New-York tribune., 1874-03-20

of nersona and cOrporatiOns. but giving no
n,rt;culars of the indebtedness OF Of tho evil
dence upon which he depended, it was granted
"a n matter of course. IL in any case there
WAS the slightest hesitation or inquiry, the
least effort to determine whether the taxes ne
proposed to collect were already In the hands
of the regular officers, no trace thereon appears
in the official correspondence. On tho con-
trary il is clear that the tax lists were taken
ont of the hands of the collectors, ana cor
ruptly transferred, according to previous secret
understanding, to this private farmer OF the
revenue.
It will be remembered that the law author
lied the Secretary OF the Treasury 10 employ
private persons to "assist the proper officers" I"
in discovering and collecting taxes wrong
fully witbhed and it was urged by Its
apOlogists in Congress that its object was 10
recover money which the Government could
not reach by its ordinary agencies. The very
first act of the Treasury Department under
the contract exposed the dishonesty OF tins
nretense. and the fraudulent character OF the
whole arrangement Mr.. Boutwell, issued a
general order to supervisors and collectors
+" TO assist John ID. Sanborn," and to place the
records of their offices at his disposal. From
these records Sanborn obtained the names
included in his contract. The SOllcitor Oh 'he
Tosur,, noxt ;pstrrotod tho netri"t- htt"r-
news to give notice to the collectors not 10
" receive payment in cases embraced in MIR.
Sanborns contract" and authorized them to
institute suits at Mr.. Sanborn's request. San
born was to pay their fees out OF his moiety,
and il has been learned that tho compensa-
ton of the District Attorney under this bar
gain was five per cent, though under the Ia"
he only received two per cent. SanDorh now
proceeded to use the regular collectors and
superyisors "a his subordinatcs, causing them
TO collect the taxes from the information III
their own offices, and to hand the amount 10
him. when he paid half into the Treasury, ana
retained the rest. In other words, no inter-
cented the taxes on their way to Washington,
and the Secretary of the Treasury allowed
him to charge fifty per cent for that very
nrohlemat,coI service. In several cases he ~
shown TO have received this commission
upon payments with which he h'"
not even nominal or apparent connection I;
in the Phelps case he induced the coucctor
to insist upon the payment OF tax not YET
due, 40 that he could pocket half OF 1t; ana
there is the gravest reason to believe that
when taxes were voluntarily paid to the
Secretary without SanbOrn's knowledge, some
body in the Department Immediately sent him
word, 50 that he could write an official letter,
pretending to enclose the cneck wilicn was
already in the Treasury, and demanding his
fifty per cent. We are ashamed to say That
the demand seems to have been promptly ana
invariably complied with.
In Philadelphia the operations of this daring
Revenue Ring were checked by the vigorous
remonstrances of District-AttOrney McNlchael
and Supervisor Tuition. In Brooklyn they
have encountered a dangerous enemy IN Dis
trict-Attorney Tcnney, who has caused San
born, Hawley, and Yanderwerken to be in
dictcd for q conspiracy to dcfraud the Gov
ernment and it is Il significant fact that In
this process Mr.. Tenney has had no assistance,
but on the contrary great embarrassment from
the authorities at Washington. MIR. Richard
son persistently refused or evaded MIR. Zen
news requests for copies oil the SanDOrn
contracts, and after about three months the
District Attorney finally obtained the docu-
ments from The TRIBUNE office, the day be-
fore we printed them. In New York MI
SanbOrn was rebuffed when he attempted to
use District Attorney Noah Davis in the ex-
ecution of his contract but in Mr. George
Bliss, jr., he seems to have found an active
alIy. who takes his five per cent and asks no
troublesome questions.
II may be considered certain we suppose
that the Sanborn law will be repealed; but
Congress will not have discharged its duty to
the country until it has inquired who shared in
the profits of the contract, and especially who
was Sanborn's partner in the Treasury. No
one now believes that Mr.. Butler is the only
politician besmirched by this very dirty affair.
With all due Difference to that gentleman's
abilities we ara not yet prepared to admit
that he controls every department OF the
Government, and uses Senators. Secretaries,
Acting Secretaries, and Assistant Secretaries
in all cases as his private clerks. The Rev
enue Ring is a pretty extensive organization,
and doubtless it is not half uncovered. VIII
Congress find the rest of it 7
"FOR AZAZEL."