Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-24
AS A REVENUE PRODUCER
Views of Senator Elect Scott Concerning I'm
portanee Of q Treasury Bureau.
Customs Duties to Give way Before
Internal Revenue-Suggesfion
of New Depart rAent.

/ Senator-eiect ". Is. Scott OF west VIZ
/ ginia, whose term as commissioner Of in
| ternaI revenue will expire. by reason of
| his resignation, February 2S. las on the list
of speakers at a banquet given Tuesday
| evening at Deimonico's. New York, by the
| cigar manufacturers of the United States.
| The toast to which Mr.. Scott responded
| was Our Internal Revenue" and he gave
| some valuable statistics respecting the
| work of the bureau over which he presides.
Among the views held by Mr. Scott and
| which he elaborated in his address. is that
| the revenue bureau has grown so in import
| apce and become so vital to the treasury of
| the government it should be elevated to the
| dignity of a department. If not of the i'm
portance of a cabinet position, he thinks,
| it should at least become Independent of
the Treasury Department, not only because
| of its own Importance, but because the
| treasury covers SO wide a field and so many
| intricate business interests that the Secre-
| tary should be relieved of any responsible
lily Tor the bureau management.
National Income.
"The income of the United States from
internal revenue during the past genera
| tion" Mr.. Scott said, has e. iceeded five
thousand millions of dollars. The great
increase in recent years in the quantity of
our manufactures and the marked improve
ment in their quality, and the expansion of
| our territory, warrant the conclusion that
| our internal revenues will hereafter be
| mainly relied upon to supply the funds
| needed for the conduct of that great and
| growing machine known as the government
of the United States
| The outside world is rapidly finding out
| that in many fields manufactures are
| the finest. l know, today as a practical
| glass manufacturer, that We make the best
/ glass in the world, and you know that for
many years the products of the tobacco
| fields have been more artiStically manipu-
| lated here than anywhere else. Now that
| we have Cuba for our friend and ally. and
| have secured by one grand stroke the
| Philippines for our very own. we Will soon
| have an abundance of the finest tobacco
| in the world to manufacture"
Mr.. Scott had previously taken the posi-
| ton that the tariff, as compared with the
| Internal revenue is fast losing ground, and
! VIII continue to lose ground as a revenue
| producer, citing two reasons in support of
| this contention. The first of the two rea-
sons was that there had been great in
| crease in recent years in the quantity and
| marked Improvement in the quality of our
| manufactures. leading to a command of
| the worlds markets. as well as our own,
| so that imports must decrease and exports
| Increase. Continuing this line of thought,
| he said:
! The Second Reason.
| "And this brings me to the second of my
| reasons why relative to the internal reve-
nues the tariff is losing gr3Ind. Many years
| i.sJAs great statesman, the governor OF
| your state and afterward Lncon's pre-
| mier, had a dream which he called mani
| fest destiny-a dream that this country
| would extend westward until it covered the
world with its beneficent institutions. As
| in the one grand stroke referred to we OBJ
| tanned a scope of territory that would more
| than equal our original thirteen states, and
| having population three times as great,
| and as we had already acquired our great
| Pacific possessions, including Alaska and
| Hawaii, it does look as though the GUS
| toms revenue bids fair to fail ere long by
reason of the simple fact that there will
| be no country to import from.
so large place in the business of col
! Letting the governments income will come
to be filed by the internal revenue system.
| so great the sums collected, and so numer-
Gus and important the interests affected,
| that the business will demand skill and
ability of an eminent sort. The Importance
of his charge will require that the man
| who isfat the head shall have free range
for the performance of his duties and a
separate establishment and liability. with
no intermediary between him and the
| executive.
Not New Idea.
| This idea is not new one. for the prop
osition to erect the offices which collect the
! revenues into department separate from
| the treasury has been heretofore consid-
| cred. from the point of view that the care
of and expenditure of the vast sums col
lected and the general conduct of the gov
ernment's finances and obligations, require
| the undivided attention and ability of the
head Of the Treasury Department The
position of the chief of a department of
revenue might or might not be that of a
| cabinet officer, but necessarily the exer-
| else of his powers and responsibilities
would bring him into the counsels of the
executive.
Touching this matter of the revenues I
find that during the last generation the to-
bacco industry has contributed more than
a billion of dollars to the support of the
government.
"A recent examination of the records of
my office also shows that during the first
half of the present fiscal year the receipts
from tobacco have amounted to sd PSI $50
that is to say, increase of nearly 20
per cent over the receipts from this source
during the first half Of the last preceding
fiscal year. 1t further appears that If this
percentage of increase holds good and the
present rates of taxation and increase of
population are maintained, the receipts
from manufactured tobacco will easily ex-
coed two billions of dollars These large
sums mark the widening extent of the field
from which they are drawn; but large as
they seem, they are far from reaching their
limit.
Il am strong in the belief that we are on
the verge of an expansion of trade as well
as OF territory, and that to the millions
who draw daily solace and refreshment
from the gentle herb which it is your bus
mess to distribute will be added other mil
lions, swelling the bulk of your products to
still greater proportions, and bringing in
crease of revenue to the public purse