The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-03-09
Ply SAMIrEI. O LANES


Copyright, 1903, 10y Samuel Q. James)
~ judge well known in New York state
was glancing over the newspapers head
lines. As his eye fell on Robbed the
Government Of Thousands" he threw
aside the paper and addressed himself
TO the group around him.
Robbed the government of thousands.
did he? Cmph. He's not ace high-eX-
cuse the unjudicial expression. gentlemen
with the tobacco manufacturers of my
boyhood days. Those fellows-they were
= numerous-undersjo9d the art of robbing
the government of millions of dollars OF
revenue"
The judge padsed for reflection and, IS
the group prepared Itself for a story, he
began:
Fifty years ago the greater part ot
the plug chewing tobacco produced in this
country was manufactured in Richmond,
Louisville. St Louis, and a string of
towns along the Mississippi river extend
ing from St Louis on the south. TO keo-
kuk Ia. on the north. Il was born in
one of those Upper Mississippi tobacco
towns, and, like all the other boys OF
that time and community whose folks
were either unable or unwilling TO keep
their youngsters in idleness. ] worked as
a stemmer in one Of the tobacco factor
les from March till October-the rest OF
the year was devoted To schooling.
The war between the North and the
South demoralized the tobacco industry
south OF the Ohio river. and brought to
the towns OF the Upper Mississippi such a
boom th-> had uever dreamed Of. and.
by the way. they are dreaming of il yet
In addition 10 the usual markets, which
made extra heavy demands upon our
towns because of the closing of so many
Southern factories. there were large or
ders from the government for plug TO sup
ply its commissary department
We'll do i remember enc of those gov
eminent orders. 1t was FOR 100000 pounds
OF Black Navy The factory in which
/ worked at the time got the order The
brand was rightly named Tor nothing
~ould be blaoker than it was. The casing
consisted of the lowest grade of licOGice
dirty brown sugar and musty gum ara
bic The filters were not stemmed and
some Of the stems were as large as lead
pencil The pluss weighed pound each
and everyone contained enough heartburn
10 llldRt Il SifitAtA iti.- Aux 1l'-tfSs mum
and a pound OF chalk.
But while there were large profits in
this and similar contracts. my employer
didn't make the bulk of his fortune out
of them
THE OLD WAY OF COLLECTING
REVENUE
in the time of which 1 am speaking
the machinery Of the revenue department
OF the government wasn't as perfect As
Il is at present Nowadays, as YOU prob
ably know. special revenue stamps are
provided by the internal revenue DEPART
ment. and each package of tobacco. when
put upon the market must bear stamps
sufficient in value To show that the tax
uySn the contents Of the package has
besn paid 10 the government. The present
method was noS iuaUSurated until some
time in the seventies. the cid method be-
ing much simpler and consequently. fraud
under il was not SO difficult
Under the old system each internal
revenue collector. instead OF havine
stamps TO sell in quantities as required
by the manufacturers vas provided wlthN
q set of stencil plates and dies. When
requested by the manufacture. the coli
lector would go to the factory and brand
the packages that were ready for market.
The brand. which was stamped on one
end of each caddy. stated the number
OF the factory and the internal revenue
district ia which il was located. The
dies stamped into the wood the number Of
pounds each caddy contained The days
stamping and branding was figure up
and them anufacturer gave his check for
the total sum of the tax
Most OF the time during the War the