New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-06-27
FRAUDS ON THE REVENUE.

A correspondent in Brooklyn whose friendly
criticism of our position Oh the MOiety Bill we
published the other day deserves few words
of reply. Your pungently expressed indig-
nation against Ben Butler last week." he
says. "was too strong. unless Mr.. Dodge can
come out with flat-fOoted denial of the
"comma business and the Goddess OF Lib
"erty fraud. THE TRIBUNE cannot,
"must not, champion hypocrisy" We have
never put ourselves forward as the champion
of Mr.. Dodge. or any other individual
merchant; on the contrary, we have
insisted that the personal character of
the victims of CustOm-hOuse rapacity
had no bearing upon the question of reform.
TO suppose that we urged the repeal of the
Moiety law because tho most conspicuous of
the recent sufferers under it was Mr.. William
T.. Dodge, and because we believed William
L. Dodge to be a good man, is gross mis-
apprehension of our motives and object. The
reasons for repeal would have been just as
strong if the victim had been William NJ.
Tweed. The Moiety law was a scandal be-
cause it could not be enforced without hide
GUS abuses. because it imposed penalties en-
tirely disproportiOnate to the alleged Offense.
because it punished men mercilcssly for techn
cal and unntentiOnal infractiOns of the statutes,
and gagged tho amount of the punishment not
by their guilt but by their fears and their neces-
Sites because it demOralizef the whole Gus
toms Service, and because it violated the
time-hOnOred doctrines of personal liberty
which were once 80 dear to every patriotic
American. The defense of Mr.. Dodge there
fore was not pertinent to the main issue; and
although the great forfeiture case in which
his firm was involved has frequently been re-
ferred to as an illustration of the expressions
of the law, his conduct in other transactions
was not under examination, and it was not
our part to protect the honorable reputa
ton which he has earned by a virtuous life.
The firm however, has /" come out with a
4" fiat footed denial" and we fancy our cOrre-
spondent will find it sufficiently pointed and
emphatic. Gen. Butler charged Phelps, Dodge
g. Co. with fraudulently importing lead in the
form of "statuary" in order to avoid the duty.
The answer to this is that when the famous
lead statuary cases occurred, the firm was not
vet in existence. and none of the present or
the late members of it had any connection
with the metal importing business, Mr.. William
E. Dodge being at that time dry-goods mer-
Dodge with inducing Secretary Fessenden to
transpOse a comma in tariff bill, whereby
the Government was defrauded OF millions
which it ought to have received in the form of
increased duty on tin plates, The reply which
we print to-day makes it perfectly clear that
there never was any intention in Congress to
make the increase of duty 600 per cent? which
Gen. Butler pretends, and that the construc-
ton adopted without any hesitation by the
Secretary was the only reasonable and just
one. Moreover, Mr. Fessenden, who was Chair
man of the Senate Finance Committee during
the debates on the bill, framed the disputed
sentence himself, and must have known, il
anybody did, precisely what it meant. These
answers are final There is nothing more to
be said by Mr. DOdge-or by Gen. Butler.
Our cOrrespOndent-leaving the case of
Mr.. DOdge-is afraid of the encourage
ment of smuggling by the abolition of the
Moety Bill. 1t has escaped his notice that in
respect to smuggling the moiety system has
not been abolished. Officers of the Customs,
or other persons detecting or Selling snug
gled goods, are to receive compensation not
exceeding half the proceeds of the seizure,
and the discovery of other frauds or ATTEMPT
Oh Irduub Oh tut TcNcHu0 10 W Dc rewarded
by an allowance from the Secretary of the
Treasury, which is not to exceed $1,000 in any
one case. Thus officers and informers have n
sufficient Indictment to diligence, and if thew
fail to prevent smuggling it will be no fault
of the law. Whatever is really valuable in
the statute has been retained. The features
that have been abolished are the arbitrary and
intOlerably oppressive seizure of books and
papers, the blackmail operations of special
agents, the wholesale plumber of importers for
technical Offenses, the corruption of merchants,
clerks, and the distribution of the proceeds of
enormous fOrfeitures among a few political
functionaries who have really had nothing to
do with the discovery of the alleged frauds.
But even if the Government should get a lit
tie less revenue under the new system than il
did under the DID, the reform which has lust
been accomplished must nevertheless be
accepted as salutary. The chief end of
Government is not to extort money, and
it is better for the United States to lose some
of its Just dues than to collect them by violent
and demoralizing methods That there may
be rather more difficulty in carrying out our
absurd and complicated Customs laws, now
that we have abandoned official blackmailmr.
we are quite ready to believe but the remedies
are to be found, first in the selection of a
better class of Custom house officers. and
secondly in tho simplifcation Of the revenue
Rystam uDOn which We have alWaya ins;stad