PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



665 



timber in most of the Territories is principally con- 

 fined to the mountain-regions which are held for en- 

 try in small quantities only, and as mineral lands. 

 The timber is the property of the United States, for 

 the disposal of which there is now no adequate law. 

 The settler must become a consumer of this timber 

 whether he lives upon the plain or engages in_work- 

 ing the mines. Hence everp man becomes either a 

 trespasser himself, or, knowingly, a patron of tres- 

 passers. 



My opportunities for observation were not suffi- 

 cient to justify me in recommending specific legisla- 

 tion on these subjects, but I do recommend that a 

 joint commit/tee of the two Houses of Congress 

 sufficiently large to be divided into sub-committees 

 be organized to visit all the mining States and Terri- 

 tories during the coming summer, and that the com- 

 mittee shall report to Congress at the next session 

 such laws, or amendments to laws, as it may deem 

 necessary to secure the best interests of the Govern- 

 ment and the people of these Territories who are 

 doing so much for their development. 



I am sure the citizens occupying the territory de- 

 .scribed do not wish to be trespassers, nor will they 

 be if legal ways are provided for them to become 

 owners of these actual necessities of their position. 



As this will be the last annual message which I 

 shall have the honor of transmitting to Congress be- 

 fore my successor is chosen, I will repeat or reca- 

 pitulate the questions which I deem of vital impor- 

 tance, which may be legislated upon and settled at 

 this session : 



1. That the States shall be required to afford the 

 opportunity of a good common-school education to 

 every child within their limits. 



2. No sectarian tenets shall ever be taught in any 

 school supported in whole or in part by the State, 

 nation, or by the proceeds of any tax levied upon any 

 community. Make education compulsory, so far as 

 to deprive all persons who cannot read and write 

 from becoming voters after the year 1890, disfran- 

 chising none, however, on grounds of illiteracy who 

 may be voters at the time this amendment takes ef- 

 fect. 



3. Declare church and state forever separate and 

 distinct, but each free within its proper sphere ; 

 and that all church-property shall bear its own pro- 

 portion of taxation. 



4. Drive out licensed immorality, such as polyga,- 

 my and the importation of women for illegitimate 

 purposes. To recur again to the centennial year, it 

 would seem as though now, as we are about to begin 

 the second century of our national existence, would 

 be a most fitting time for these reforms. 



5. Enact such laws as will insure a speedy return 

 to a sound currency, such as will command the re- 

 spect of the world. 



Believing that these views will commend them- 

 selves to the great majority of the right-thinking and 

 patriotic citizens of the United States, I submit the 

 rest to Congress. U. S. GRANT. 



Whiskey Frauds how they have been com- 

 mitted Precautions taken against their 

 Recurrence their Extent. 

 THE following is an extract from the report 



of Mr. D. D. Pratt, Commissioner of Internal 



Revenue, in relation to the recent whiskey 



frauds : 



Public attention has been often called, within the 

 past few months, to extensive frauds committed in 

 certain localities upon the revenue by distillers and 

 rectifiers of distilled spirits. I propose, briefly as I 

 can, to give an account, first, of the checks, guards, 

 and protections against frauds established by law ; 

 second, of the manner in which "whiskey frauds," 

 so called, lately exposed, were perpetrated upon the 



Government; third, of the extent of these frauds; 

 fourth, of the checks recently established to prevent 

 a recurrence of the same ; and, fifth, to suggest the 

 legislation which, in my opinion, is necessary to in- 

 sure a fuller collection in the future of taxes upon 

 distilled spirits. 



1. The system of surveillance now in force at all 

 distilleries, to insure that none of the product may 

 escape taxation, is based upon the presumption that 

 all local officers are honest. Where such is the case 

 it works admirably, and insures the collection of 

 tax "upon every gallon of spirits produced by the dis- 

 tiller. It could hardly be expected, however, that 

 among over twenty-three hundred storekeepers and 

 gaugers some would not prove dishonest, especially 

 since there is always near them, in the person of 

 the distiller, if he happen to be an unscrupulous 

 man, a tempter to move them by bribes. 



In order, therefore, to effectually prevent fraud, it 

 is necessary to establish a system that shall surely 

 detect it, and that shall be followed by certain and 

 severe penalties. With the distiller it is a matter oi 

 dollars and cents, so that, if the risk in committing 

 fraud is made so great that it does not pay, he wiu 

 not only be honest himself, but will inform on 

 others as a matter of self-protection. 



The present system may be described briefly as 

 follows: A storekeeper is assigned to ( every dis- 

 tillery, whose duty it is to record the time of filling 

 and emptying every mash-tub, to weigh every pound 

 of grain that is used in the mash, and to see that the 

 law is strictly complied with. The cistern-room, 

 where the spirits are received, is placed in charge of 

 a gauger, who determines the exact quantity pro- 

 duced, and the gauge to each barrel into which the 

 spirits are drawn. The pipes from the still to the 

 cistern-room are continuous, so that the distiller has 

 no access to the spirits until after they are gauged 

 and the quantities determined. Each barrel filled 

 in the cistern-room must be serially numbered, be- 

 ginning with No. 1, and running consecutively with- 

 out duplication. A warehouse-stamp must then be 

 affixed to the barrel, which stamp has also a serial 

 number, never duplicated, and shows the number of 

 barrel, contents in proof, and wine-gallons, name of 

 gauger, and date of affixing. The barrel so marked 

 is then placed in a warehouse on the distillery prem- 

 ises, where it can remain not to exceed one month 

 without a warehousing-bond, or not to 'exceed one 

 year when such a bond is given. When the package 

 is to be withdrawn, the collector furnishes, on ap- 

 plication and after payment of the tax, a tax-paid 

 stamp, which is filled in with the same number of 

 package, proof, and wine-gallons, as appears on the 

 warehouse-stamp, and has itself another distinctive 

 serial number, which is never duplicated. The 

 package of spirits is now ready for market, and is so 

 fully marked and branded as to enable any revenue- 

 officer to identify it wherever found, since no other 

 package can exist legally with the same numbers, 

 marks, and brands. 



The distiller is required to keep a book, in which 

 he records a full description of each package, speci- 

 fying all the marks and brands above specified, and 

 the name of the party to whom each package is sold. 

 The purchaser is required to keep a book, which 

 records a like description of the -package, and states 

 both from whom it was purchased and to whom ~h& 

 sells it. A complete record is thus kept of the 

 whereabouts of each package of spirits until it is 

 dumped for rectification or reaches the consumer. 



The system of checks, as applied to rectifiers, is as 

 follows : A rectifier is permitted to rectify spirits 

 bought by him, and place the same upon the market 

 under a rectifier's stamp. When he purchases the 

 spirits, and is ready to dump for rectification, he 

 makes out a full description of the packages, giving 

 all serial numbers, date of original gauge, and name 

 of distiller producing the spirits, and sends a notice 

 of intention to rectify the same to the collector, who 



