The daily gazette., 1875-07-12
From the New York World.
CROOKED WHTSKEY.


A st. Louis letter In the Chicago
Tribune, over the well-known initials
Nv. NJ. Co." presents, some curious
information concerning the operation
Of the Republican whiskey ring il
Missouri. The correspondent, what
ever his immediate antecedents may
have been, now processes to write
from an orthodox Republican stand
point, and proceeds to charge the mis-
fortunes, or rather the utter insignif.
canoe of the Republican party in Mis-
souri,, to the quarrels of two factions
among the party managers, over the
division of profits arising from opera
tions in CROOKED whiskey." II one
desires to know why the 'people's'
ticket was defeated last autumn, and
who a Democratic Mayor was elected
In st. Louis, this spring, the answer,
according to this authority, is "crook.
ed whiskey." 1t was crooked d
whiskey" that established the Glo5t
In opposition to the ns.nn l--i =.
was'In same puissant magician that
united the twain under the existing
title of Globe Democrat. The value Of
the stealings, of the ring since 1871 is
estimated by this correspondent at 81 :
200, 900 per annum in st. Louis alone.
He candidly confesses his despair of a
reviva! Of Republican supremacy in
Missouri until after the overthrow OF
the present managers of tho Republi-
can party in the State, some of whom,
he thinks, might with advantage to
the party be"sent to the penitentiary. u
This being the case, he should look
with more complacency on the defeat
of Carl Schurz in so far as it involved
the defeat of both corrupt factions Of
the party of Carl Schurz.
1t is not i'm Missouri alone that
CROOKED whiskey" has exerted a po
tent influence upon the fortunes of the
Republican party. Just as true as il
is that Federal officials control the or.
ganization in each OF the States, is it
that wherever there are whiskey dis
tilleries evading the law these officials
are directly or indirectly interested in
their profits. II may not be that q
high-toned Suvervisor ofInternal Reve.
nue. receives money deliberately for
permitting stealing togo on, but where
his subordinates bring the pressure to
bear upon him to shut his eyes or to
look the other way, on the plea that
the party will suffer If trouble is made
he stills his conscience with the
thought that temporary wrong may
be winked at if party control may be
thereby be maintained. But this is
not the governing motive with all of
these superior officials. The Internal
Revenue Department is permeated
with corruption, and there is reason
to believe that too often the under
standing is direct between the viola
tors of the law and those whose duty
1t is to see, through their subordinates
that the law is obeyed. Many of the
recent faction fights among the Repub.
lican managing men have grown out
of treachery of one side or the other
in the matter Of dividing the spoils
arising from "crooked whiskey."
The experience of Missouri Is by no
means unique. New York, Massachu-
setts and Illinois have witnessed strug
giles that have shaken the party ma
chine to its centre, and Gen'l Butler,
if he were put on the rack and the
truth thus extracted from him, could
unfold tale that would satisfy the
members of the st. Louis ring that
they know only the rudiments Of the
art of cheating the Government
through official collusion with distil-
lers.
Though it is popularly supposed that
the whiskey frauds were most rife in
the timo of Internal Revenue Commits
sioner Rollins, and that there has been
a change for the better since then, the
fact is that if there is any diminution
of crime 1t is only because the busi-
ness of manufacturing whiskey has
contracted in volume. Public officials
are not any the less corrupt. They
take all that is within their reach, and
will continue to do so as long as the
present Federal Administration retains
the management. There will be no
reform, no honest collection of the
Government revenue, no removal OF
this influential cause of public demor-
alization until the present occupants
of the Federal offices are swept away
by Democratic restoration and a
system of taxation framed by Demo
cratic statesmen, which is not trap
for merchants, bribe to smugglers
and a nit for revantie 0ff1cara