Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-08-07

the reader can readily understand why the
illegal manufacture prevails to such an ex-
tent. The practice of distillinR has ALWAYS
prevailed. AT the close of the war congress
found it in progress, and by lis internal reYe-
nue. laws constituted IT a crime. The causes
of its production, Is not willing to starve or
see his family starve. Wherefore, there is
nothing for 1t, he reflects, but TO evade the
law, distill his grain In secret, and take the
chances of punishment. And now appears
upon the scene for the first time the newly
created revenue officers, the natural enemy
of all illicit distillers and the most unpopular
official under government, by no means ex-
cepting even the hangman. With the APP
pearance of the officer begins the revenue
troubles" When Robert Burns was APP
pointed revenue officer in Scotland he quickly
found that all the love and popularity
which he had won as a poet did not suf
fee to save him from being cordially hated
and often insulted in his new capacity as
the executor of an odlous law, and his expert
ence is recorded in n poem to which the
reader may refer at leisure, and which, as its
title is forgotten, | may indicate by its bur-
den of Dell Take the Excisemanv' The
wlsest and best officer serving anywhere in
this capacity will frequently be reminded
that the position is no sinecure, and that the
utmost tact and discretion are requisite to the
performance of its duties In manner which
shall be even tolerable to the community in
which he moves. Unfortunately, the revenue
officers in South Carolina have not been, as
rule, either wise or discreet, but have, APP
parently, been selected on account of the con-
spIcuous absence of these essential qualities,
and to this fact solely is TO be attributed the
present disturbed state of the section which
has been the scene of their doubtful opera
tons. The charge is a serious one, but the
facts will be found amply to sustain it, and
shall restrict myself to a simple narration OF
the facts, leaving the reader to apply them
aud trace their inevitable consequences. In the
first place, the officers have been invariably
utter strangers to the community to which
they were assigned, or have been chosen from
the ranks of those who, from having been
dlstlllers themselves, were promoted to still
hunters" on the ground, perhaps, that 1t
takes a thief to catch a thief. The
first mentioned class were OF course
Of the number Of those impecu-
NOUS and unprincipled Adventures who, not
beng able 10 make a living at home, hocked
into the south after the war in order to secure
the various Offices at the disposal of the Fed
erat and local governments. The chief OIL
Ger of the revenue department in South Caro-
Ina for many years after the war was IL.
Cass Carpenter, since convicted of numerous
frauds and torgeries perpetrated during his
Official career as collector of internal revenue.
He lost his position on account OF safe bur-
glary which he committed upon his own
premises, for the purpose Of making away
with bonds and other parers which would
have proved the fact of his malfeasance in
office. The character of the whole crew of
his imported followers may be judged in good
part by that Of their captain. The like char
acter of his few native and ignorant subordi
mates may be inferred from the fact above
stated-that from having been illicit distil-
lere themselves they were rewarded with office
fer turning spies and informers, and searchers
after their old companions, whom they were
induced to betray and hunt down for the sake
Of the lucrative salary Of FIVE dollars per day
attached to their new position.