The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-06-16
WHOLE NO. 1885.
facturer made handsome profit by the fraud in his

iacturer made handsome profit by the fraud in his
invoice.
Another merchant bought quantity of goods
entted to debenture, and after exporting them he
PPhed Ior the drawback, and found it smaller than
he anticipated, which led to enquiry: and he as
certained where the goods had been bought in Eu.
rope, and that they had been passed at the custom
house at from twenty five to thirty per cent less
than the cost in Europe. Another merchant in
nav YORK became the purchaser of goods, and
suspectlng all was not right pursued similar
course 81 enquiry and ascertaned, by the clearest
proof, that they had been entered at the custom
house, from twenty to thirty per cent. below cost
In former periods, when our merchants were dis
unguished as class of high minded honorable
men, conducting their business upon fair and lust
principles, it was usual to sell at an agreed rate per
cent. or advance upon the invoice, by which the
goods were entered which was exhibited to the
purchaser. That mode of transactine business
mmich suDserved the purposes of honest men, has
Iaien INTO disuse, and been superseded by an art
ful continuance we'll adapted to disguise frauds
An invoice Is made up to enter the goods at the
custom house, wherein they are greatly undervaI
ued, and when it has performed this Office its work
peing nnished, 1t is consigned to some dark pigeon
hole there to sleep, and another paper Sometimes
caled an Invoice, and sometimes statement Is ex.
hDted to purchasers, containing the actual cost
OF goods The first is manufactured to delude the
Omcefs OF the customs the last to conceal perjury
several mistakes have happened which have en-.
public, 'Ae saAo " siiS
foreign importer at New York sold a package
OF goods at certain advance on the cost Shortly
after making the sale, he discovered that he had
SOLO at an advance on the fictitious cost or in other
words, on the invoice by which the goods had been
entered at the Custom House, he went to the buyer
ana informed him of the mistake, and insisted that
ne should make up the difference between the ac-
tuai and the false cost. The buyer was surprised
at the novelty OF the request refused to allow any
md fold L
he would expose him to the Collector of the chs,
toms. The importer pocketed the affront. and
went about his business"
In another instance merchant bought quantity
OF goods at 65 per cent. advance on the sterling
cost soon after the buyer had left the store of tbs
seller, he informed by the latter that the goods
could not be delivered, because he had made 4
mistake in selling them by the trrong inco;ce. The
buyer replied that he would take them by the prices
at which they had been entered at the Custom
Rouse out the seller declined this, saying, his in
sIfuctlons We're to sell at an advance upon prices
put down IN paper which had the form of an in
voice. but was called statement, in which the
prices were charged one hundred per cent. above
the invoice upon which the duty had been paid at
the custom house; that is, goods charged in the
custom house invoice at Sl2 a piece were out
down IN the statement at S24 piece.
Other examples of this class of frauds could be
clted, put II would be waste of time for the same
authority says: 1t is a common custom, and one
wen understood among merchants, that many for
elgn importers resident in this country are in the
constant habit of receiving two invoices of each
Parcel OF goods, one for the custom house. and the
other to sell BY 1t adds that among the importers
OF wooliens, it is common custom to enter goods
on an nVoce made out ezPressly for that purpose
Dly not less than SO Is per cent,
III PROOF OF TINS, and also that goods are entered
Dy false invoices, the following fact is 0iven
6roao cloth entered at the custom house as costing
I'M IN Euoc
the tariff of 1894 was frequently 6ouehf =; .t anc
uon by the importer. at ,25 to $50 the ward to
escape from sacrifice of the property vet iftbe
invoice was honest, these prices would afford en-
ormous Pfoht, Another instance among MANY shall
De named. merchant ordered quantity of WOOL
lens of an English manufacturer in thu same YES
SCI Whch brought them out came a shinment Of
goods OF the same kind and quality, sent by the
manufacturer himself on his own account which
were entered at the custom house SO much below
"nat tne merchant gave, that the former made 25
per cent on the sales, while the latter lost 10 ner
cent VIII not weary the patience Of the Com
mittee oy multiplying the proofs, for these facts
snow the most glaring, palpable, barefaced fraud
ana imposition, as well as an utter degradation of
lnoIal CHARACTER Tor they are necessarily accompa-
med, ana sustained, by the most deliberate pernry
do not know, indeed, that any one questions
tnis violation OF truth and law for it seems to be
admitted that English agents and manufacturers
are right when they declare our custom house az
.ou tut eiea'es' iacultles Tor eyading the reye-
stated that invoices were also false in another
partlcuiar-ln falling to give true account of the
quantity. The same authority gives well anthem
ucated instances of goods entered for twelve wards
the piece, which were sold in market at from four
teen to fifteen yards the piece; by which fraud.
duty. ''A
will now state fact, which will show that
frauds IN the woollen trade are perpetrated to a
most alarming extent. 1t is known that the reye-
nue. law of 1928 establishes graduation of Dr;ce.
on which the duty is assessed for examnle
square yard OF cloth costing SO l-3 cents or under
that sum, pays fourteen cents duty-so If it cost
over 50 Is cents, and under fifty cents it is con-
sldered as costing fifty cents and yard actually
costing tarty-tour cents, pays the duty as one
costing nifty cents-so also yard costing 6fty-ene
cents, or any sum between that and one dollar.
pays the same duty as yard costing dollar; and
yard costing one hundred and one cents, or any
sum between that and two dollars and fifty cents.
pays the same duty as one costing two dollars and
nifty cents, and so on. The lowest duty is forty-
tive per cent. on these arbitrary sums. and the
highest is at least three times that amount The
natural operation of the law would be to bring those
classes OF goods into the market which paw the low
est DUTY, and to exclude those which pay the high
est but am we'll assured that it has produced no
such efect-for goods which pay the highest duts
are as abundant in the market they ever were and
there Is no visible dsproporton between the price
.hey pear and the price of those which pay the
lowest duty. In fact the trade goes on, apparent
", precisely as it did before the passage of the
law. 1t the provisions of the act were executed
this could not be SO; and we need no better or
stronger proof to show that systematic fraud per-
vades the wooen trade throughout, as an ineonal;-
y IN duty woald produce a like inequality in the
value OF the foreign productions in our market.
In confirmation of this view of the matter n.
well as of the existence of frauds there have been
exhibited in this House specimens Of woollens.
which were invoiced for entry at the custom honse
at one dollar the yard and selling by the piece
at hye dollars the yard in the largest markets Of
the country
Sir, the facts disclosed, are remarkable in their
character, especially they show that these soss
eVaslons OF the law are in a measure legaIixed nv
passing the goods through the custom house =
Mnetner they are carried on so boldly and success