Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1850-04-27
The Ad yalorem Tariff

The mass of testimony which is
furnished in the accompanying doeu.
ments' Of The Treasury Repott. all go
10 show that it would be difficult to
devise more unjust mode Of levy
ing duties than The existing nd taio.
rem Tariff Of 1g4G.
The Collector Of Boston writes:
"You have from this office alone.
and within The short spaee Of ten
months Of one year, nearly 1900 cases,
wherein the invoices or entries Of
merchandise have been set aside. md
the amount Of duty increased. There
have been $1,000 entries made ut this
office within this period Of time. SO
that the cases mentioned amount TO
nearly nine per cent Of al the entries
made ut this port. and The amount
Of duties saved to She government by
this procedure must be at least two
hundred thousand Whether
similar vigilance is exercised ut other
custom houses, | have not the means
Of determining; but The complaints
which are made TO me, and TO which
| have already referred, that we us
sess higher foreign values on many
articles than are assessed Mt other
ports, lead me to suppose that We are
somewhat singular in our mode Of
procedure.
"fn this connexion ] cannot refrain
from saying, that | have papers in
my possession showing, that goods
arc purposely invoiced lower for one
market (Philadelphia) than they are
for another (Boston), and that while
the lower invoice passed The apprais-
ers Of Philadelphia. without being
advanced, the higher invoice was
largely advanced by our appraisers
There can be no doubt that many
importers seek these ports for the i'm.
portation Of certain articles, where,
through the ignorance Of the apprai.
sers, or their loose mode Of doing bu-
STRESS, they can be successful in their
undervaluations Thus the Constitu-
tion is violated, which declares, Art.
l, Sec. O:
"No preference shall be given by
any regulations Of commerce or re-
venue to the ports Of one State over
those Of another
. he Colrctor ~ Philadelphia writes:
"Appraisements of value Of foreign
merchandise Of the same kind Mt diff
ferent ports must Of necessity, be va
rious in many instances, and the va
ration ir the prices fixed by the APP
praisers of different ports on articles
identical in character and cost abroad
has been known to exceed twenty per
cent. Nor would il be fair to ascribe
this discrepancy to inattention or un-
due want Of skill in the appraisers,
for many articles in almost every de-
partment Of manufacture, are Of such
character as to require the educa-
ton Of a life time to attain profcien-
CIV in Judging accurately as TO the
ratio Of value between qualities Of
different and approximating grades.
OF this description may be named
wines, especially the finer ones Of
Germany and France, cutlery, hard
ware, as files, &C.
The Appraiser under the present
system is expected to know every
thing, the quality Of every article inn
ported from every where, and what
is more, the cost Of every thing every
where. OF course, on many things,
the appraisers Of no two ports can
agree, in such articles as wine, cut
lerv, &c.
Mr.. Hone, Deputy Collector, writes
from New York, in-regard to the un-
liberalization Of merchandise
bad Iron is imported with wide
lsxtent Of value, costing from IS, stcrl.