Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-05
A BIC DISCREPANCY.
Official Showing of the Inter.
nal Revenue Office.
GIVING THE LICENSES.
Has the Department Caught Up With
the Liquor Law-BreakerS?
A VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENT
Bearing on The Use of Official Records in
Courts of Law.
A TEST CASE WOULD BE WELCOMED
A VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENT
A TEST CASE WOULD BE WELCOMED

THE DISPATCH has accomplished some
thing entirely without precedent in the his
tory of the Internal Revenue Service in the
accurate reproduction of the names and To-
cations of all persons who have paid the
customary Government liquor tax in ALLIE
gheny county since May / last. The list
has been copied carefully from the official
Record No. 10' of Collector Warmcastle's s
Internal Revenue Office, and may be relied
on as being comprehensive and correct
An accurate list of those in Allegheny
county who have received licenses under
the operations OF the Brooks State law has
been as carefully prepared from the official
record of the Clerk of Courts Office. By a
painstaking comparison the names of all
those holding county licenses have been
separated from the balance as indicated by
the star (#) placed at the lett ofeach name.
In other words the star at the beginning Of
a name indicates that the person holds both
county and Government licenses.
ONE DISCREPANCY.
1t must be remembered that manv whole
sale and retail dealers, believing hat the
early contemplated appeals to The Supreme
Court from Judge Whites decisions would
work reversal of the action of the ALE
gheny Court of Quarter Sessions paid the
customary government tax, expecting and
hoping to receive the county license farther
along. Many, also, in changing places of
business or renewing leases, acted prior to
the quarter sessions court decision, and
took out government tax, confidently ex-
pecting to receive county license.
When a DISPATCH reporter requested
Collector Warmcastle's consent TO publish
the list, it was apparent that there was some
hesitation, principally because such matters
have not heretofore been considered public
property. But as section 324O, r. S., ex-
pressly states that the record of the names
of all taxpayers to Government must be
''conspicuously displayed in the Collectors
office, it was finally decided that the pub
lication would be perfectly proper. In the
onerous task OF wading through 10000
names on the record Chief Deputy h. j.
Mitchell afforded every possible courtesy.
AN IMPORTANT DOCUMENT.
As emphatically settling the question of
whether-as Chief j. Q. Brown, of the De-
partment of Public Safety, claimed recently
the official records in the Internal Reve-
nue. Collectors Office can or cannot be pro-
duced in county courts as evidence against
illegal liquor sellers, Chief Deputy Mitchell
offered The DISPATCH representative an
opportunity to copy from the records the
following letter from The highest possible
authority. The letter is self explanatory.
U. S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT
WASHINGTON, March %, 1887
E; A. Bigler, Esq, Collector Twenty-third Dis
SR-Deputy Collector S. C. Thompson. of
YOUR district writes TO this Office under date of
the 18th inst, as follows:
THE Court of Common Pleas of Indiana
county, Pa. has subpGnaed me to give testi-
mony in cases of those who have paid special
revenue tax and have stamps IN their posses.
sion; when liquor dealers have done this do
not think it my duty 20 give testimony in such
cases. Please inform me if can be compelled
by the Commonwealth to do this"
You will please inform your deputy that this
Office sees no impropriety in his responding to
a subpoena, if it does not interfere with the du-
ties of his office.
Collectors are required by section S24O, r. s.,
TO keep cOnspicuOusly in their Office for public
who have paid special taxes in their district
A deputy collector could not probably give
any evidence which would furnish more infor-
nation than could be obtained from an inspec-
tion of this list. which is open to the public
unless he has books and papers which belong
to your office, and which he should not pro-
duce
In case you are served with a subpoena duces
tecum, requiring you to- produce papers and
books belonging TO your office, you will please
apply to this office for instructions as to what
afin no a lrpn full
JOSEPH S. MILLER
Internal Revenue Commissioner.
WANTS TO SEE A TEST CASE.
"Has this point ever been authoratively
settled, Mr.. Mitchell?' asked the reporter,
sit has never been ruled upon" he re-
piled. 1--WE would like to see test case
made. There have been rulings that sub
stantiate our theory that the county courts
cannot compel US to produce our books. We
MAINTAIN that the negotiations for a United |
States tax are in the nature of a privileged |
communication, not to be disclosed so far as |
the laws of the general government are con-
cerned. 1t is a broad rule that man NAV |
not be punished by State court for a vio- |
lation of a State law, because he has obeyed |
the requirements of the national laws. If |
at any time we are asked to produce our |
books in the county courts we will cite the |
case over to the United States Court in |
order to obtain a ruling which will be de-
cisive.
The following is the list of United States
liquor taxpayers in Allegheny county: |
Licenses. under the Brooks law, as before |
explained, being indicated by an ''x":
F. Airport, 37O2 Penn avenue. .............. s27 90
xAndersOn & Rowan, Central Hotel..... q 30 |
Street -'....' ...... e.. NV. -. s25 90
xPeter Amen l2OS Bingham slreet........ SO 90 |
XM. :. Anderson Co, Monongahela
House 80 80 |
xJas. E. Anderson, IS James street (A).... "a 40
xA. NemOe, 81 TAYLOR avenue (A)......... q 40 |
XFrederick ArtZ, East street (A)...-..... q 40
xFred Andriessen. 4Oand e Ohio street (A) 225 90
XA. Andriessen, l72 Federal street (A)... lO6 Is
IJames Adams CHARTERS borough. ~ 40
George Arnold. Shannopin township. q 30
xG gorge Altmeyer. McKeesport.......... q 20