Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-09-13
senator Trumbull and the Revenue.

twenty-five per cent of the revenues of
the Government, or, as he expresses 1t in
figures, more than ninety-five millions OF
dollars, are annually lost through the cor
ruption and incompetence of the Admin
istration. And this assertion he justifes
by an extract from the report of the Civil
Service Commission of December 1S,
1871.
Senator Trumbull made the same ale
cation in the Senate last winter, and If
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-
claring that its own friends bring this
charge OF loss, the Senator does not hest
tate to repeat constantly what 1t is hardly
possible that he believes to be true: nor
do we learn that he has anywhere stated
that he believes 1t to be true
The facts are these:
The report of the Commission, in dis
cussing the tendency and character of
the evil practice Of the civil service which
began with General Jackson and his
"spoils" principle, and which is ardently
supported by many active politicians of
all parties, presents in detail the various
mischiefs which result from It, Among
the considerations which the report pre-.
sents Is the want of economy in such a
system. But 1t 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,
ut is not easy to compute in figures the exact
economical difference between good and bad
system of the civil service 1t is necessarily mat
! ter of inference and Of comparison between the
probable operation Of a careless and q careful
| method. But 1t Is calculated by those who have
made careful study of the facts, that one-fourth
OF the revenue Of the United States IA 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
one'fourth, large part may be justly at
! tributed 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.
gretted 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 adopteds sby
every Administration of all parties-re.
suits which, had it been their object to
make partisan pamphlet, they would
have shown had been vigorously correct.
ed under the Administration of General
Grant.
Had they foreseen that for the merest
Of I Tn;t tod
States would pervert to the injury of one
Administration q remark which was less
true of it than of most others, they would
have prevented the intended injury by a
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:
"Of the officers employed in the New York
Custom House 1t IL believed that majority OF
| them have no special qualification for their places
ana little knowledge of the law under which they
discharge their duties, while the estimates pre-.
sentcd to the Comm ssion Of the annual losses eX.
pericnced by the Government through the fraud.
perpetrlled in connection with this institution
range from ; H. 00o,0OO to S950lOCNO In regard
TO the Internal Revenue Department, the Commits
sion have no allegation of fraud to present but al
the same time are constrained To say that in point
OF organization 1t is very far from what IL should
opinion OF the late Commissioner. before referred
TO, cOncurred in by the Commission. that II the
law as it now stands could be fully and efectually
| executed, the receipts from II would not fall shor
OF $4,000 600 per aunum; or, In other words
that a complete administration OF the law would
Justify wiping out more than one-haf of the cx
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 ac
crue to the National Treasury through the agcn
eies above cited, avery large amount Of receipt.
tho ough and effective reform Of tie administra
tOn of the internal revenue 1t is useless here &c
enter into any discussion as to the extent of the
losses to which the Government Il annually sub
! Jected through the positive dishonesty or gross
| ineficicncy of great numbers of the subordinat,
officials intrusted with the management OF thi:
branch Of the public service, but that such lo,se,
! are very great no one who has given the subject
attention can have the slightest reason
| to doubt Assuming Si5IOOO 900 a. the anuua
| l1w and its administration now stand, the Com
missioner believes thar an increase Of S15,0J0C0!
| In the receipts as q minimum could be obtained
without any practical dimculty.h
And Mr.. Jenckes, alluding to such and
similar investigations, said, in the House OF
Representatives on the 9Th of April, 1869
at has been demonstrated over and over agair
that our tax and tariff laws call for $lO0 001 600
revenue annually and that but $3Jo,0j0,0t0 reacl
| the Treasury
tracts was indirect as well as direct.
arose from the evasion of the law eitheI
through official connivance or inefficien
cy. 1t was not loss of money actual,
collected and stolen on the way to tht
Treasury which is Mr.. Trumbul's asser
ton, but of money that under the law wa
due but never collected The loss wa
undoubtedly due in some degree to tn
high rate of taxation, which heightened
the amount of bribes, and thus severely
tempted official integrity. But appoint
ment by patronage is not careful to asceT
tain integrity, and the report of the Civi
Service Commission therefore says: $50
a large part of that loss q system of tn
service which is fatally unsound may rea
sOnably be held responsible" And there
upon Senator Trumbull publicly declare
that the friends of General Grant confes
that quarter of the public revenue i
stolen every year, and that it is resul
of a corrupt administration of the law
by the present authorities at Washing
toni Are the rest of Senator Trumbulp
arguments and assertions of the sam
character? And will any one who hear
the Senator make this statement, inform
us whether he declared his own belief il
what he was trying to make his hearer
/
these computations were made, the evil
of the patronage system of the civil sci
vice eliminated. They were so gross an,
enormous that public attention wa
aroused, and the necessity of reform be
came apparent. The report properly sc
lects the worst condition of the service a
a foroible illustration of the mischiefs O
the system, but 1t is now evident that
should have stated at whattime the inves
legations Were made.
For under General Grant the practica
reform in the honesty and economy o
administration has been enormous. Tn
ratio Ofloss, direct or indirect, has beel
conspicuously diminished. After a re
duction in the tariff of nearly $50, 600, 00l
year, Grants first two years showed
gain OF 500, 900, 600 over the last two o
Johnson. The aggregate annual reduc
tion of taxes under Grant has been S185,
100000, or $4,000, goo, yet hi
Administration last year paid int,