it unless be
was bribed, and insist on having his office
abolished and himself turned out. They arc
wiling to have Commissioner Of the Reve-
wiling TO have him collect facts, provided he
does not collect any facts which fell against
their interests. Nevertheless, it ia strictly
true that every reform which has been made il
the nature or amount OF taxation, or in the
manner Of collecting it, within the last two
Wells IN his reports, and, We venture to add,
THAT every reform which viii be adopted within
the neIt three years, has been suggested
and advocated in his reports, and in those re-
ports, moreover, is to be found the only scie:-
ti6c survey Of the industrial condition OF tha
source to which any member Of Congress can
50 at this moment for Trustworthy facts a. to
tho general direction financial legislation
ought to take, or as to the results Of past e1-
periments. Of course they contain faults, and
er1ors, and mistakes but they arc all wehave
got OF the lind, and there is not the remotest
probability that thia generation will sec any
thing better,
For the administration to get nd Of suoh an
officer, and such an Office. at such moment,
wonld be great mistake and it would bo q
still greater mistake for Congress to connive
at tbs change. Il any attempt llad been made,
Or vas talked Of, to supply other machinery OF
the salne kind, it might possibly be excused,
hut We hear of nothing OF that sort. II Mr..
Wells goes, Congress rin have no statistics,
and no financial reports, except such AS are
furnished them BY monopolists interested in
particular kinda OF legislahon. No party,
whose financial record IS not extraordinarily
good, and which his not shown IN it's ranks
very remarkable degree Of financial ability,
can safely face tho public with any such re-
From tie D<bpa Tribune
With the expiration OF the year 1870 the
Office at Special Revenue Commissioner e1-
pires, and the probability is that the Office will
beh to ane
Wells. II 1Ir. Wells is turned ont OF Office it
will bo for telliug the truth. There never was
more faithful and pains-tzking public officer, |
and his copious reports on the public revenus
have been Of the greatest advantage to the
houses of facts, but they have secured |
the highest commentator from eminent 4
sources abroad: No.one donbts Mr. Wells |
competency, and it would be amusing, we're it |
1ees discoura&ing and hunilissing, to hear
thoze very persons who urge the dismissal Of 4
Ar- Wells declalming in favor Of civil service |
REFORM The men who 10 denounce the Special 1
Revenue Commissioner do not want simply /
capable mAn OF Independent thought and ex-
precision in the office alluded to, hut they want
: too-a man who will suppress and distort in |
their special interest and pockss the public 1
money for supposed impartial services while he /
workt fox them.
We have a1ready alluded to the answer OF /
Commissioner Wells to the majority Of the 1
House Committee upon Manufactures who