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Show j GENERAL. ! I wak:ii.c;to.v. ( Out ol Fmids-Iiitoriiul Sieve ' ii ue 'rati if. The .KiM-retury ol lli Treasury f Miow uv -Hirrt-y to Ihe t rooks. j Wathiiigton, 1. Tho secretary ol ' war baa iintiliL-d disbursing officers that there will be no thuds available lor tiie purchaso of supplies for the, nrmy ailL-r July 1st, until congress hhall have had lime to act upon the appropriation bill, and all advertise-, menu tor contracts as well as tho contracts themselves will sUite that payment depends upon lulura appro-' prution. Collections of internal revenue for the fiscal year to date aro $103,000,-U'JS. $103,000,-U'JS. Commissioner Kaum entertains the opinion that the aggregate returns lur thu tisc.il your will bu fully up to the estimate, $120,000,600. The secretary ot the treasury made a decision to day regarding ttie Coi-cago Coi-cago whisky cases. In bi-i letter to Assistant Secretary French be sets ; lurlh general tacts, namely, that tiie distillers who ask for remission of civil nulls against them are supposed to be wealthy, of hii(h position, and largely ' engaged in other business besides dis-J dis-J tilling; that they have Biillered imprisonment im-prisonment for their crime, but have not naid their liability to government; J the amounts are large. lie says the i question is whether to compromise 1 tor the largest amount that can be collected by legal proceaB ol these claims. In ordinary 1 business a wiBO business man will not attempt to tioiti an insolvent ueuior iu rigid payment ol the full amount of tho debt, but I regard this claB ol ciises as Btanding upon a dillerent footing. They are partially for taxes due to the people of the United States, a romission of which operates as an injury to every taxpayer, and as a premium for fraud. The primary rule of all just taxation is equality, and cortainly an invasion ot lax laws is punished with greator severity than neglect to pay an ordinary debt. If a principle is established that a man may avoid taxes by becoming insolvent, then taxes en such productions as whisky and tobacco cannot be successfully collected. Again, these claims are largely for penalties. The power ol pardon may extend to tho release ol these pnnalties where they aro part ol tho punishment fur a criminal of-fenco, of-fenco, but not to the remission o: taxes, or to mere penalties on tht nature of liquidated damages. Ihe president alone can pardon, ant! can do so more freely than the secretary. sec-retary. The treasury can exercise power to compromise mere pecuuiary obligations, which ia power more dangerous and likely to ba abused than that of pardon. These claims are not held over the proponents as an act of harshness or injustice, but only to secure the payment of just and equal taxes. Tney are not like ordinary contracts which depend upon mutual agreement otthe partieB, but they are prescribed by laws of general application well known to all who embark in the business and ought not to bo remitted or released except for clear reasms of public policy. I have, therefore, declined in similar cases, even in fax or of sureties, to release such pecuniary obligations upon the payment of nominal sums, and I shall have to do so in these cases. The expectation of compromise caused by the alleged action of my predecessors in recent cases, may havo led to confession and a waiver of their legal rights by thesu defendants, and therefore I am inclined to yield to their wish tha. they have an opportunity to appeal lo congress for Buch relief as it may think right to grant them, but it is the duly of the department in the meantime to put all claims in judgment and see that the property of the defendants is not put bnyond tne reacu or icgai process or meir ability to evade the law iDCreased by this delay. You will please prepare the requisite instructions to the otlicers of this department, and through them to the district attorney, to carry this decision into eflect Very respectfully, John Shekman, Sec'y. CaptaiD Henry Small and his 3ister, Chief Officer Dyer and the Bea-men Bea-men of tho American barque Ed-mond Ed-mond Phinney died of cholera at Akyabon the the 25th of March last. Cholera prevailed to an alarming ex tent about Chittagong, and tbe islands were inundated by a great etorm wave on the 31st of October. Fifty thousand deaths have been reported lroni cholera. In addition there has been a large number from pestilent-fevers. pestilent-fevers. The purchasing committee of the Indian bureau reject all proposals to furnish coflee. being too high, and will advertise for new proposals for that article for Indians. |