New-York tribune., 1874-01-02
DISHONEST PERQUISITES.
=. SPECIAL ALLOWANCES IN THE INTER-
" VA. REVENUE BUREAU.

,,opE OFFICE NORMALLY MOVED TO Boff"H'
so THAT THE BUREAU SHOULD PAY TIE 81
prRylsoR's HOTEL BuIs-THIs Is ApoPIhp AS AS
,,pcrnrNr FOR ALL OTHER SUPERVISORS
TItRoUGHoUT TIE COUNTY,
-, T,,r REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or THE TRiBuSE'I
'w.suIycroy. Dec 2a-The attention of Congress
will he called. early in the present session. 10 'o
ooossit,, of reorcanizDg the entire working ioroe
90, l., formal Revenue Bureau. The inquiry WIZ
,I,,bIv begin with the clerical force employed III
.o Rureau proper in this city, Out VIII eA-
Ind 70 the compensation paid ooheotoiS'
s,or,-isors. &c, all over the country
Mo custom of granting special allowances 10
Couoc+ors instead of requiring thom 10 pay the ex-
,,s.e of thcif Offices out of a percentage on ther
u.ctions will also be criticised and remedy pro-
ro.e5 THE TRIBUNE has heretofore, both editoil
aIlv and in its correspondence, called attention !"
tbs growing practice. and shown its tendency 10 ca
trsyaeant expcuditur by Collectors for clerks anu
l,,tine.nt exreuses A Tecontorder has transferred
tbe exercise of this power from the Commissioners VI
Irtcrnal Revenue to the Secretary of the Treasury
hat the wrong principle remains and needs 10 DC to
for,,ed. If every additional clerk employed re-
dpe,s bv the amount of ealary paid him, tho per-
,al c,,,Dersation of the Collector the latter VIII
,,t,r,llv exercise the strIctost economy; or II nc
l rnt he and not the Government, Is
A. l.r But If The Secretary OF tle
rre,s,rv or the Commissioner of Internal revenue
g. tbo Collectors salary and determine now huen
he shall have fer expenses independently VI 'no
~ = r,,,o,,no collected. experience has shown
U,a. ibe Collector viii generally employ as many
.f.,ts os ba can Undue. The Government ID pay ioi
r., fine actual official records ~ can De Slo"u .i"'
lo1i.. eypenses of Collector VINO Is P'iu pS
"..i,l allowance" iu almost every case loiln
I,oarperc,utago ot the amount Of revenue ooHcC'cu
.rf,trt an frlg frQf
ing line Same amount OF rev1nU1, Were Tue ol'oI
receives a percentage on his collections
attbe mos. serious objection TO the practice OF
r,,,rr Collectors by special allowance Is that IL
milo. flyoritisn possible ana lodges in the hands
oftbe Secretary of tie Treasury and the Comnls-
sio.cr Of Internal Revenue power that no Govern
mont officer not even the President himself, ought
tocrer.ise-the power to iiA arbitrarily the COM
,s,,saton of two hundred and fifty Government
oli,e-s. The Secretary OF the Treasury Is not
allowed TO tx the salaries OF the clerks IN the De
parfmeat cycn who are employed under ms personal
suyervlsion and bill introduced IN Congress 10 III
,~.,s, Than, % pcr cent has caused endless debate
Rms he cln and does increase reduce tie salaries
of COLLECTORS of Internal Revenue at Will.
The cost of coilcoi ing the revenue for the year
ending June 80, 1872 was 39S per cent; for 1913 1t
was III per cent. The amount collected IN 1878 was
Sl.5&S4sO As; the amount IN 1872 was $il'5Zo-
l27 49, The Office expenses OF Collectors during
1913 were more than $4,000 more than in lS'2 when
the revenue collected was Sl200O00 greater More
Collectors were paid by special allowance IN 1873
than IN 1872 which explains the facts here set forth
Asa sample of the tendency toward extravaganza
in tho Internal Revenue Bureau as well as in other.
Departments Of the civil service, the following
figures are copied from the official table showing
the salaries and expenses of Supervisors Of Internal
Revenue. The district in which these expenses
were incurred Is that of which New York City Is the
headquarters:
s EG29e go So % FoTS9fs sss e s77 IS7l ~
is5 s.7 5'Si ~ '2255 2255 90 6s.5 81 6s3 q i2i6 9s
The amount Of revenue collected in the State of
Ncw-York in 1872 was $2365lSJo 81; the amount
collected in 1873 was 5l92S5C3J 49, Thus it Will be
seen that, while the amount Of revenue decreased
the expenses of the Supervisors increased 81 pei
cent. A part of this increase may be explained as
follows: During Mr. Butchers administration OF
the Supervisors Office his residence was in New
York or Brooklyn, and the Supervisors Office was
nominaly az well actually where 1t ls now III
Cedar-st New-York But Mr.. Hawlcy, Mr.
Dntchers successor in office is resident OF Buffalo.
and when he was appointed, the Supervisors
headquarters were nominaly changed from New
York 70 Buffalo, although the business is all trans
change was simply to give the new Supervisor
additional compensation. 1t is not customary fol-
the Government TO pay the hotel bills OF officers
when they are at hOme' OF at the place where
their permanent offices are fixed. But if a Super
visor goes away from home on public business, then
HIS travelling expenses are refunded to him. If the
Supervisors nominal headquarters remained IN
New-York then Mr.. Hawley would not be allowed
TO charge his hotel bills, when he was in New York,
TO the Government; but since the headquarters
have been nomiually removed to Buffalo, although
none of the business is transacted there, the Super
visor is nouinally away from home when III New
York, aud his hotel bills there arc paid.
The increase of compensation in Mr.. Hawleys
case was only about thousand dollars and if this
was the only effect of the action of the Internal
Revenue Bureau, il would be matter Of compare
lively little Importance. But an extra allowance
given to officer of class establishes precedent
which the Bureau finds 1t impossible to disregard
when another officer of the class applies for it,
special allowance given Collector in district
is the strongest argument for a special allowance for
the Collector Of an adjoining district and even for
a former Collector in the same district whose
counts have already been settled In the same
way, the approval OF Mr Uawicy's hotel bills
made the Bureau pOweIless to refuse to pass the
hotel bills Of other Supervisors all over the
country whether they were on duty at their offices
OF elsewhere. In this way the salaries of all the
Supervisors have been increased and the law limit
ing their compensation to $500 eyaded. The de-
fense is that the Commissioner is directed to allow
the expenses necessarily incurred by Supervisors
But this was never construed to include the board
of the Supervisor when he was at his permanent
office until Mr.. Hawley appointed and it is
plain that the Bureau believed it necessary to have
MI. Hawley nOminally away from his office in order