Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-10-03

Sioo 5000 COO Setee GOO i9se' = 'ns people aHpaa Whsn
say to yoE that l have studied this matter
for four years, and taken the testimony of
hundreds of witnesses, l find that none
can trace ang other result
have stated in the House of Representa-
tlyes that by the due collection of the
revenue by efficient revenue officers you
can gain Sl00,00O,00O annually"
tie proceeded to quote the report of the
/ Special Commissioner in evidence of his
statement, and pointing out the effect up
on the payment of the public debt and up
on the national credit of the gain he had
mentioned, he concludes: "That does not
depend upon my statement, it is sanction.
ed by the support of the Secretary of the
lreasuery." Mr.. McCulloch was then
Secretary
These are the calculations of "those
who have made q careful study of the
| fact" to which we alluded, and the char
acter of the loss" which they describe is
apparent. 1t was chiefly indirect. 1t did
not arise from defalcations so much as
from smuggling, undervaluations and
eVaslons OF every kind Thus, for some
Time, the rate Of the tax upon whisky was
not less than 100 per cent. i'll excess of the
net cost OF production ;lso that the fraudu-
lent distiller was fairly paid if he could
successfully place one out of eight barrels
OF whisky on the market without paving
the tax The actual evasion upon this
commodity amounted at one time ta not
less than from 400 to 500, 600, or even
800 per cent. instead of the moderate rate
Of twenty per cent
The loss contemplated by the calcula-
tions to which we referred was due to Of
hclal connivance or inefficiency. 1t was,
however, not a loss of money actually
collected and stolen on the wav to the
Treasury, which is Mr.. Trumbull's asser--
ton, but OF money that, under the law,
was due, but never collected. Greater
honesty and efficiency in the service would
have saved much of that indirect loss,
and, therefore, the report says: For a
large part OF that loss a system of the SER
vice which is fully unsound may reason
ably be held responsible"
Our object was to show the bad results
OF an evil system which has been adopted
by every administration Of all parties for
forty years. and which the Administra-
lion Of General Grant has been the first
70 attempt to reform, as the report itself
was the proof. Had we supposed it poss-
Ible that, for the merest partisan purpose,
a Senator the United States would per
vert, to the injury Of this Administration,
a statement which was peculiarly inap-
plicable to it, we should have prevented
the intended injury by more ample ex-
planation.
How great the practical reform in the
honesty and economy of administration
has been during the term of General
Grant few facts show. Official figures
OF the Treasury Dep rtment relative to-
the actual total of defalcations and def
ciencies under the Internal Revenue Law :.
since It went into operation, indicate that
they bave amounted to S3,200,000, instead
of $50, 100000, as is often stated. and that
of this amount SS00,000 was under Lin
ccln's administration, $2,1O0000 under
Johnsons, and the remainder, about
$4,000 under Grants
An exhaustive statement of the losses
of the Government from defalcations in
the Internal Revenue Bureau is in pre-
paration. Meanwhile Acting Secretary
Richardson states, in letter dated June
-, 1872, that the estimated ultimate loss
to the Government upon the receipts of
the internal revenue from March 3, 1869,
IS less than one-fiftieth part of one per
cent, or less than two dollars in ten thou
sand dollars.
In the customs the estimated ultimate
loss from the 1st of April, 1869, to the
31st OF December, 1871, is one two hun
dredth part of one per- cent, or somewhat
less than five dollars in one hundred
tho vsand dollars.
On the basis ofa constant average amount
OF deposits, the rates of estimated annual
loss to creditors from the the insolvency
OF the national banks from June 1, 1853,
to June l, 1872, has been 1-186 part of
one per cent. of the deposits, or five and
three e-eights dollars.
1t is in view of such facts that Senator
Trumbull publicly stated that General
Grants friends confess that quarter Of
the revenue is stolen every year, in cohl
sequence of the corrupt Administrat ion,
We repeat that we do not learn that he
processes to believe what he tries to per.
suade his hearers to believe; and we re-
gret that in our desire to divest our report
OF any partisan character whatever and to
make it as concise as possible we failed to
explain this statement more in detail,
and to show how vigorous and sorrowfuI
were the efforts of the Administration to-
prevent the loss to which we allude.
Respectfully,
(Signed( GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,
ALEXANDER G. CATTEL,
JOSEPH MEDJLL,
DAWSON A. WALKER,
E. B. ELLIOTT,
JOSEPH F. BLACKFAIR,