National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-06-09
THE COYDON4TT0E0 FCRIME


The New York Tribune is alarmed for
the safety of the merchants bill, " as it is
pleased to call that House bill which was
championed by Mr.. Ellis II. Roberts, and
/ which the Senate has been for some days
engaged in an effort to perfect preparatory
to its passage 1t is bill in the interest of
the dishonest merchant and manufacturer
and importer who have collected from the
consumers some twenty or thirty millions
of taxes which they have thus far withheld
/ from the Treasury. The merchants bill
proposes to condone, the crimes of those
who have been dishonest and to open wide
the door for their safe preparation in the
future. 1t should be entitled can act for
"the conformation and encouragement Of
"crime"
From the Inauguration of the United
States Government to the present day it has
been the law and the practice to allow the
informers q moiety of those taxes and of
the penalties which were sdjudged to have
occurred upon them that were clearly
proven to have been fraudulently withheld
or evaded. Collectors, surveyors and naval
officers have beenlegally allowed to psrtiei-
pate in these moieties. In many instances
their emoluments from this source have
far exceeded their salaries. Until quite
recently the heightened and honorable men
of the manufacturing, the mercantile and
importing classes have strongly favored the
the provisions of law under which the
moieties were allowed because they were
necessary to their own protection. With
out such protection the thieves were
able to undersen them in the market,
and finally drive them from trade. They
justly contended that robbery of the
public revenues sndetected and unpublished
was the award Of premium TO dishonesty,
tending 10 the impoverishment not only of
themselves. but to the casting of increased
burdens upon the taxpayers ofthe country.
It is only since the demoralizing effects of
the late war have become so fearfully appa-
rent in the commercial walks Of life, show
ing that the running Of the blockade and
the smuggling Of goods from Northern
ports into the confederacy. via Nova Scotia,
the West Indies and Mexico, and Central
America, had become vastly profitable, and
consequently respectable, that merchants
hitherto considered respectable and honora-
BILE in their transactions with the Govern
ment have caught the infection and entered
the unholy coalition for the wholesale plum
der of the Treasury of the people.
The practice of keeping back part of the
price" finally became so palpable, so CON-
mon, as to form the rule, rather than the ex-
cepton. 1t not only obtained in the
whisky and tobacco and stamps and in.
come divisions of the Internal Revenue Bu-
reau but was found to permeste largely the
customs offices. both for expectation and
Importation. The system of compromises
which obtained in the Internal Revenue
Bureau proved only an encouragement to
delinquents to try q second fraud
with additional precaution. A SINH
lar practice grew up also in the GUS
toms department and was generally
managed in the surveyors offices. Under
this system 1t was easy to cook up State
ment for submission to the Tressury, pro
viding for the settlement or adj ustment of 9
fraud which appeared coytect, but it wa!
generally found that the sums aecruing t
|. up ssaasssYgy from these propositions wer,
sd small that whsp taken IN connection
with the anxiety expressed by the officials
for their acceptance by the Department thu
IMPRESSION was irresistible that they wers
benefited bey> 1nd their legitimate portion
of the sum in ADJ ustment
These facts led to the employment q
Secret agents whose dl'ties were to "dete
and nrareat frauds. Or course the!
watched officials as wei a merchants
The law conferred upon them pewer "
examine books and papers. Some Of theSS e
officers found that the, officials were fire.
quently quite lax in the performance of
their duties, and sometimes were no doubt
blinded by greenbacks. A law was then
passed authorizing the farming out of the
collection of delinquent taxes. Several
ex-oficers who had suspicious, instituted
examinations which demonstrated delin-
quencies particularly among the wealthy
classes of corporations and individuals,
such as of Iegacies and success
sions' incomes, insurance companies
and banks and railway companies,
large importing houses, who had partners
residing abroad to attend to invoices. orders,
&C. These delinqueneies not only aggre-
gated millions, but they stood against some
Of thu highest and wealthiest in the land
influential politicians and ofice-holders
were implicated to that extent that no de
cent way out of the difficulty was seen bu
by raising the cry of "spy," 'informer, y
assaulting the Character of honest merchants
for the purpose Of ''blsckmah." The me-
tropolitan press was aroused in sympathy
the Chambers of Commerce in the larg
! cities were wheeled into line to assist Il
''whistling down the wind" I
, man who had been intrustet
with untold millions of treasure as an agen
of Adams Express, and never lost dollar
q man who had made forty-seven trips ;
California and return across the Isthmus o
i Darien In charge Of millions on millions o
+ dust, and never word was breathed sgsins
|, his honesty. This was the man of piucl
I and endurance with whom the Secretar,
contracted to recover those millioas of thu
peoples money which the wealthy robber
Or the land were keeping back after the.
had collected them from tbs consumers
Ian the large cities, with their. pres
} and Chambers of Commerce and Board
of Trade, have unitsd 70 blast tn
character of John d. Sanborl
that they may save their own. They hav
) been able TO hunbuE the House, but III
3 Senate hesitates and the culprits tremblt
; They think of Tseed and shiyer. Th'
) Tribune piteousJ begs the Senate to hav
s mercy on them 1t urges it to pass tn
: merchants bid and condone the crimes Q
e the past The Chamber of Commerc
A. l.