At the beginning he sent
off his answers without the knowledge of the chiefs of division, and in
some instances a newspaper report was the first information that the
subordinates obtained that a decision had been made. In some instances
he passed upon old questions, without any inquiry or examination, until
it was discovered that the head of a division was ruling one way and
Mr. Lewis was ruling another way at the same time.
When I left the office in March, 1863, Mr. Chase said to me that it
exceeded in magnitude the entire Treasury Department, March 1861. It
was in fact the largest Government department ever organized in
historical times, and it was organized without a precedent. By its
machinery, it became finally so vast, that three hundred and fifty
million dollars were assessed and collected in a single year. In the
thirty-eight years of its existence, the gross collections have
amounted to $5,524,363,255.89. It has existed eight and thirty years
with no other changes than such as have been required by the change
of laws. The frame work, including the system of bookkeeping with its
checks and tests, remains.
When I entered upon the work in July, I examined the records of the
Excise Bureau established during the War of 1812, but they furnished
no aid whatever in the execution of the work that was before me.
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