The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-07-21
REVENUE oPPRESSIoNS.


mo of cheating the government out of
whiskey tax, 1 will give you the facts
of my case. l have not chea,ed nor at.
tempted TO cheat the government out
of any tax, but have been prosecuted
by government officers and informers
and have been robbed out of many
hundredso of dollars by them. ..L
In the fall of 1865 / made application
for license to distil whiskoy according
to my understanding of the law, and.
was informed by the proper officers
that / would have to pay $i00 per year
license and so cents per gallon tax on
the amount l would distil that /
would have to build warehouse at my
own expense FOR storing The spirits and
that the government would appoint
and pay a storekeeper to take charge of
the storehouse. made application to
Mr.. CLARK, who was then Revenue
Assessor, for the appointment of n store
keeper, and he recommended TO the
Treasury Department the appointment
Of SAMUEL RuoNE, ESD, who was q
very competent and reliable man. |
signed distillor's bend and all the
other papers that were required of me,
and as far as 1 know complied with all
the requirements of law for starting
my distillery. The license Tor special
tax, as it was called, could only be
granted to run the balance OF the reve.
nue. year, that is to the 1st of May, 1869,
which was about six months from the
time when my application was made,
and was charged for that time at the
rate of $lOO per year. Shortly after my
application | received notice to pay the
license money and did pay it to the
Collector of the district.
l built my warehouse, to comply
with the law, got my grain on hand,
and bought up hogs to feed at the dis.
tillery. SO did all that l understood
was necessary in order to begin and
| carry on my business. AS far as ! knew
| had complied with all the require.
| ments OF the law, and | looked for the
appearance of storekeeper in order to
go on in all respects, in regular manner,
| waited some time, but no storekeeper
appeared. What was / to do? Was |
TO start, or lay idle ut heavy loss and
expense? had paid my license and it
was running out, l had laid out money
to prepare for business and had my
stock of hogs on hand to feed. Under
| this state of facts | started up with the
| expectation of the storekeeper's being
on every day and intending to pay
every dollar of tax when called on. l
distilled openly and in no way tried to
| evade the notice of the revenue officers
or of the public, but did not run near
all the time covered by my license and
which l had paid for. Altogether I
ran only about five months and then
not all the time.
Why the appointment Of storekeeper
was withheld l never could learn !;
whether it was through political inter-
ference or for some other cause. What
/ do know is, that tho law which was
shown to me required the Treasury De-
partment to make such an appointment;
that / was told by the proper govern
ment officers that it would be made;
that did all l could to get store.
keeper and that the fault, If there was
any fault, in there not being such an
officer every day at my distillcry, was
not mine. And it looks to me very
much as if there had been an attempt
by evil.disposed men to prevent an ap.
pOintment in order to persecute and
plunder me as was done afterwards. |
have been credibly informed since, that
Mr.. MERCUR objected at the Treasury
Department to Mr.. RHoNE's appoint.
ment, which he must have done at the
instigation of men in this county who
desired to injure me.
But l was ready to be assessed and
pay my taxes whenever called on, and
with fair treatment from the govern
ment officers there would never have
been any difficulty or complaint. But
I will state how SAMUEL KNoRR, the
Assessor, and RICHARD STILES, his
Assistant, managed my assessment.
STILES, who made ii, as he said by
KNoRR's direction, never called on me
in regard to the matter, but made it to
suit himself. 1t was done without my
knowledge and without an examina-
ton of the facts, and the first knew Of
it was by a notice to pay it from the
Collector. The tax assessed was Sl470,-
80, which was over 5000 too much, ac-
cording to the full capacity of the dis
tillery for the time it was run. Why
was not called on at the time to re-
port the amount of spirits distilled, or
allowed to show that the assessment
was wrong? STILES lived in my neigh.
borhood, and if he had come to me and
made this assessment, as / think was
his duty, he could have got it right and
saved me much trouble and expense,
besides the payment of large amount
Of unjust tax. He could come to me
for every thing else he wanted to learn,
and he admitted afterwards, when n
witness, that always gave satisfactory
answers to all questions he asked in re-
gard to our business. SO he has no eX-
cuse for his conduct and the explana-
tion for it must be that he had wrong
motives and intended to take the adj
vantage of me in that way.
The assessment, which was more
than double what it should have been,
| tried to have corrected. | showed by
the old books and receipts of previous
years that it was erroneous and by
statements of j. S. WOODS and Others
that | could not possibly run the amount
/ was assessed with. WOODS had as
sessed me for two or three former years
when he was assistant assessor, and
knew the capacity Of my stills-what
| could run every day or month-as
did my workmen. The full capacity OF
my stills was four bushels of rye in
twenty.four hours, and l proved clearly
| I n