CHAPTER L.

GREEN B. RAUM.

Among all the supporters of Senator Douglas for the Presidency in 1860, there was no more zealous advocate of his election than Gen. Green B. Raum, and when the flag of his country was assailed, he was as quick to rally to the support of his Government as was his great leader, and to him belongs the distinguished honor of having made the first speech in Southern Illinois in favor of sustaining the Union by war. The fall of Fort Sumter created a profound sensation in this part of the State, as it did all over the country. During the political canvass preceding the election of President Lincoln, political excitement ran high. There was great prejudice against the Republican candidates, and nine-tenths of the voters opposed Lincoln at the polls. When the secession movement was set on foot a number of prominent men in Southern Illinois sympathized with it. Its proximity to Kentucky and Missouri, both slave States, and the free intercourse of the people, back and forth, together with the ties of kinship, brought the people of these States very closely together, and it is not to be wondered at that at the outset there should have been a division of sentiment in that great crisis. Gen. Raum had from the very commencement of the secession movement expressed himself firmly in favor preserving the Union, and when Sumter fell he was prompt in declaring himself on the side of the Govern

ment. A few days after this event the Circuit Court of

Massac county convened, and Gen. Raum was in attendance as one of the practicing attorneys. As he passed down the Ohio river the rebel flag was seen floating over the city of Paducah. He arrived at Metropolis Sunday morning, and was met by a number of acquaintances, who were anxious to learn his views upon the pending crisis, whereupon he freely avowed himself for the Union.

On Monday morning the town was full of people eager to learn the news and to exchange opinions with their neighbors. In the evening, an impromptu meeting assem. bled in front of the law office of Green & Smith, and a number of persons were called out to express themselves on the momentous issue of war. All deprecated war as a means of saving the Union, and some took open ground against all such measures, declaring their unalterable opposition to waging war against their Southern brethren. One gentleman declared that he was born in Tennessee; that the bones of his fathers were buried in that State, and under no circumstances would he take up arms against his kinsmen in an effort to save the Union. These sentiments apparently met the hearty approval of the assemblage, as they were frequently applauded. At last Gen. Raum was called upon for a speech, but as it was getting late in the night he stated that he would be glad to address them upon the great question before them, and would do so at the Court House, the next day at 1 o'clock. The next day came, and with it a great crowd of expectant people, many coming from Paducah, to hear the address, for Gen. Raum was widely known in that portion of Kentucky.

At the appointed time, Gen. Raum commenced his address, and continued to speak for full two hours. He declared the Union perpetual and unbroken; dwelt upon its benefits, and the futility of every effort to destroy it. He declared it the duty of every citizen to stand by the

Union as the great palladium of our liberties; as the only hope for the perpetuation of free government; the only maintenance in the future of domestic peace, and for the promotion of the welfare, prosperity and happiness of the people. He pointed to the Ohio river as a great outlet to the sea, and declared that the people of Illinois, occupying an interior position, would never consent that the navigation of the Mississippi river should ever be disturbed or its mouth owned by a foreign power. He warned the Kentuckians present, that if Kentucky failed in her loyalty to the Union she would become the theatre of war. He stated that while he had opposed the election of President Lincoln, that in the great emergency, whatever other men might do, he had fully made up his mind to give Mr. Lincoln's Administration a cordial and earnest support in its efforts to save the Union.

This speech, by the force of its argument, carried the audience along from point to point, and finally, when the climax was reached and the people were appealed to, to rally to the support of Lincoln's Administration as the true and only means of saving the Union, it was evident that all doubts had been dissipated, and that the people saw their way clearly and could hesitate no longer as to their duty. Then it was that Gen. Raum, without seeking it, met a great emergency, and led the way in Southern Illinois for the people to support the cause of Union and liberty.

Gen. Raum entered the Union army as Major of the 56th Illinois Infantry, and rose successively to the ranks of Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel, Brevet Brigadier General, and Brigadier General. He served through the siege of Corinth, the campaign of Central Mississippi and Yazoo Pass, commanded a brigade at the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and during the march to the relief of Chattanooga. At the the battle of Missionary Ridge he was

severely wounded, while leading his brigade into action. He returned to his command two months later and took an active part in the Atlanta campaign. He reinforced and successfully defended Resaca, Georgia, when that important point in Sherman's line of communications was attacked by the whole force of Hood's army, in October, 1864, and commanded a brigade of the Fifteenth Army Corps in the celebrated march to the sea.

After the close of the war, Gen. Raum resumed the practice of law at Harrisburg, and in 1866 he was elected to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican, defeating Wm. J. Allen in a district theretofore overwhelmingly Democratic. Afterwards he engaged in railroad enterprises, and largely promoted the construction of the Cairo and Vincennes railroad, of which he was the first president.

In the Fall of 1876, there was a strong feeling of uneasiness at the National Capital in regard to the outcome of the pending Presidential election, and President Grant felt it desirable to call around him, in civil capacities, some of his old army associates, upon whose prudence, pluck and discretion he knew he could rely in an emergency. Accordingly, Gen. Raum, among others, was summoned to Washington, and was tendered and accepted the position of Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

The office, under the condition of things then prevailing, was a most difficult one to fill successfully. Injudicious and vacillating legislation as to the amount of tax to be paid upon distilled spirits, and the very imperfect methods at that time in force for the collection of the tax, had fostered frauds and broken down public confidence in the honest administration of internal revenue affairs. Even the best-disposed tax-payers, by reason of their belief that fraudulent preferences had been given to others, were inclined to be hostile to the whole system of internal revenue taxation.

To suppress frauds, and to bring honest tax-payers into harmonious relations with the Government, were thus among the first problems which confronted the new Commissioner. Recognizing that the initial step towards securing honest tax-paying was to secure honest collecting, Gen. Raum brought into play his army experience by inaugurating a system of inspection and reports, by competent revenue agents, as to the entire revenue force of the country. In regard to all officers having a financial responsibility, he established a system of periodical examination and verification of their accounts. All possibility of partiality or collusion in these reports was avoided by a continuous rotation of the inspecting officers. A standard of different grades of excellence was adopted, and collectors were informed in what rank their office stood. The almost immediate result was the creation of a spirit of emulation in the service, which increased year by year. In the first three years of Gen. Raum's administration, under this system of inspections and examinations, less than $2,800 remained unaccounted for out of a total collection of over $343,000,000. During succeeding years this deficiency was made good, and at the end of the fiscal year 1882 the Commissioner was able to report a total collection in six years of nearly $749,000,000 at an average cost for collection of less than three and a half per cent., without the loss of a single dollar by defalcation. In the preceding ten years the loss on internal revenue taxes collected, by defalcation or otherwise, as shown by the accounts of the Treasury Department, had exceeded $3,000,000.

Commissioner Raum frequently found himself hampered by insufficient appropriations, but scrupulously avoided the creation of any deficiency in regard to expenditures within his control. The only deficiency appropriations asked for by the Internal Revenue Bureau from 1877 to