The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1852-01-01
HOW UNCLE SAM IS CHEATED.

HOW UNCLE SAM IS CHEATED.
A few years since new tariff put hiej
duty on several metals, when imported il
the crude state; very much 10 the discom
fiture Of the customers. One Of them find
ing that all kinds Of statuary aud works 0
art were admitted free Of duty. conceived
the idea Of availinE himself Of this Iibera
provision Of the law to improve the taste o
our people in articles Of rerts and the fine
arts generally by importing several shif
loads Of metal statuary, such as antiques
busts Of Washington, Napoleon, Jackson
Lafayette, etc. They were certainly not
lofihe most perfect kind either in likeness.
grace Of design, or beauty Of finish, though
that could be no excuse for the rude and
lunccremonious ma nner in mhich the steve
dorcs pitched them ashore from the vessel !,
now knocking off, nose from Washington
next fattening the chin Of Napoleon,
shortening the head Of Jackson, or smash
ling in the eyes Of Lafayette. In short
so much were they treated like metal in
pigs or bars that the collector Of the port
was disposed to declare them subject to d.
|ty as crude material. The owner readily
admitted that the careless manner in which
they were handled did give color to such
supposi.ion, inasmuch as it rendered them
valueless as statuarv, which the law could
not gainsay, and AZ statuary, Of course,
came 10 duty free. 1t cost but trife to
cast the metal into statnary, instead Of pigs
and bars, and thus evading the law and
saving the entire duties, an immense for
tune was made by the ''dodge."
Refined sugar some years since was
wholly imported, and was designated in the
tariff as loaf Sugar." paying very high
rate, and sail other sugar." merely nomi-
nal duty. A Boston firm, having, to use a
vulgar expression ''their eyes skinned" !"
imported several careoes Of f'crushed sugar
entering il At the Custom House, and land
ing It under the clause s'other sugars" A
custom house officer soon seized the entire
lot, and trial cnsued upon the libel, but
Of course no jury could be found to give .
verdict that s'crushed sugar" was .loafsu
gar,n whatever il might have been original
~. A fortune was easily won by this ex-
pertinent.
Another of the shrewd ones imported a
large lot Of valuable French gloves ail Of
one hand, and refusing to pay the duty up
on them, they were seized and sold ut auc-
ton. As nobody wanted huge pile Of
odd gloves, he was the only bidder, and ub
solutely bought them for hundred,h par,
Of what the duty would have been. The
gloves Of the other hand arrived in New
York about the same time, and being show.
ed through by the same process, fell to the
same purchaser.
A manufacturer Of American brandy in
Boston, not satisfied with the hundred pei
cent. profit that be was making upon bis
poison, and believing that ifit was endorsed
as being an imported article it would real
ize vasily greater price, chartered .
French brig, and having loaded her with
an entire cargo Of his article, sent her 10
New York. Ia short time she arrived
and, his arrangements with the papers
having been duly perfected snd paid for,
she was announced ~ direct from France,
The next day the captain began d;scharg-
|irg his cargo, but was soon stopped by ;
custom house officer, Who libelled both brig
and cargo for smuggling. They were then
duly condemned a. forfeited, for violation
Of the revenue laws, and advertised and
sold at auction as such. Ofcourse so large
4 seizure and sale created great sensation
and attracted I company, who bought the
whole at large prices.