The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-09-23
BIG STEALING.

tense than that put forth by Morton In his
INDIANAPOLIS speech, that Grants admlnlsra'
ton was more honest than that OF jackson or
Van Buren,, because, according to a treasury
statement, doctored for the purpose, the de.
falcations in the collection OF the public rev
enue showed a smaller percentage of the
total collections during Grants than during
IJacksons, or any other administration pre-
J ceding Grants. If any fair array Of figures
shows such fact it only proves that during
Jackson's and the other adm Illustrations dc
I faulters were detected aud punished, while
during Grants administration 1t is notorious
revenue thieves have been Systematically
screened by the government to save the radl
Cal party from disgrace.
While thus the percentage of actually de,
tected revenue stealing may possibly be
truthfuIly shown to have been less during
Grants than any preceding administration,
1t can be shown with equal truthfulness That
the percentage of actuai stealing during his
administration has been positively colossal
in comparison, not only with that OF any pre-
cedinC administration, but with that of any
government in the world in modern times
We need not TO demonstrate this, cite the
ordinary custom house rObberies, which IN
der Grant have been enormous, or the steal
ing in the judicial, state, Indian and other
departments, the exposures OF which during
last winter so greatly shocked and scandallz-
ed the country but we need refresh the mem
DRY of our readers only in reference to two
other open, proved confessed steals, which
IN magnitude are no less without parallel in,
than they are the amazement OF, the civil
lied world
Need we remind our readers Of the Pacific
railroad steal? In comparison with it, theI
Geo. Law Mississippi scheme, which up t.
that time had ranked as the champion fraud
of history, sinks into positive lnsignihcance.
Its magnitude really staggers belief. I'M
round figures, the government issued TO the
Pacific Railroad Companies $65,00U,OO of 81
per cent bonds These amounted 10 nearly
$4,000 per mile of the entire road, more
than it actually cost to build it, But the
Credit Mobiller band of thieves who built
the road not only gobbled up every dollar of
these bonds, but raised some $50 600 by
selling stock Of the company and built the
road by borrowing 800 ,000,O 900 by first mort.
gage on the road. Thus the steal in the first
instance was full $1OOOO0,0O0, to which are
to be yearly added the net earnings and the
proceeds of the sales of many millions of
acres OF land and every six months the
thieves make a new demand for nearly $4-
which is honored at the national treasury
Even attorney general Williams admitted
that the u. S. would lose $780, 900 by this
Pacific railroad steal, and this did not include
half, for he made no reference to the value OF
the road itself, or the enormous land grants.
And this stupendous steal was the result of no
miscalculation, no thoughtless imprudence Il
but was the deliberate, intelligent work of a
republican congress, OF which IN this bust
ness, W. A. Wheeler was the leader IN the
house and Morton in the senate. the robbery
in all its stages meeting The cordial approval
of President Grant.
But even the two or three hundred millions
to which tae Pacific railroad steal foots up
sink into insignificance by the side of the
stealing Of the whisky rings. Pub. Docs"
are not so plenty now as they were in the
days of the Thanking privilege, and few peo-
pie are now so lucky as to get copies Of the
various department reports periodically issued
at Washington. Dull reading enough in
general, there is occasionally one, however,
that is las interesting as a novel" and such
is that Of Internal Revenue Commissioner
Pratt of last December especially to one Gu.
rlous to scrutinize the ways that are dark
and tricks that are vain of the whisky ring.
Mr. Pratt gives us the following interesting
table as to the proceeds of the whisky tax
for the years named, ending June 30h respec.
tivcly with the rate of tax per gallon each