The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-05-13
REVENUE REFORM.
\ RATTLING OF DRY BONES.

A RATTLING OF DRY BONES.
WHY DOUGLASS STEPPED DOWN AND OUT
AN INVESTIGATION THAT CAN BUT BEAR
FRUITS.
The retiring of Commissioner Douglass
from the Revenue Department is to be fol-
lowed by other reforms, while the retiring
gentleman is to be kindly cared for by a
charitable executive. For particulars the
reader is referred to the sub
joined special from the Washington
correspondent of the Chicago Tribune:
Mr reon Douglas your the feS 6osiao1
you hold has been rendered to
Eek Senator Pratt, who has accepted the
same" These words, spoken by the secre-
tary of the treasury to Mr.. Douglass, until
yesterday commissioner of internal reve-
nue., were the first intimation that Douglass
had that he was removed. There have for
some weeks been rumors OF a prospective
change in the chief of the internal revenue
bureau. The fact that the friends of
Douglass mentioned him in conr ection with
the prospective vacancy on the bench of the
Court of Claims, and with the probable va
cancy in the Western United States Judicial
District of Pennsylvania, strengthened these
Tumors, but it was not expected that the
change would come so soon, or that Doug
lass could be removed, except 10 be ap-
pointed TO some other place. The persons
who alone know the real reasons for the
change do not make them public. The
president, however, is represented as author
ity for the statement that the removal was
not occasioned through any acts impugning
Douglass's official or personal integrity.
There is, of course, a medley of rumors con-
corning the cause for the change. The fol
lowing are some of them: Sam Bard was
s'too unanimous" tor Postmaster General
Jewell;
DOUGLASS HAS BEEN "Too INTIMATE"
for Secretary Bristow. Douglass was an old
friend of Bristow while the latter was solicit
tor of the department of justice, and has,
perhaps, made too frequent boasts of this
intimacy. The congress nan here say tina
Douglass was not enough of politician
and that he const sntly refused to permit his
bureau to be used for political purposes-a
charge for which Secretary Bris-
tow would certainly not have an
officer removed. The southern carpet
bag senators have always been opposed TO
Douglass for the reason that he would not
lend his best detective to them for the pur-
pose of hunting Ku-Klux, unless he was so
ordered by a higher power. There have
been minor differences between Doug ass
and Bristow. The decision of Douglass by
which the stamp printing was sent to New
York and three hundred women thrown
out OF employ Lncnt Was not dppTONcu ny
Br.stow. The recent action of Doug
lass in detailing revenue officers to search
tho banks for uncanceled stamps was with
out the knowledge of the secretary and with
out his approval Bristow construed the
law as giving the jurisdiction of such mat
ters to the controller of the currency, and
thought that Douglass's speed in rushing
into print was calculated to ipjure the de-
partment by advertising an autagonism and
conflicting jurisdiction between two impor-
tant bureaus. Some republican congress
men here also say that Douglass
CoQUErTED TOO MUCH WITH THE DEMO-
Gratis;
that he was continually seeking the favor of !
leading democrats and OF republicans who
hang upon the verge of the party. There is
more serious going on in connec-
ton with the internal revenue affairs of the
than the removal of Commissioner !
Douglass, and it is just to Douglass to state