The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1872-09-05
Senator Trumbul and the Revenue.

che government, or, as he expresses it IL
ngures, more than ninety-fve millions O
dollars, are annually lost through the cor
rupt1on and incompetence of the Admin
1stratlon. And this assertion he iustifie
by an extract from the report of the Civi
service Commission of December IS
1871.
senator Trumbull made the same allie
CATION in the Senate last winter, and, i
we are not mistaken, was promptly in
formed of the exact scope and grounds OF
the statement made by the commission
but as an apparently strong point can be
made against the Administration by de
caring that its own friends bring this
charge of loss, the Senator does not hest
tate TO repeat constantly what it is hardly
posslDle that he believes to be true: nor
40 we learn that he has anywhere stated
mat he believes it to be true.
The facts are these:
Inc report of the Commission, in dis.
cusslng the tendency and character of
the evil practice of the civil service which
began with General Jackson and his
spolls principle, and which is ardently
supported by many active politicians of
all parties, presents in detail the various
mlschiefs which result from it. Among
the considerations which the report pre-
sents is the want of economy in such a
system. But it does not assume that this
can be precisely stated, nor does it make
any assertion of its own. What the re-
port does say is this:
''1t is not easy to compute in figures the exact
economical difference between a good and a bad
system of the civil service. 1t is necessarily amat-
ter OF Inference and of comparison between the
probable operation of careless and careful
method. But it is calculated by those who have
made careful study of the facts, that one-fourth
OF the revenue of the United States is annually lost
IN the collection and for large part of that loss
system of the service which is fatally unsound may
be reasonably held responsible
1t Will be observed that the commission
do not say that fourth of the revenue
is lost. What they do say is that of loss
which careful students compute to be
onefourth, large part may be justly at
tr1buted to an evil system of the civil ser
vice, which they had already stated not
to be peculiar to the Republican party
nor to this Administration, but which
this Administration, first of all, was en-
deavoring to reform, as the mere fact of
the report itself showed. 1t is to be re-
GREETED that in their desire to make their
report as concise as practicable, the Com
mission failed to explain this statement
more in detail. They were intent only
upon showing the bad results of system
which extended over period of forty
years, and which had been adopted by
every Administration of all parties-re-
suits which, had 1t been their object to
make partisan pamphlet, they would
have shown had been vigorously correct
ed under the Administration of General
Grant.
Had they foreseep that for the merest
partisan purpose Senator of the United
States would pervert to the injury of one
Administration o remark which was less
true of it than of most others, they would
have prevented the intended injury by
more ample statement. The computa-
tions to which the report refers were
made during the Administration OF An
drew johnson. In January, 1866, the
Commission for the revision of the reve-
nue. laws stated:
s'Of the officers employed in the New York
Custom House it is believed that a majority of
them have special qualification for their places,
and little knowledge of the law under which they
discharge their duties, while the estimates pre-
sented to the Commission of the annual losses
perienced by the Government through the frauds
range from S12 600 900 to S5 600 coo. In regard
to the Internal Revenue Department, the Commits
sion have allegation of fraud to present, but at
the same time are constrained to say that in point
OF organization 1t Is very far from what 1t should
opinion of the late Commissioner. before referred
to- conquered in by the Commission, that if the
law as it now stands could be fully and eectually
executed the receipts from 1t would not fall short
of 200, 900 per annum; or, in other words,
that complete administration of the law would
Justify wiping out more than one-half of the ex
else tax from the statute book
The Special Commissioner of the Rev
enue for the year 1868, says:
But in addition to whatever of surplus may
crue to the National Treasury through the agen-
also undoubtedly be secured by means of
tho ough and effective reform of the administra-
ton of the internal revenue 1t is useless here to
enter into any discussion as to the extent of the
losses to which the Government is annually sab
inefficiency Of great numbers of the Subordinate
officials intrusted with the management of this
branch Of the public service, but that such losses
are very great no one who has gwen the subject
attention can have the slightest reason
to doubt. Assuming St55 100000 the annual
average of receipts from internal revenue as the
law and its administration stand the Com
missioner believes that increase of SO 0O0, 009
in the receipts minimum could be obtained
without any practical difficulty
And Mr.. Jenckes, abiding to such and
similar investigations, said, In the House OF
Representatives on the 9th of April, 1869 ::
1t has been demonstrated over and over again
that and tariff laws call for $500 600 of
revenue annually, and that but s30o,0O0,o0o reach
the Treasury
The loss which is described in these ex-
tracts was indirect as well as dirsct. 1t
arose from the evasion of the law either
through official connivance or inefficien-
cy. 1t was not loss of money actually
collected and stolen on the way to the
Treasury, which is Mr.. Trumbull's asser-
ton, but of money that under the law was
due but never collected The loss was
undoubtedly due in some degree to the
high rate of taxation, which heightened
the amount of brides, and thus severely
tempted official integrity. But appoint
ment by patronage is not careful to ascer-
tain integrity, and the report of the Civil
Service Commission therefore says: "FOT
a large part of that loss a system of the
service which is fatally unsound may rea-
sonably be held responsible" And there
upon Senator Trumbull publicly declares
that the friends of General Grant confess
that quarter of the public revenue is
stolen every year, and that it is a result
of corrupt administration of the laws
by the present authorities at Washing
toni Are the rest of Senator Trumbull s
arguments and assertions of the same
character? And will any one who heard
the Senator make this statement, inform
us whether he declared his own belief in
what he was trying to make his hearers
believe? Under Andrew Johnson, when
these computations were made, the evils
of the patronage system of the civil ser
vice eliminated They were so gross and
enormous that public attention was
aroused, and the necessity of reform be-
came apparent The report properly Sc
lects the worst condition of the service rs
forcible Illustration of the misoniefs OF
the system, but it is now CIV ident that it
should have stated at what time the inves-
LEGATIONS were made.
For under General Grant the practical
reform in the honesty and economy OF
administration has been enormous. The
T. l.