Why revenue enforcement gave the cutters institutional strength

The Navy was a federal cost center, while the revenue cutters visibly brought money into the government. Because tariffs fell chiefly on imports, enforcement could operate without taxing through the states or provoking the same state-rights objections. Placement under the Treasury linked the service to a department with a direct interest in funding its own enforcement capacity. Bureaucratic location and fiscal purpose could therefore make a maritime institution durable even when its combat value was difficult to price.