New-York tribune., 1874-05-05

received which per party the second
y Of the Treasury the balance Of said money to be paid into Inc
sp This ccnr.ctmay revoked At any time at hslPls'sure
In witness whereof the sid psf,e, their hands and
seals the day aud year sSoy' wre1 s,e,. oftse Treasury
Attest: r. C. B,yrisIO W. H. KSLsHr
tSeal Of the Treasury Department. , ,
All the subsequent contracts were similar III ptoVl9-
ions
OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF GOVERNMENT OFFICERS TO
ASSIST sANBoRN.
The Committee call attention to the fact that the law
provides Tor the employment of three persons to assist
the proper officers in discovering and collecting" while
the contracts provide the contractors may proceed
10 collect" thereby ignoring the internal revenue OIL
GERS altogether while IL should have been stipulated
merely that they should assist the on1ers. SahDorn
under his contract allowed One-halI OF thc gross
sum collected The Committee further call attention to
JaGt Ia bo Ig s NOT have fully set forth in written
statement under OATH the character OF the claim out OF
which he proposes to recover or assist recovering the
moneys for the United states the laws by the violation
of which the same has been withheld. and the name OF
the person, firm corporation having withheld such
Under this provision Secretary Boutwell, the s'h Of
June 1s72 hv the first order Of the Treasury Depart
ment, issued in relation the employment Of persons
under this act directed that persons applying Tor con
tracts shall to his satisfaction, set forth in written
statement under oath to be held in his Office the cnar
acter in detail OF the claim. the name OF the person
! firm, corporation withholding the money
the laws by the violation OF which the money
has been withheld, and the evidence by which the
claim is TO be supported; upon dong whch written
contract will be made, upon such terms and conditions
as shall deem best for the interests Of the United
States. The Committee believe that TINS requirement
of Secretary Boutwell, was In exact conformity to the
law but they unable TO And in any case hat tne
conditions forth by the Secretary have been com
Piled WITH 1t is evident nat the proper officers OF the
Government, referred to in the law, could only nave
been taken to mean officers OF the Internal Revenue
THE COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE NOT
CONSULTED.
| The Committee cannot ascertain that tho Commits
sioner of Internal Revenue. any ocer of his depart
ment. consulted before at the tme or since the
made, that he was advised as to the
making of the contracts of the character OF the claims
ii was intended thereby to be collected No communi-
cation the subject ever passed from the secretary TO
that OF the COMMISSIONER. NO orler III r1karu t9 ~
nor were any collections or other actpns OF
his subOrdnates reported TO him until after action
was taken the House, calling upon the Secretary for
information III relation TO these collections In 1at IL
IL shown that the Commissioner wrote letter, protest
inraganst the manner of these collections 20 the Sec
retary which has never been answered. Indeed, TINS
collection of these taxes, appears have been
dousy ignored by the Secretary of the Treasury and
the officers IN the office OF the secretary. Ana without
the knowledge Of the Commissioner, his s1DOrdlnat's
directed 10 assist these contractors and IN no ca
can the Committee md that the contractors assisted
| this officer
collection Of taxes, placed at the disposal OF San
bOrD the following proofs cOncusyey show. 1t ap-
pears that Secretary Boutwell, Issued the following or
Treasury DarARrsrsr Feb. 3. 1873.
Err 1oa are qae % 70 ] s,,' 'H5 o SSe T. ] oe CO., % Of ess
yosoa Of the LITERAL Revenue laws as be may your c6pa
Mr sarbo acting under an appointment from me- and mar need
some information from the aud assessors the
purpose " ''s GFosSs 1 BoUES Sscres Of the Treasury
t. Supervisors and Collectors Of Internal Revenue -.
And, again, Secretary Richardson Issued the fol-
| lowing: . 900
| To Supervisors and Collectors OF Internal Rsgsale
You requested assist John Sn6o Of boston in The eEna
may ask ior your cooperation.
r,cn m and ma nsi .oe s All aioraioD from oll district for
pt.as. rcD le-b r, gisl assistance \ re1nires.
t''-'' Very specially. WM T. Ricu.RD,ov
The evidence OF Supervisors HawIey ana simmons
shows that they regarded these oreers as requiring them
ability in the collection Of taxes in whatever he
might desire their aid and il is also shown by these
under their control in the pay of the Internal Revenue
| Bureau who did collect, while in such employ aud
under such pay, much the largest part OF the total
amount credited as collected by sanborn' ana oI
ind that some Of the agents Of Stubborn who were not
emplOyGs Of the Government, were, without authority
OF law furnished by the Secretary and Assistant Secre
tary Of the Treasury with special letters to the super
visOrs AMI collectors throughout the country. ealing
upon said officers aid and assist them as they might
require In addition to tins, 10 more completely arm
them with power TWO of these same agents were fur
! solicitor Of the Treasury.
| IMMENSE CONTRtCrs IMPROPERLY AWARDED.
IT is the option OF the Committee that large
percentage If nOta of the $4,000 Of taxes collected
by SanbOrn proper subject of contract under
the law and these taxes should ana would have been col
lecte by the Internal Revenue Bureau In the ordinary
discharge OF their duty 1t is clear that the legacy
and succession taxes should not have been made a
tnat would need to be discovered, II tue Internal
revenue officers 10 their duty under the law and IN
sructous Of the Department. making all cases of legacy
and succession matter OF record in the internal
revenue Offices the country Even # it were not so,
hey certainly matters or record IN the probate ana
surrogate courts of the country so that they could not
in the discovery of which aid was necessary
"a mm 80 iitg az reSurod nv law and te instructions of
/ ,Ito "A a ID
os these taxes fen due large sums have
| presumption ought TO he that the other Internal
| Revenne officers of the country did their duty
ms ana Supervisor Tuition. OF this class OF taxes about
100000 has been collected under these contracts, II is
shown by the evidence before the Committee that about
$4,000 was collected by Supervisors Hawley aud Sim.
mons from taxes imposed by Schedule of the Internal
Revenue laws for the collection OF which no contract
Nevertheless sauborn claimed and allowed 30 per
cent thereof By the testimony OF Mr. Odell Treasurer
| OF the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
Company, and tnat of Supervisor Hawley, it very
clearly appears that the sums collected from the Della
ware, Laciawanna and Western Railroad Company be-
ing about 100000 all known 10 the Internal Rev
enye officers and were collected by them, which col
| lection should have been made in the ordinary dis
charge OF their duties and without cost TO the Govern
In this collection very singular c!rcumstanco"oc
must OF necessity have advised sanborn OF the
mttance OF the check which was made payable to the
directly to HIM ON the 9th of January last The Com
mttee nd that the day after its remittance in New
1Ofk III was TeColN6u ny vi
10 Washing gtOn; and the following day Mr. SanbOTu
wrote 10 Secretary from NewYork giving the amount
ana number OF the check and asked that Onehalf OF
the sum be paid TO hlm Treasurer Odel testiies that
| no one IN New-YOrk but himself ana his clerk could
| have possibly known the number OF the check The
Committee do not consider II important TO give In de-
tail the different circumstances under which the cr
ent collections made by SanOOrn The foregoing
are simply samples Of many others shown by the tes
i mony
| WHAT WILL HAPPEN II THE LAW IS NOT REPEALED.
II this law is repealed and these contracts
| in force the contractor. pOWer
that be now possesses, will collect all the due
| the Government under repealed laws. These taxes