The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-07-15
THE DAILY UNION.

porhuon Ol agricultural products from the United
S.s'eS' Was that TO be expected from year 10 year.
Were the calculations TO be formed on the constant
succession OF years Of scarcity in Great Britain No.
England would continue to raise 20 the fullest pos
\ slble extent, It's own food. Her land must be
cultivated. Prices might decline by reason
lof perfect free trade in corn; but British crops
would be grown, put into the granaIies, sold, and
consumed, at what prices they could command,
Events were to be waited for and the result Of the
experiment be seen. But he did not expect to see
any considerable exportatien OF American sgrlcul-
tural products IN value on account Of the repeal of
the British corn-laws, The price OF bread 10 Eng
land would fall, and so would the cost of labor.
hoods would also fall in price, and thus would the
duties decline. That was a very uncertain source
Of information afforded by the table estimating the
values exported, which he then proceeded to show.
lie desired TO know on what distinct grounds the
bill was vindieatedl Was il as a revenue billl Was
because the treasurj was in want Of money, and
this was mode Of improving in He had endesy-
ored TO show that this BILL in the favorable
view OF It's own friends would fall short Of the pres
eat revenue three millions Of dollars. Why, then,
should itbe called revenue bill ! Undoubtedly IL
was desired TO improve the treasury in the present
Il emergency. Anxious the gentlemen opposite
must be TO avoid increase Of public debt and 10
avoid direct taxation, they must seek 10 benefit the
many by this bill But why give up the certain,
liable means which they had--which had done so
much Why abandon that proved system for such
an experiment at such an emergency To that sol
emn inquiry the only reply was ga conjecturen-
ian approximation to the truth" He then wenton
to reply TO the argument urged against specific du-
ties. lie commended that they were a sure means Of
revenue The tax on the yard on which the specific
duty was imposed might decline in value but the
duty remained the same. II the value declined 10
per cent the consumer would the more cheerfuly
pay the specific duty, while the ad yalorem duty in
creased as the consumers ability declined. Check
consumption and they checked revenue. Experiences
had proved that specific duties were stable and not
liable TO huctuaton. The ad yaloreu principle, as
had been properly remarked by the senator from
Massachusetts,, Mr.. WERsTER,l yesterday, had
never been tried by any nation within his knowl-
edge. lie then went on TO say that the
free.trade committee Of the British House Of Com.
mons had examined a great mass OF evidence bu,
not man came forward 10 advocate the ad ydlorem
principle. Next he proceeded to speak ofthe oppor-
tunites OF haud afforded by the ad yalorem system
Mr. LEW Is asked II the senator could point cut
any prosecutions or convictions Of fraud by under
valuation
Mr.. EVANS replied that he could. He (Mr
+ } admitted that the report quoted by the senator
asserted that no frauds had taken place in this
mode. The commissioners undertook many things
which they not told to do. The paper read was
one signed only by out Of three Of the commission
ers Just al the time the OF fraud pending
the commission in session; but the commissioners
thought that It was their duty to go of in the effort
TO fasten some imputalon on the collector. "1here
was never a clearly proved case" Why, at the
very time that report drawn up, cases en-
, bracing half a million Of dollars pending !
And the evidence taken by the courts before
them But, said the commissioners, that evidence
not taken by them, and therefore they reported that
there was no fraud. Oh! but their room was OPEN
and anybody might come I'M And who came inl
| why, the fraudulent importers themselves.
Mr. LEWIS asked what the senator regarded
fraud' He supposed that Mr.. Newbold would be
set down as fraudulent importer.
)l Mr. ENANS Oh He payar run out Of
the country and paid s25, 900 to avoid prosecution
He then went on to speak of the "Yorkshire cases"
Of fraud at New York at the period when the CON-
mission was in session One Of the cases was that
Of Hood. His father in England had been in the
habit ofsending fraudulent invoices to him, ill he
: became alarmed, and wrote several certainly not
very hlial letters 10 the elder Hood, calling him
Ounce and villain, and cautoning him not to un-
der-vaue his invoices more than 25 or 30 per cent
as he would swear to any greater under-valua-
ton. Hood, the father became a hankrupt. and
his papers, with these letters fell into the hands of,
, the assignees who being honest men, revealed the
fraud to the authorities in this coun-
try. Writs were issued against several OF the
fraudulent importers who fed the country; one Of
them, named TAYLOR escaping to Canada and after
remaining there for some time at last succeeded in
; compromising the suit by paying s25OOO-not half
as much he ought to have paid according 10 the
statement Of collector. And the others also compro-
missed the suits in the same way from the difficulty
of obtaining proof of the extent of the fraud In
: Philadelphia the same frauds had been perpetrat.
ed and then there fortyseven trials before for
ty-seven different jures, and forty-seven convc-
tons. Mr. E. continued at considerable length to
expose the frauds which had been perpetrated in a
simtr way, describing the manner in which thew
were successfully effected Under the tariff of lS42
they had been Obliged on certain articles to run the
hazard of ad vaorem duties because specific duties
could not be laid. At the present session of Con-
gress they had enacted a law against which he
(Mr E.) had protested taking away the chief guard
against fraud, by repeating the law giving share of
the penalty of fraud to the custom-house officers
How many prosecutions did thew expect now, An
sort of motive to vigilance had been taken away.
As that law had been passed, so much the
more rigdly should they adhere to the strin.
gencies of the present proposition. The sena
tor from Alabama had argued that as under the spe
cfc duty system, the article went through the hands
of only one officer, fraud was more easy than I'M
der the ad valorem system, when several officers re-
vie wed the article and VIC ro cbecks ,,on o,oh o,b