New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-08-13
., The Ad vaIorcm System one Of Gisan-
xaniic Frauds

We ask the attention Of honest men 10 the
allowing Official Report Of the frauds sys-
tsmatically and almost universally commit
,ed in the importation Of Fabrics under the
rresent Ad Valorem system OF assessing
no,;es It's extracted from the documents
accompanying the last Annual report u
the Secretary Of the Treasury:
Frtyaefs from RepOrt Of me Co ,, O.
Customs TO the Secretdry o. ne n.. a.e.n.ry
&c., r ,.t..ioner OF Customs, Sept ~. lGi].)
omS9 VI l.acs ro your directions, have Wis
ga po,,on and New York, 10 make inquiry into
he charge. and complaints presented 10 the letter
Of T. IL Robbins and others oaveu boston, io.h
I,a,st 1919 and referred D. me on the 22d ultno.
IN NV way 10 Boston, spent one day 10 New.
vc,k saw the Collector and Apprasers sho wed
,hao the letter and informed them Of the object Of
nv Wait From these gentlemen i received the
,,,ufsnce Of their ready and hearty cooperation.
In Boston | had several interviews with the
,gpers Of the letter and others, and received from
them much valuable information.
In corroboratiOn Of their statement, that goods
have been for a long time imported into New
YORK and entered by false invoices at about half
The real cost aud that the parties thus engaged met
with no officially, these gentlemen referred me
specifically TO several cases and generally to many
carefully investig ated one. and satisfied myself
that transactions SINH ar in character have been
common 49,, 90
Little, Alden X Co. imported into that city GER
t,in kiDd of shAwls, and entered into agree
rsnt with the manufacturers In scotland 70 take
4, that they should make, and that no other person
,boud be furnished with them, for export 70 the
United States. The prices which they paid were
d. 3D. 3d. and 42s each. These goods sold read
Iv on arrival at profit. Little, Alden Co state
in letter 10 me. that subsequently we ascer
tanned that Godfrey Pattson x Co. of New. York
had received some Of the came makers goods aud
ware selling them at less prices than ours cost 70
import and one Of their statesmen stated that he
was fully acquainted with the fact that Little, Al
den Il Co. and A. I. Stewart h Co were the ouy
parties that had received them aud that we paid
he several prices for them Of Pa 3D. IS, aud AS.
Annoyed at these things, We made application to
c. W. Lawrence, Esq. col ectOr, and stated the
fscts asking him 10 investigate whether Godfrey
Pattison & Co. had not deirauded the revenue
He referred Us to the appraisers, to whom We gave
Information that Godfrey Pattison Il Co. imported
u.s. and g. two cases shaws, that we had rea
SOD 10 believe were the same goods thai cost US
AS. each. They had ticket upon each shawl
with the No. 4 200 upon it. That Godfrey Pattlson
A Co also imported by the steamer America, at
York, September 90, is 3 g. seven
cases Of shAwls having tickets upon each shawl
marked 2, 800 and 500, that we had reaion to be-
heve were the same goods we Imported, costing
2es cd and 35s. The New York Custom House re-
fused any Information as TO what Godfrey Pattison
4 Co entered the goods at. The only satisfaction
we could obtain from the appraisers was, that" IRE
vaid too much for our goods"
"Hoxburgh the Scotch manuiacturer) having
broken faith with us by selling the oods TO Patti
son at any price whatever, we made a demand on
him for compensation through the law; the result
Of which as a compromise In which we received
fl5O Eor do ma and the amount OF law expenses
we incurred
Little, Alden Il Co. made second shipment OF
these shawls before they ascertained that Patison
4 Co. were engaged in the same business and
they state that "the result OF this shipment was
bss TO us, rs Pattisons were able TO underseu US,
and yet make a profit on these goods, from their
having paid less duties
In the course of this investigation II appeared
that samples Of both importations were obtained
and shown at the appraisers stores, and admitted
TO be precisely alike and OF equal value, and OF the
sane patterns. Ii also appeared that the shaws
which coat Little, Alden Il Co. 25s Cd. and sos.
EACH and which they were both DESTROYS and obi.
gated to take in any quantity at the same prices,
we're entered by Godfrey Pattison * Co. at l7s Cd.
md 2ls, less 81 per cent. discount, or really los sd
ind eos.
tfurther appeared that the invoice Of Godfrey,
P,tison x Co. was passed in the Appraisers stores
Nv Thomas ChRttefton" who was employed In
he department of cotton goods and not familiar
Win woolens and that the Appraiser who told Lit
H. Alden * Co. that they paid too much Tor their
eoods was John B. MchlDoln, tnen one Vi the Az
Instant Appraisers.
Another case presented was, that OF consign
nsnts OF German cloths by q. Schureman OF AK
hChapelle. Two cases OF broadcloths were snip
ped by him, consigned to J. q. Howe 20 oil BIOS
ion OF the same cost and value-one sent 70 Dos
to-, the other to New-York, and arrived about the
sane time. Upon the examination in Boston, the
Appraisers re ported to Howe X Co. that the cloths
were nyoced much below their value, and they
must add 25 per cent to raise them TO the market
value at the time of shipment. Messrs howe
/ Co stated that a similar invoice from the same
shipper was then in New.York, and desired the
Appraisers to write for information; letter from
the New-York Appraisers, in reply was shown
ma Thew passed the cloths as fairly charged. The
Boston Appraisers, notwithstanding this report
sdasd 25 per cent. Howe Co. appealed and the
Merchant Appraisers sustained the advance
The result was, that Mr.. Schuremann sent no
more cloths to Boston, but continued his business
Cgely with New-York.
Gcsse of Under h Meyer, who imported Co
hxne water into Boston, invoced at two thalers,
was raised by the appraisers to three The I'M
p0ters appealed, and the merchant appraisers
| hIed Q rs; upon which was informed that the
cvners remarked, that their invoices were not
nissd in New York, and that they should import
| more into Boston
| Another case was presented OF msccaroni I'm
ported by Boston merchants, invoiced at cents
| per pound The same quality shipped to Boston
Ira New. York house was invoiced at Al cents,
md the parties asserted that their invoices were
lot raised in New York.
| Charles Scott Il Co of New.York imported, per
steamer Canada, at Boston, in July last, an invoice
4 Of smbroideries
Amount OF invoice. 10
appraised '0' .
Amount advanced. 10
1 @tb0ut 10 per cent
/ Bsnpisler of Philadelphia imported recently
INTO Boston an invoice OF csrpeung amounting
4
appraised AVo w
L