The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-02-08

a Matter of Eighty Millions.
The present law fixes three years as the
limit of the period during which whisky
may remain in bond exempt from taxation,
Under its operation, according to the books
of the Internal Revenue Office, that limit was
reached on the 9th inst for $4,000 gallons of
whisky in bond and the taxes thereon became
cOllectable at that date. But the Commits
sioner of Internal Revenue has directed pro-
ceedings for the collection of the taxes due
on this whisky to be begun by assessment,
and return made by each collector in his
next list, so that at least a month will elapse
| before the owners viii be called upon to pay
| these taxes, and it is the expectation Of the
| distillers that within that time they will be
able to procure the assent of the House to
the Senate bill extending the bonded period
! two years longer. If this extension should
be granted, it would cover not only the
whisky bonded to the 9th inst, but all
| bonded to a later period, the taxes on which
amount to $80,O0O,OO0 and the immediate
| loss to the Government would be equivalent
to the interest on this sum, while, in the
event of the tax being abolished prior to the
expiration of the extended period, it would
necessarily lose the principal also. Such
being the case, it is evident that the passage
of the pending bill would be directly con-
trary to public policy, and on that ground
alone the House would be justified in
rejecting it. But the fact is that aside
from the diminuti0n in the revenues
| of the Government which it would
effect, it is Objectionable on the ground
that it Will serve to aggravate the very evil
which it is designed to cure. The original
law limited the bonded period to one year,
and when the dstillers induced Congress in
as they say now, that it was necessary in
order to avert the financial ruin which would
denly upon the market. But instead of this
extension Of the bonded period remedying
the evil, it merely aggravated it, as we have
said. The dist!lIers ceased TO pay any regard
whatever to the laws of supply and demand,
and manufactured far in excess of the an
nual consumption, borrowing money on the
certificates Of the bonded warehouses to
carry on their operations with, and trusting
to further liberality on the part of Congress
to escape the natural consequences Of their
folly Thus it has come about that the con-
dition of the whisky interest is infinitely
worse to-day than it was in the first place
and It is no doubt true, as the distillers have
taken pains to notify Congress, that unless
the bonded period is still further expended
many firms will be forced into bankruptcy.
But deplorable as such 4 result would be, it
is evident that nothing is TO he gained by
further postponemento of settlement day The
greater the excess Of whisky in bond over the
demand for consumption the more disastrous
of course, will be the crash when it does
come, and the effect of an additional extern
sion would simply be to still further stimu-
late over-production. The mistake which
the Government made was in extending the
bonded period in the first instance and now
that The OWL CONSEQUENCES ora ypouirac+ II