The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-06-23
DOnNYBRooK FAIR.

BUTLER DEFENDS MoIETIEs AND ASSAULTS
CHRISTIAN MERCHANTs-HE ALSO GOES FOR
HIS COLLEAGUEs--FosTER INTERFEREs AND
| Is ROUGHLY HANDLED : TREMAINE AND
ROBERTS TO THE Observation-Disclosures YOU
| SEE A HEAD, HIT 1T!
| washington dispatches give an interesting
account of the strange scenes that occurred
in the House on Friday evening Crowds
flocked to witness the snow, as if it were the
celebration OF some brutal sport. The tele-
gram saws: Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts,
was complmented this evening with the
largest audience that has been seen in the
House this session. A large portion OF the
members were in their seats. The speaker
himself was in the chair. The galleries on
the four sides of the hall were crowded with
spectators, and correspondents of news
papers filed the reporters gallery. Mr.
Butler spoke at length in defeEse of the
moiety system. No personal relatlons, ne
| said. should enter into what he was spout 10
saw He desired only to raise warning
voice against what he regarded as unwise
| le0islation After comparing the revenue
| laws of England with this country, Mr..
| Butler said the mere smuggler brings IN MS
| goods in small vessels, but the great impor-
ter brings in his three-thOUsand-ton ships,
and bribes custom-house officers to let them
| in or by a confederate partner sweaFs them
through and makes hundreds of thousands
of dollars by single venture, and IN comes
a merchant prince and probably builds
| church out of his gains, and becomes noted
for his charities which advertises his house
and brings il custom. This is no fancy PIC
ture But il is said that we must take for
I granted that merchants are honest; that II IS
not to be assumed that they Will deiraud
the Government. and that all this machinery
they happen to make mistakes. The COM
mittee seem to have forgotten that when
merchant makes a mistake the law provides
for the remission of the penalty. No penal
ty can be inflicted upon merchant II ne
can convince the secretary of the treasury
that it was only mistake. Before an in
former could make money by detecting
crime. crime must have been committed
Somebody must cheat the revenue before
anybody can inform against him. Mr.. But
Ter proceeded to relate how the law which
authorized American statuary to be import
ed free of duty, had been taken advantage
/ of by Phelps, Dodge Il Co., who imported
statues of the Goddess of Liberty, of Wash
ington, and of Jefferson in lead, tin and
copper, and then turned them from the
warehouse into
MELTING POT,
and he quoted from the Congressional Globe
what Thaddeus Stephens stated as fscts be-
fore the House in the thirty-sixtn congress,
and vet William Il. Dodge stated in the COM
mittee room of the ways apd means commit
Tee that up to 1872 his firm had never been
charged with anything against the revenue,
and he had drawn tears from the eyes ofthe
committee, if reporters we're 10 be believed
TLaughter.l He could imagine how old Mr..
James, the Liverpool partner of the firIn,
laughed as he chucked down the goddess of
liberty into the hold Langhter.l De
knew a Boston merchant lalluding to VIII
liams. wine importer, who, having been
detected in frauds in the revenue, went ana
committed suicide, thereby coniessing his
guilt. and. il old Mr.. James had done the
same thing, it would only have been like
confession OF guilt. But importing lead. tin
and copper as statues of the goddess OF lib
erty. of Washington and of Jefferson, was not
bv auy means the most serious reid that
Phelps, Dodge & Co. had madeOn the revenue.
In 1864 before Grant had organized the army
of the Potomac to cross the Rapidan, when
gold was $50, Congress passed resolution
Increasing ali tariff duties 30 per cent. for 60
davs. Dodge went to the treasury depart
ment and had comma taken out of one
place and put in another, and thereby
; cleared s., $50. 600. In comparison with that,
What signified the $500 GOO fraud on the i'm
portatlOn of fruit by the change ofa comma?
he spoke OF Dodge making long sermons by
, day and prayers by night, while his partner
was defrauding the government TO the
) amount of millions, and he himself was
giving thousands for the church. Referring
to the check for $99, 900 sent by the treasurer
of the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad
Company in payment of taxes, and TO the
curious fact that Sanborn, in New York,
knew the number and description of the
check sent TO the treasury department, he
said that fact was not so remarkable after
all, as the clerk who wrote the check was
who had given the information to Sanborn.
: [Lauehter.l There was a proyerb, that il
you "scratch Russian, you find Tartar, y
and so if you scratch one of Phelps, Dodge
& Co., you find defrauder of the revenue
[Laughter.l IL so happened that William
E. Dodge was chairman of the executive
committee of that very railroad company
which owed this 100000 for delinquent
taxes; and this, said he, is William r
: Dodge, of the firm of Phelps, Dodge IL Co.
the merchant prince, the christian mer-
chant, y ho imports American statues, at the
risk of breaking the nose of the Goddess OF
, Liberty, when she is made of lead. Laugh
{ teri He had letter read from Tenny as
! sistant district attorney of BROOKLYN. refer.
: ring to Mr.. Beck, of Kentucky, as powerful
: : member of the democratic party, who would
. bring the Sanborn matter to the front
ILaughter.l He also had a letter read
; written by Foster, of Ohio, and which had
J been picked up in the streets of BROOKLYN
in which he said that he had been ''pre.
pared to rap old Cockeye." [Roars OF laugh.
ter, in which Butler himself joined most
: heartily, while wipiDg the perspiration from
!, his brow.] He also had read an affidavit
made by Martin Warwick, witness before
5 the ways and means committee, that Foster
# had said to him. in conversation at The Eb-
4 bitt House.; Damn Butler, he ought to be
u - IL
8 these contracts are Buffers friends, and you
t are his friend also."
q Mr.. Foster pronounced the statement an
uneqHivocable falsehood. and described
e Martin Warwick perfectly characterIess
s Mr.. Butler went on to comment uDOI
: Fosters animus in pursuing the Sanborr
h investigation, and said that he had mentioned
!. his Buffers name thirty.three times, ano