The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-06-09
GRAFT GALORE
HON THE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN
ROBBED OF MILLIONS.
The Astounding Revelations Made
by Senator Beveridse About the
Stealing of the Tobacco Trust.

Stealing of the Tobacco Trust.
No revelation OF the extra session
has been more startling than tnat
which Senator Beyeridge made about
the almost unbelievable graft OF the
Tobacco trust for eight years. says
The Washington Times. That was
case OF legislative partnership with
trust ii projec; 20 fleece the peo-
ple. Somebody must have been
| Fixed =" Creased, oiled. 1t is IN
conceivable that congress will plead
guilty. 70 such sublime innocence ana
| incompetence as would be testified
bv the explanation that nobody IN
| congress saw what was being given
TO the Tobacco trust.
Here is what happened; When the
! Spanish war taxes were imposed. the
| interna! revenue duty on TOBACCO
wen; I'D. The law was SO arranged
that tobacco dealers were permitted
10 sell underweight packages, de-
ducting enough from the weight TO
compensate them tor the increase
in the internal revenue tax. Thus a
tobacco pound was considerably
less than 16-ounce pound; but II
Was legal because OF this legiSia-
-;on The tax was thus carried down
20 the consumer, and nobody partlc-
ularly felt il.
Bur when the war and the need
OF war taxes passed, what happened?
The additional tobacco tax was re
| peaied, but the trusts privilege or
| selling underweight packages was
not stopped The trust was left col
lecting the war tax from the people,
but pocketiog it instead OF turning
! il into the Federal treasury.
BY this process, in eight years. the
trust has got away with SlS+. +.O0O,-
900 OF the peoples money. That
money ought either to have been left
in the pockets Of the tobacco users
| or else 10 have gone to the Federal
| treasury IN fact. it went to the
Golfers Of the Tobacco trust.
II is manifest that to repeal the
war tax, but to forget 20 repeal the
| shortweighr privilege must have been
| difficult and complicated. Some
skilled person or persons must have
steered that thing through congress
with consummate cleverness- Who
| lid ito Was he an "inside worker
or an outside man." If he was an
insider, mis- identity ought to DC
known. 50 tha. he can be duly de.
teated next election by a betrayed
constituency If be be merely
smart lobbyist, he should a least be
questioned about th he meth, By
which he INDUCED committees and
| leaders and organizations to perIni'
such a tremendous steal.
| Senator Beveridge has gone abou'
this business in a fashion which indi.
Gates purpose 20 stick by it till the
whole inwardness of this strange
transaction is barred. The presen'
1926. 900. .00G-a-year largess of the To.
bacco trust should first be taken
away: then the process by which con.
gress was either befooled or corrupt.
ed should be investigated.
II is won6rous interesting cir
| cumstance that the trusts which
seem most influential with congress
are those which most often appea:
in the criminal courts as defendants
The Sugar trust has seldom been on:
Of the criminal courts in the las.
two decades; on one charge or anota-
er or defrauding the government
Its reward is the privilege Of taking
s660.000,000 in twelve years from
I he people
! Why should such specia. !:rivi-
iege be freely given 70 cri@,ina. o:
the most fixed and persistent GRIM
nal habits?
The American Tobacco Company is
now defendant in great case
| brought by the government under the
| antitrust laws. charging it with con-
spiracy in restrain Of trade. Tha;
it is actually If not techinally guilty,
is the common knowledge. Does il
not seem strange that It, TOO. should
| be able to have conferred upon il
a special delegation of the taxing
power?
Does congress have any particu-
lar preference for the great crimi-
naiso It's distribution Of its fayors
| seems to suggest something Of the