The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-03-09

well to understand that this question in no wa
11toives tariff though it may emanate from it
1t is lmmaterial for the purpose of its consider
atlon whether the duties ON imports are high O.
low. The evils which they claim are in tn,
correction of taxes and in their execution BY
omclals and agents subordinate to the Treas
uiy department., and it is not necessary tt
make lmputatiOns against any political party
In my experience have found that bad law.
and bad men are evils which no government
should be held responsible in saying this. How
ever, let me not be understood as intending te
relieve the present administration of the
shameful increase in the oppressive executions
made upon the merchants fOf New York since
IL heid the relns of power The system of al.
lowing mOieties to informers and spies is not a
new thing in this country. 1t has existed as
long as the government ITSELF
ne then referred to the tariff act of 1799 I'M
der winch considerable smuggling was accom-
piished on the coast and claimed the subse-
quent laws OF 1866 and 1867, relative to mole
ties, simply aggravated the difficulty without
aiding the revenue.
Inc law OF 1867 was rushed through Congress
at midnight of the last DAYS of the session.
This law repealed all former laws that protect
ed honest merchants. and conferred extraordi-
nary powers upon the collector of customs and
officials.
Mr.: Wood then PROCEEDED to show how a
merchant could be entrapped in the tolls of
, custom house officials on technicalities, The
judges in all suits being parties who are pecu-
marty in the result He referred to the infor-
mer who brides clerk to betray the secrets of
a merchants counting room, besides bribing
the clerk to make errors in order that seizures
may be made, saying such outrages were COM
mirted.
1t is said that recently the judge of the
Southern district declared in relation to cases
pending in that court for seizure that the
government cases appeared to have collapsed
VI all that were on the calendar, only five or
six have been tried,
1t SENS that when a little squeezing is
brought to bear upon the defendants in these
cases they disappear. What this squeezing is,
may be well imagined. An intelligent writer
ID one OF the leading papers of New York,
thus refers to it:
He says the squeezing may be the handle
process OF detective Jayne, or the high moral
pressure ct District Attorney Bliss, whose fine
intellectual principles would scarce stoop to
the coarse process of the professional informer.
Whatever it is, it has always proved effectual,
as hundreds of plundered merchants could tes-
tify.
Mr. Wood, after referring to the enormous
sums of money paid regular officials and infor-
mers up to last November, said; These sums
do not include the interests which officials in
the cases pending in U. S. Court"
have been furnished by an official with
statement of customs seizure cases on the cal
endar of that court February "a, 1874. They
are twenty-four in number, for about 800, 600
in amount, which together with suit to re.
cover of 800, 900, makes an aggregate of about
$500 OOO of which these officers and informers
would be entitled to one-half in case the prose-
BUTTONS were successful.
1 have reason to believe that since the aeita-
tion of this subject, other suits covering much
larger schemes are in contemplation by govern
ment officers in New York.
For Boston the Secretary gives statement
only from March 1, 1869, to December 81, 1873.
What his motive was for having included for
New York the amount for period interior to
March 4th, 1869, is not given. This was all he
was asked for by the resolution of the House,
and why he should have gone back as far as
1903, for New York. and not for Boston, is also
unknown. But his statement for Boston in
principal is very much like that of New York.
ures of March /, 1869, to December 81, 1873,
for port of Boston shows the whole amount re-
celved was $685. 40l %; of which S305, 247. go
was divided outside the treasury. Of this the
collector received $50 SIG So naval officer $780,
1877 "a; surveyor, S5OS17.6 Co., thus leaving $751;
ABB. Is to inf0rmers, most of which found its
way into tho hands Of the invincible Jayne.
Comment upon these facts thus officially COM
municated is unnecessary. The enormous
Sums received by those who have been clothed
by official authority by the treasury department
as spies and InfOrmers, are proof of the de-
1t certainly cannot be necessary in this free
government that our system SO antagOnistic to
our institutions should exist. Where the in
ducement is SO great for one to prey upon each
other it is expecting too much of them to be
withheld by any merely moral consideration
clothed with power by the government and in
cited by avarice that class of men who may be
called spies and infOrmers are not restrained by
any consideration. The class of men engaged in
the business had no thought of the reputation
N..xk E.
of consequences. The enlightened governments
of Europe have long snoe abauduneu this mode
of securing revouue. Even Paris has discarded
Practice which has become repulsive to
Frenchmen.. In these days OF progress, intelll,
gence and high moral principles this country of
all others, should make haste to rid itself of
all evils of this character. Public opinion will
not long endure it. If we cannot collect our
revenues and maintain the expenses of the gov
ernment without resorting to practices which
are darker than anything which occur red dur
ing the days of the Spanish iniquisitiOn, there
must be something radically wrong We had
better institute a despotism at once and give it
limited authority over the lives and property Of
the people,
He then referred to the passage of the bill
authorizing the notorious Sanborn contracts, de
nouncing them a secret agency unknown to
the head of the bureau of internal revenue, and
the grOsseSt Outrages had been committed I'M
der said contracts. The same species of Eintm
idatlon and oppression was adopted by the
custom house officials, their spies and reform
ers, and large sums were collected, one-half of
which had gone into the pockets of these per-
sons.
1t will thus be seen that authority really
conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury
has been abused. One law authorized him to
employ three persons to assist the officers of
the government in collecting revenue which
heretofore had been evaded. His sole power
was conferred to appointing persons to act in
cooperation and in consultation with the exist
ing official instead of which he conferred indie
pendent powers upon t"em, making them a
contract allowing them fifty per cent of the
amount recovered and giving them secret in
structions outside of and unknown to even the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue himself
who is by law clothed with absolute authority
over every thing appertaning to internal reve-
nue..
The government does not know and of course
Congress cannot know considering the charac-
ter of the men employed, directly or indirectly,
and the probabilities are that not one dollar in
five of the amount recOved has ever found its
way to the Treasury, but enough has already
been reported which shows that these three
persons have pocketed within three years at
least $500, 900 piece. The Commissioner of
Internal Revenue says that in his judgment not
ore dollar has been covered into the Treasury
from these sources that could not have been as
well collected by the regular officers OF his
bureau without any cost whatever for so doing,
with ample power to have recovered every dol
lar really belonging to the gvernment and
therefore that the creation of this authority
outside and independent of him, has, whilst ii
has brought nothing in that would not have
otherwise come, considerably hindered and
embarrassed bis own agents in the discharge of
their official duties.s
There is secret information somewhere and
it is not for me to say what is sufficient for to-
day is the evil thereof. We have to deal with
facts as they exist and SO perform our duties as
to remedy abuses of such character. Upon
my motion the Committee of Ways and Means
have unanimously agreed to report bill to re-
peal that section Of the law to which have re-
ferred which authorized the Secretary to make
tn appointments. When that bill is before
the House for discussion shall have something
more to say upon this subject which l shall say
without fear though it may be dstateful to
some of the members of the House. He cen
cluded by arraisning the Republican party of
dereliction of duty on fifteen different counts.