Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-05-07
T0BACCO'S REDUCED TAX.
HOW THE CHANGE AFFECTS
THE REVENUE BUREAU.


The National Health Board SaIte
Down-The Almighty ''InflOOence.
W WASHINGTON, May 6--The reductio
OF the tax on tobacco went into effect o,
the 1st instant. The results of that re
duction have not yet come with full fore
upon the Internal Revenue Bureau here
1t was broken first upon the offices of tn
Collectors of Internal Revenue: but it
! effect upon the work of internal reyenu
headquarters has been sufficient to be un
mistakably felt. The large force of clerk
| is unusually busy. The shipping O
stamps as fast as they can be turne,
out and the increased amount O
| collections of money make worl
very brisk just now. Another thing
on hand sixteen cent stamps are sendin,
them in to be exchanged for the new eigh
cent stamps. The average receipt o
stamps for exchange is two wagon load,
daily. AS it is the Collectors of Interna
Revenue who bear the brunt of the work
in the first days of the reduction, so thu
office of the Commissioner of Interna
Revenue will have the big work later on
This will be when the rebate claims com
mence to come in. They are expected tC
commence putting in an appearance about
the 10th. The way it will be done
is this: The Collectors cause an
inventory to be made of the stock on
hand, May /, duly sworn to and asccr.
tanned to be correct, or near as 1t is posi-
bic for such knowledge to be acquired
Under the rules heretofore printed, all OF
those claims the Collector duly enters
into an alphabetical book which is fur.
nished him by the Treasury Department.
In the office of the Commission of In.
ternal Revenue there is another set OF
alphabetical books, fac SMILES of the
ones in the hands of the Collectors. The
Collector, after entering the rebate claims.
forwards them to Washington. They will
be entered npOn the books here. The two
sets of books will thus serve as
checks the one upon the other. The
claim for rebate Will be pass
ed upon here. When allowed
manufacturers, be paid them in stamps.
The dealers will have to wait till Con.
gress apprOpriates the money to pay their
rebates. At the commencement of the
next session of Congress the Secretary of
the Treasury Will report to Congress the
amount due them on rebates-that
amount having been previously certified
to be correct by the First Comptroller
Congress will appropriate the mOney-it
was merely an oversight that there was
no appropriation for this purpose when
the tax was reduced-and the claimants
will be paid by Treasury warrants.
Since the 1st of May the receipts of
internal revenue have jumped
way up. This is because so
much tobacco was held back in the manu-
factories waiting for the reduction to go
into effect. The present enormous re-
ceipts cannot Of course be taken as a
criterion of how the receipts for the pres
ent fiscal year will compare with those of
the last. A careful estimate has, how
ever, been made. 1t Is that the internal
revenue receipts for the present fiscal
year will be but $3,000,000 less than the
receipts of the last year. They were then
$146, 6,500,0O0.
General Hazen, Third Assistant Post
master General, in making arrangements
for the changes in the postal laws
that go into effect October 1st
next, has discovered rather
unique oversight. The change from three
to two cent postage is accompanied by
change in the salaries of certain Post
masters. "SpeciaP post offices are those
situated SIT OIL the line of the star routes.
They are established for the better con-
venience of the public. They are MAIN
tanned under the present law by allowing
the Postmaster go per cent. ofithe receipts
of the office. Another law gives to the
carrier, who takes the mail to and from
the special offices, twO-thirds of the salary
of the Postmaster. The Postmaster re-
ceiving go per cent, and the carrier two
thirds of that-which is 40 per cent
just wipes out all that the government re-
celYes from the special offices. Under
tho law which into off
lst next, the Postmaster is to have 100
per cent. of the earnings of his Office-that
is he gets 1t all. The law giving the carrier
two-thirds of the salary of the Postmaster
was overlooked. 1t will stand lust as it
is. So the carrier will get two-thirds of
100 per cent. or 662S per cent. of the re-
ceipts of the office. As the Postmaster,
however, will get all of those receipts, a
sum equal to 6623 per cent. thereof will
have to be paid the carriers, who serve
special offices out Of the general fund of
the Post Office Department. The attention
of Congress at an early day of the ses-
sion will be called to this rather curious
condition of things.
The papers may pile fun upon humor on
the Attorney General about his aesthetic
tastes in his official surroundings, but it
has no effect. The Attorney General don't
care penny. He just goes right along
is now very sweet thing. 1t might be
called daisy. Oscar Wilde could hardly
improve upon it. But the Attorney Gen
eral is not satisfied. He does not like [ he
approach to the door of his office. The
iron stairway going up is all well in its
way. But the corridor leading to his sane
tum is either bare or covered with coarse
mating. He would have had it carpeted
long ago, but the carpeting would have
got dirty and worn in a short time. 1t
must be made pretty somehow, so he is
going to tile it. The hall on the whole
floor upon which, the Attorney Generals
office is situated will be laid in handsome
tiles. Tiling costs money, but the AttOr-
ney General evidently thinks that the gov
ernment ought to be glad to satisfy any
taste that he may have, if it does come
high.
Still another attempt has been made by
the National Board of Health to get hold
of that 100000 epidemic fund. More of
them have borne down upon Secretary
FOlger. To-day Mr.. FOlger kinder stag
gered them by saying that his opinion
of the board was about the
same as that given by Representatives
Z. John Ellis and j. II. BlOunt in the
House of Representatives. The speeches
of Ellis and BlOunt were red hot. They
skinned the National Board, put salt on
the inside of the hides, and then read
justed them.
The Post Office Department has made
another of those periodical raids upon
people who elect to run a small post office
business on their own hook Again New
York is the scene of the raid. The law is
very explicit that to the United States
Government alone belongs the monopoly
of the mail business. As in preceding
cases of this character, the people raided
carriers Of their own.
and established regular post offices.
They delivered letters in the
city for one cent. The local postage
charged by the United States being two
cents, there was margin for making
money. Money was made until the Post
Office Department detectives swOOped
down upon the enterprises and arrested
right and left proprietOrs and mail car
riers. This is all good. It is very good.
1t is nothing but right. But it should not
stop there. If men who operate in this
way on small scale are arrested, WHY
should big corporation, which is more
guilty, be allowed to continue i'm
business. 1t is a notorious fact that
Wells, Fargo q Co., of San Francisco,
not only do as much postal business in
that city as the Post Office Department,
but cover almost the entire State. and
ramify into the territories on an exten-
sive scale. Investigations of this matter
have been made, and the truth that Wells.
Fargo Il Co. do a big paying mail busi-
ness has been officially established. But
they go on just the same. Under Kew. as
Postmaster General, an attempt was
made to make this express company com.
ply with the law. 1t seemed "a IL would
succeed at one stage, bat it was dropped.
Wells, Fargo & Co. have ssinfiooence,,:
all big corporations are possessed
OF .'inflOOence.7 Said "info0ence0
went to work. All proceed
i0OS AGAINST tha rnlox4ff, 80 49,.