The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-05-14
COLUMBIA SC.
Friday Morning, May ia, 1885,.
Tho WhIskey Troubles,

.y --y ---9------se, ~ -, NNsSssss.
J The, WhIskey Troubles.
Immense frauds in whiskey distilla-
'Szon and sole have been brought to light
I'm several Northwestern States. The
Government he's seized large distilleries
and reotifying houses in st. Louis, Chi
'eago, Milwaukee, Pskin, Cincinnati aud
esther places, and the Secretary Of tho
Treasury has directed that legal steps
be taken ut all, points where the frauds
have been discovered against oil con-
,cerned in them, md that officers Of tho
Government who have been implicated
i'm them sbe removed. A regular whis-
hey crusade, has been instituted, and
distilled property TO the amount OF
$1,000, 900 .Yas seized on Tuesday.
About tho hrst of: this month, Mr.. L.
Cass Carpenter, Collector of Internal
Revenue for this District, represented at
Washington. that illicit dieSillation wa.
,rarried on here TO IN alarming extent,
sAnd that several revenue officers had
saeen murdered while attempting to
suppress the sale of contraband. whiskey.
It is plain now that he was mistaken in
the locality where the abuses existed,
which he wished to correct by the use of
troops, and the murdered men were
tohly Of the mythical sort, known as
Mooney, Leggett and Christopher. The
Commissioner, upon investigation, said
hewas unable to discover any lawless-
ness in the district and told the Col
Eector to make ON honest effort to collect
the rerenue, and, furthermore, informed
him that such aid should not be asked
euntil it is clearly established that the
-~sisil power was helpless to execute the
'lnws. Mr. Douglass further added, that
:fe did not believe that the Collector,
who was only appointed after the ad-
lournment.of Congress, had had time or
opportunity to encounter the despera-
does, whose sanguinary operations he
reported to the Department.
!a1l.Geed citizens will wish SUCCESS to
The investigations of the Secretary of the
Treasury. Illicit distillation defrauds
1.-The Government, infectal the morals of
teAe people, and spreads broadcast the
evil Of drunkenness. On every account
Ut should be put down, and put down
promptly. The abuses in this depart
satsent are exactly such as exist in all
'stAer departments of the Government.
Xaike the rest; they are the outcroppings
'szf corrupt system. They find head
aad centre where the large operations
are carried ON, and where Inducements
.cKiat to form rings to profit by them.
'Ehe Credit Mobilier ring crystallizes
sahout q great railroad across the conti-
'UeNt a custom house ring seeks the
sssmmercial capital Of the country, a
political ring to RUN the Southern out
rage machine, naturally has its head
quarters in Washington, with branches
2n the capitals of the several Southern
'EnfTapies, and 50 on dd iyinitum. Whis-
Hey rings come into play where whiskey
rs great business, as it is in the North
'Eest! The; Government has 80 con-
.-strueted its laws, and 30 hedged this
buzine ess with regulations and conditions,
,as prnctically to deny to the Southern
Htates ehy participation in it. AS q
business, it has been given to the West,
.asad we remember cases where persons
were compelled to abandon it in this
Siate, having become convinced by the
n3stacles thrown in their way, that it was
Ehe policy of the Government not to
favor it here, but to give it to the West.
.Rhis was hardly intended as such, but it
.aas proved blessing in disguise. Men
|trink whiskey here as elsewhere, un-
fortunately, but we have not the manu-
factories of the stuff in full blast among
as, with all its demoralizing and injuri-
-1ns s,consequences. It is impossible that
Ik can be great evil with US, either AZ
legitimate business or as contraband.
It is necessarily small and limited. We
ars not surprised. therefore. that the
Commissioner should have listened in
,-Eedulously to the oock-and-bull stories
of the new Collector, and sent him
aw0y with fea in his ear. When he
zold him to go about his business and
cease his talk about troops, fictitious
:snurderers, &c., he did just what every
4fody approved. We gfieve to see, how