The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-05-18
Gas Chilly Arsns.
Independent in Everything.
Tuesday, May 10. 1875.
whisky Frauds ana silk Frauds.

1t is said that Fl. B. ClaAin, the great
dry goods importer, of New York, when
asked why wholesale dealers could sell
silks less than cost Of importation, answer
ed Because they are struggled !
II has lust now been ascertained that
this ia true, and that customs officers and
government officials and importers form a
great ring by which the government is
cheated of millions of dollars by conniv-
ance of revenue officers, who get a share
of the stealings.
All this only shows that high duties are
not only wrong, but are an incentive to
frauds and stealings.
When Mr.. Bristows raid upon the dis
tillers and rectifers of illicit whisky was
first announced, it was intimated that his
enemies or opponents in that raid would
prove that most of these frauds were
begun since be assumed the management
of the treasury department. Whisky
frauds are certainly no new thing in our
fiscal history of the past decade, and it
remains to be seen whether the threat of
Mr.. Bristow's opponents can be made
good. But large increase in the whisky
frauds was nothing more than was
predicted when in the dying hours of the
Forty-third congress President Grant
went to the capitol and lobbied to its sue
cessful passage through the senate the
Tax bill increasing the tax on whisky from
70 cents to 80 cents a gallon. There has
certainly been no more potent agent Of
corruption in the internal revenue service
of the government than the exorbitant
tax which, in defiance of the simplest
fiscal science, successive Republican con-
crosses have kept on the manufacture Of
spirits as a tempting premium upon fraud.
When the tax on spirits was two dollars a
gallon there was hardly a distillery or re.
fnery in the country which was not the
centre of q whisky ring made up of the
proprietors Of the establishment and of the
inspectors and collectors of internal
revenue, who were placed in every estab-
lishment as inquistors to prevent the per-
petration of frauds upon the internal
revenue, The matchmaking exactions of
these government officers upon the manu-
facturers of crooked whisky were
often so exorbitant that it was in the long
run cheaper to pay the tax than to satisfy
the demands of corrupt government offici.
ais whose demands had to be satisged to
prevent government seizure. In proper
ton as the distilling industry was larger
in any given community, the circumference
of the whisky ring generally widened, until
from its centre in the west it reached, as
we now learn, the treasury and internal
revenue departments in Washington, where
it doubtless often controlled appointments
in the interests Of distillers and rectifers
When the tax was reduced to so cents g
Pallon the frauds diminished, for the very
obvious reason that the profits of illicit
distilling were thereby reduced Just ST. sc
gallon. When the tax was again raised
to 70 cents gallon the frauds of the
whisky ring were again increased, for tn,
equally obvious reason that the profits OF
illicit distilling were thereby increased q
cents gallon, In 1870, when the tax OF
spirits was so cents gallon, the quantity
of spirits which paid tax for the fiscal yea
ending with June was y, 1853 gallons
During the fiscal year 1874. when the tai
was 20 cents gallon, the quantity of spir
its which paid tax was only 60, 572, O6l gal
Ions. These figures show falling-off o
nearly 100000 gallons in the quantity o
spirits paying tax, directly attributable t
the increase in the tax, for it is more tina
probable that the actual production O
spirits on which the tax of 70 cents gallo
was lawfully due had increased, rattle
than diminished. 1t was simply inevitabl
that the increase Of the tax to 80 cents
gallon made by the last Republican con
gress at the instigation of Dawes and tn
whisky ring, and finally passed throug
the senate at the earnest solicitation of tn
president himself, should have added aC
tivity to the efforts of whisky manufactur
ers and internal revenue officers to escap
the payment of the tax, Whiskey can b
manufactured and sold at profit for 2
or q cents gallon, When the tax
more than thrice this amount the whisk
manufacturers can we'll afford, in order t
elude the tax. to pay the internal reyenu
officers in brides more than two-thirds tn
amount out of which they defraud the gov
eminent, and still make the fraud pay int
their own pockets 100 per cent on til
market value Of untaxed whisky. Wit
these inducements to fraud, it is simpl
impossible for Mr.. Bristow or any othe
secretary to do more than create sensa
ton by attacking the whisky ring. II
can never eradicate the frauds while tn
tax on whisky is so exorbitant, and the 10
ternal revenue bureau will continue to b
debauched while this halfcorrupt, hall
imbecile outcome of Republican fiscal ig
norance stands upon the statute book,