Year: 1868

ital which they employ, what they do
with it and how much they succeed in
producing and disposing of. The Com
mittee had made the tax on sales as to
the great body of manufacturers ore
fifth Of one per cent. As to the exemp-
tions that were to be made in manufac-
turecs, that would be matter, he said,
to discuss hereafter. Following out an
idea contained in resolution reported
by the Committee of Ways and Means
in January last the committee had ex-
empted from the general tax the one
fl :th of one per cent. on manufacturers
of certain luxuries-as, for instance, the
manufacture of fine confectionery.
Those were charged one sixteenth of one
per cent. on all over $4,000. Ornamen-
tai iewelry the committee had charged
one per cent on all over $4,000, and on
gold and silver wares, firearms and pi


amos, the committee had charged one
half of one per cent; on billiard tables
and PLAYING cards the committee had
charged one per cent. On the amount
manufactured the idea of the committee
was that while they adopted the general
system of placing tax on sales on
manufacturers very low, certain articles
used only by those who are wealthy
ought to bear heavier tax, and on those
articles the committee had placed more
than on the ordinary manufactures of the
country. In regard to special tax, the
special tax on hotels was graduated SO
that large hotels, like the Astor House,
the Fifth Avenue aud Wizards should
be taxed much larger in proportion than
small hotels In regard to foreign bro


kers. he said, there is class of gentle
men who come from Europe and who
take rooms at the Astor House. Metro
politan Hotel or some other hotel in
New York or Philadelphia who have an
office where they can be taxed. hut who,
with samples, negotiate for the sale OF
millions Of property. These men have
never paid any tax upon their sales, and
we have, therefore, provided as meas
ure Of protection to the regular dealers
of the country that while a CONNIE mercial
broker, known as such and responsible
as such, pays his S22 special tax, these
foreign commercial brokers who keep no
office or place of business and who es-
cape payment on the sales, shall pay
their special tax $4,000, and shall he
put in the penitentiary if they are found
exercising their vocation without paying
the tax. I now, said he, touch briefly
upon the suhject-the tax on distilled
spirits. We have provided that retail
ers shall he classified and shall pay ac .
cording to the amount of business S2o.
$50. 800, $500, $1,000 severally for
their licenses; and we have defined a
retail dealer to he not one who sells
certain amount Of liquor, but who sells
liquor in quantities less than one quart
and who sells to be drunk on the prem
| ises. Wholesale liquor dealers pay at
this time one tenth of one per cent on.
all sales above 10000. We propose
| that wholesale liquor dealers shall pay
two and a half per cent, twenty FIVE
times as much, and shall pay on all sales
over $4,000 instead of $4,000. 1 have
made an estimate that from this source
we can obtain about twenty four mill


ions of dollars. ju,lging from the stats


tics of the trade. l come then to the
1 special tax imposed on the distiller him


self. We have made it 500 and 81 on
each barrel produced We have also
ad,led this system of taxation Of sales.
We have also added to that tax a tax
upon capacity. We provide that there
shall be 50 day paid on the capacity


of each distilery that mashes and fer
ments one hundred bushels or less, and
an additional SO day for each addition


hundred bushels mashed and fermeatcd


Now all this is part of a system, part
of the machinery in reference TO the
revenue to be derived from distilled
spirits; and although it is found under
different heads and in different parts of
the bill, it must be all in some degree
connected together. We have retained
the tax of 80 a gallon as direct tax on
whisky, but take occasion to say here
now that 1T is not the expectation, be-
lieve, even of the committee that that
amount OF direct tax will be retained by
the House or by Congress. If we had
let it been known four months ago that
whisky was to be taxed only 81 or sew


enty- live cents a gallon we would have
lost about four millions of dollars Of
revenue. l do not know whether Con
gress will agree to the reduction / for
one have come very reluctantly to the
conclusion that it should de done. From
the very beginning I was inclined as
Gen. Grant was, ''to fight it out on that
line;s but have come to the conclu sion
that keeping this tax at two dollars a
gallon will eventuate in continuing the
rule of the '.whisky ring" in this coun
/ try, and tn at the tax, therefore, had bet
ter be reduced. We must not be con
trolled, we must not be governed by the
| whisky men. who are at this very mo-


rnent swarming in the city, especially
anxious to know neither the tax is GO
ing to be kept at such a rate as that they
can continue their operations step by
step. Therefore by degrees have


brought myself to come to the conclu-
sion that the direct tax on distilled spir


its onght to be put down to something
like seventy five cents n gallon: and the


reason why would be disposed to agree


to seventy five c. nts is that from the ex.


animation of many taxes, and the inves


tigation of the whole subject, believe


that seventy five cents is about the stand


ard at which the tax can be collected


and which will make it impossible fol