West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1882-06-02

q. N'' A'AA ~
twenty million dolsrs into the
pockets Of ;he manufacturers OF whis-
key, Is a startling one. This state
meut, neYert theless, is made and
illustrated by fIlres ~ a speech re
cen,ly delivered IN Congress by Mr..
John d. White of Kentucky. The
subject under discussion was the
House bhi to Provi ie tor he appoint
ment o C5mmiss;on 10 examine
the Tariff and Internal Revenue law.
Mr. White in ths course of has re
marks, emp Dyed the following Lam
Gag;
The manufacture of whi,key costs -
cents on tile gallon. Ii soils i'm Cincin-
natl in the bonded warehouse for that
| price. Tho Government has i'm that
whiskey 90 cents on the Gallon. You
put it IN the bonded warehouse. where II
is allowed to remain eight years. Vow
much does the manufacturer lose of the
l2l gallons which is allowed TO oozo out
of the barrel? While he lose, only one
third of u cents, the Government loses
one-third of 90 cents. Ia addition TO
that, the Government loses tbs interest
on the millions of money that will be
locked up there in bond tor oight years.
Ia ac dition TO that, the man who owns
the whislSey doubles his money every
two years the Government holds il in
bond. b" in YOU do so? VIII you put
ii under lock and key tor him To profit
in that manner? At what co,tY The
Government has the storekeepors and
Gaugers employed To protect it for him
with put cost. 1t has tho Inspectors and
Collectors of Internal Rcyenuo and ma
ny other officers and CLERKS all employed
at Government expense The manuiac>
turers, in short, and the owners OF lie
80, 600, ,0O0 gallons now locked upin Ken
tucky, Maryland and Pennsylvania, Il
they cln hold it in bond for eight years,
will haYe robbed tho Government Of
S2O,0OO.OO0 in three States alone II is
simply question whether thcy can hold
il or not.
The basis Of this argument i4, Of
course, the fact that the longer whis-
key g kept the ncher and better II
becomes, the price mildly lvauciug
with age. Hence the p cents per
gallon winch it costs the mauuhctU-
rer At first grows to 50 un5 v,l14
Of 81 on So at tie end Of eight years,
lees the cost a. the barrels cooper
age, storage, snl insurance. But
t"e Government gets only its tax Of
80 cnatsa sAGon in say oase. In
de-d, 1t .ctu.Iy loses by ths arrange
ment, for O. receives The 90 centsrer
SALON ogy on what remsine in the
barrel: aud there is allowed tor leak.
age l24 RaiIous Il each barrel. TINS
allowance causes a loss to the Gov
ernmeut OF millions Of dollars. IN
order TO Illustrate this point, Mr..
White presented the following case
Of barrel containing forty gallons;
The Cincinnati price of high wines il
SLY per gallon, including Government
taN OF 90 cents a gallon. Thus the 80
gallons are worth, when first put in
bonded waroh use, sl0.s0; add % this
8 years insurance and storage, 60 20, and
The interest ut 6 per cent. for eight years
on both amounts, $3.50, and we have the
total Of $1,000; add price of barrel and
cooperage and interest on same. $40:
making a tot of $3.50. Expense of
barrel OF ~ gallons of hign wines or
whiSkcY TO the owner for years equal
to S33 30.
OF the 40 gallons aforesaid there will
have oozei out under this bill l2B gal
Ions, leaving pa gallons, Now. very
low estimate for This, including Governs
! ment tax. s. S5 per gallon, and thus un-
der TIE protective care of the Govern
ment IL is worth Slf7.5O to the owner.
| now. deduct from this amount the Gov
crnment tax on ~ gallons, equal to
| - 75; also, the original cost OF the 40
| gallons, with storage, insurance and
/ interest, equal to $3.50.
After paying hisrespects to a per-
souage whom be calls "his retired
EzceIienoy r. B. Hayes, the late
mb-cile from Ohio and to COL.
Gate Wharton, Of whom be says
that his salary was only $3.50 q year
and the fees, but through the latter
che has managed to draw asalary
for the year ending June 3Oth, 1881
amounting to $6,51Gl6,' Mr. White
returns to bis previous statement in
regard to the loss which The Gov ,rp-
msnt Will suffer from the Whiskey
bill passed by the Honse a few weeks
since at the suggestion Of Connie.
siouer Rsum. Assuming that there
will be at least CD 100000 gallons
remaining in bond during the next
eight years, as there is already more
than this amount in the three States
| Of Kentucky, Maryland, and Penn
sylvanls alone, he constructs the fol
lowing table:
/ Sxty-uiue million two hundred
thous4nd Ro.ions at 90 cents