New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-10-08

government out of every cent OF the ta1
due. The Tilden distillery, of course Is
only one of many run crooked by distin-
on;shed members of the reform party.
Rnt to come down to official figures there
are two ways in which spirits entered in
bond can escape payment of tax without
eliminating the owners or custodlans.
Spirits exported can be withdrawn for
such purpose, under the law without pay.
ment of tax. The expectation of distilled
spirits, including alcohol, from the United
States. amounts to millions OF gallons
each year. Another source of loss OF tax
to the government is through accident, as
by the burning of warehouses. The great
Baltimore fire and government loss Is one
instance. But the Argus, in its eagerness
to show big steal gives our Democratic
distillers no credit on the side which
should explain portion of the difference
between spirits produced and spirits pay
ing tax, nor does the Picay4ne, the organ
of liquor dealers, for it reproduces the
Albany SANDER, adding the headline,
1888, 900, 900 Lost"
1t is an established fact, developed by
the result of trials instituted under the
direction of President Grant, that there
was a whisky ring. There was branch
ring in this city, perhaps known to the
Picayune. A few solid merchants and dis
tillers, with plenty of money, a corrupt
BILE supervisor, and weak storekeeper
and gauger led astray, is the material
out of which whisky rings are formed.
Distillers and liquor dealers are all
Tilden men and members of the re-
form party; the whisky ring then is
not altogether Republican institution.
But to go back to the crookedness of 1867,
triumphantly brought forward by the Al
bany Argus as boomerang with which to
knock down the Republican party. The
scene of the great steal refers us back to
the halcyon days of Andy johnson. 1t
is well known that the whisky rings
formed for defrauding the government,
originated during the administration of
accidental President johnson. During
his administration the Democrats got
their work in. He flooded the South
with Democratic and constituencies men,
adventures with johnson appointments
to fat Offices in their pockets. The
Foukes, Fullers and Steedmans and others,
all patriots, came to New Orleans to
get fat and establish the Andrew johnson
government. In those days there were
as many as twenty distilleries running in
this city. General James B. Steedman,
spoken of now as Tilden's choice for
Secretary Of War, was collector of inter-
nal revenue, and Perry Fuller was collect
or of the port. The expectation of whisky
was very great then-on paper. We
have heard that cargoes withdrawn with
out payment of tax for export never left
the city; but landing certificates came
back, and the papers appeared to be all
straight in Perry Fuller's Office. The tax
on whisky then was two dollars per GAL
Ion, but all of the distilleries running
under the Democratic administration paid
less tax, in the aggregate, than two dis
tilleries paid under the administration of
President Grant, when the tax had been
reduced to fifty cents per gallon. Cen
eral Steadman was one of the
best specimens of a reformer that
ever travelled for an Office. He organized
a Seymour and Blair club, gave of his
pickings literally and Fuller supplied the
boys with liquor from the warehouses;
Winnie Ream's father was one of the
Perry Fuller storekeepers, and the old
man was constantly worried because he
had more private orders for withdrawal
than he could account for on his reports
by errors or leakage 1t is probably
fact that there was great deal of steal
ing from the government all over the
country in 1867; but the johnson men
were in full control then, and the Albany
Argus and our Picayune are doing no
good to the Democratic party by digging
up the records and doings of the old re-
formers.