The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-10-01


SERVICE COMMISSION.
Senator Trumbull in his speeches has con-
stantly made the assertion that the Civil Ser
vice Commission have stated in their report
that one-fourth of the revenue of
the country is lost in its collection. The
following correspondence will show what it
meant by the statement:
LETTER OF GENERAL LOGAN.
CHICAGO, Aug, II, 1872.
To the Civil Service Commission, Washington
d. G.:
Conference.-The charge has been publicly
made here by Senator Trumbull that twenty
hve per cent.-or, as he states it, S95, $3.50, 1885,
22-ls lost to the government annually from
our revenues. This statement he attempts to
support by reference to your report. The i'm
preston being made upon the public mind,
and evidently so intended to be made, is
that your report is evidence of the fact that
so much money is plundered from the reve-
nues when collected, and that this is the re-
suit OF corrupt administration of the laws by
the present authorities at Washington. l
hope you will do me the favor to state pre-
clsely what you do mean in your report by the
state nent that twenty-five per cent. of the
revenues are lost to the government annually.
Very respectfully,
JOHN A. LOGAN.
THE REPLY OF THE COMMISSION.
WASHINGTON, d. c., Sept. A. 1872.
Dear Sir:-Your letter would have recev-
ed an earlier answer but for the fact that we
were all in different parts of the country when
it was received.
Your letter states that the charge has been
publicly made by Senator Trumbull that 25
per cent.-or, as he states it, $95, 830, 1856 %
is lost to the government annually from our
revenues, and that he refers to our report of
December, 1871, as evidence of the fact that
SO much money is plundered from the reve-
nues when collected, and that this is the re-
suit OF a corrupt administration of the laws
by the present authorities at Washington
You do not say that Senator Trumbull states
that he believes that there is any such enor-
nous theft, although his remarks necessarily
convey the impression that the friends of the
administration acknowledge it; nor, indeed,
is it conceivable that any well-informed man
should believe it. But, as he makes the state
ment and quotes our report as evidence, it is
proper that we should explain the paragraph
to which he alludes, and which is as follows -
1t is not easy to compute in figures the ex-
act economical difference between good and
bad system of the civil service. 1t is, neces-
odIiy, iudtter VI Inference anu OF comparison
between the probable operation of careless
and careful method. But it is calculated by
those who have made careful study of all the
facts, thatione-fourth of the revenues of the
United States are annually lost in the collec-
ton. and for large part Of that loss system
OF the service which is fatally unsound may
reasonably be held responsible
The calculations to which we alluded were
made under the administration of Andrew
Johnson, when the evils of the "spos" svs-
tenn eliminated, and we selected the facts of
its worst conditions as the most forcible illus
tration of the mischiefs of the system. The
calculations are found in the report of the
commission for the revision of the revenue
laws, in January, 1866, and in the report of
the special commissioner of the revenue for
the year 1868. The Hon. T. A. Jenckes, in
a speech delivered in New York in January,
1869, remarked: 81 have said in discussion
on this bill that the present condition of the
public service loses to the people annually
500, 900. When 1 say to you that 1 have
studied this matter for four years, and taken
the testimony ofhundreds of witnesses, find
that none can trace any other result. 1 have
stated in the House of Representatives that
by the due collection of the revenue by eff
Gent revenue officers you can gain 800, 0OO,-
900 annually" He proceeded to quote the
report of the special commissioner in evidence
of his statement; and pointing out the effect
upon the payment of the public debt and up
on the national credit, of the gain he had
mentioned he concludes, ''that does not de-
pend upon my statement; il is sanctioned by
the support of the Secretary of the Treasury"
Mr.. McCulloch was then Secretary.
These are the calculations of ''those who
have made careful study of the facts' to
which we alluded, and the character of the
loss" which they described is apparent. 1t
was chiefly indirect. 1t did not arise from
defalcatlons so much as from smuggling, I'M
dervaluatlons and evasions of every kind
Thus for some time the rate of tax upon
whiskey was not less than seven hundred per
cent. in excess OF the net cost of production;
so that the fraudulent distiller was fairly paid
if he could successfully place one out
of eight barrels of whiskey on the
market without paying the tax. The actual
evasion upon this commodity amounted at
one time to not less than from four to five,
six, or even seven hundred per cent, INSTEAD of
the moderate rate of twenty five per cent The
loss contemplated by the calculations to
which we referred was due to official CONN.,
vance or inefficiency. 1t was, however, not
a loss of money actually collected, and stolen
on the way to the Treasury, which is Mr..
irumbulPs assertion, but of money that I'M
1er the law was due but never collected.
Greater honesty and efficiency in the service
snou I nave saved much of that indirect loss,
anu therefore the report saws ssfor a large
Pare vi Cnat loss system of the service
which is fatally unsound may reasonably he
held responsible "ois NC
Our object was to show the bad results of
an evil system which has been adonted hu
every administration of all parties for fort y
years, and which the administration of Cen,
eral Grant has been the first to attemnt
to reform, as the report itself wss
the proof. Had we supposed it possible that