The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-06-20

hours, while IL takes q much longer time for the
Allies 10 receive support from Paris ut the same
point whether relpforcements be despatched by
the passes Of Mont Gents and Susa, or by Toulon
to Genoa, and thence to Milan; the former
route being tedious and difficult, and the latter
involving much delay In embarking and disem
barking the troops
We anticipate that the really great battle of
the campaign yet to be fought under the walls
Of Verona where on 30 many previous occa-
sions, from 1896 to ls48, the attempts of an
enemy TO pass the Adige were severely con-
tested.
The square encompassed by the fortified towns
of Verona, Peschiera, Mantua and Legnano if
well defended, is to the fortunes of Austria what
we'll maintained square of infantry often is in
turning the scale Of battle.
Custom House Retrenchment and tho Growth
OF Trsde-A Word In Behalf or New York
Merchants.
The Secretary of the Treasury, with the very
laudable aim in view CT reducing the cost of col
lection Of the public revenue, has recently issued
an order for the cutting down of the working
force Of the various Custom Houses all over the
country.
This step, necessary as general thing, and of
easy practical operation in many places without
prejudice to commerce, is in others likely to have
a pernicious effect on the facilities which the
merchants have right to demand at the hands
of the government. We have no doubt that Mr..
| Cobb, in his efforts to diminish tho number Of
useless and idle pensioners on the treasury, frds
himself harassed, and perhaps in some degree
thwarted, by the persistent efforts of the local
politicians to keep their respective friends and
hangers-on in the public pay. In his efforts at
retrencbment and reform he will no doubt incur
but we trust that he will not permit that fact to
swerve him from his duty to the country and to
the administration Of which he is mem
Der. The changes that have occurred and
are continually occurring in the tides
of commerce render impossible the perma-
nent establishment of the number of per
sons necessary in any particular locality for the
service Of the revenue department. While the
aggregate commerce Of the country is con-
stantly increasing, it follows the great channels
of communication, and obeys its natural law of
Capitalization.
Thus, while in some Of the ports of entry the
labors Of the service increase with the increas-
ing volume Of trade, in others it falls of, aud
leaves Custom Houses without commerce, and a
corps of public officers without labor to perform
This fact may be distasteful to the local politi-
clans, who look with unfriendly eye on any
diminution Of the number and pay of the public
officers in their particular districts, but 1t rem
ders general order for the reduction of the
revenue force partial and unjust in its effect on
the general interest Nowhere is this result
more clearly seen than in its operation on the
trade Of New York. For years past our mer-
chants have felt severely the scanty facilities
that are afforded in our Custom House and
all the revenue collecting departments for
their commercial operations. In the first
place. the transactions are confined to q
small and cramped Custom House, where all
day long queues Of persons DESTROYS o.
transacting the necessary documentary labors
are formed and patiently waiting in some
cases hours, for their turn at the desk. Then the
papers accumulate in the hands of the clerks, in
competent from insufiicency of numbers to per
form the necessary labor of revision and entry
during the usual Office hours, and the merchant
is compelled to hire them to do extra work
during the night so that the business of the day
may be done.
This is bad enough of ITSELF but the evil is still
greater when the merchant endeavors to get his
goods out Of the Custom House store, into which
he has got them with so much difficulty So great
;o fba Jnfb uesp r..
performance is the number Of employees, that
oftentimes several weeks pass away before his
turn comes to have his goods examined and de-
spatched. In this way great injury is done to
the New York merchant His efforts to advance
commerce and save time and interest on capital
invested, by employing steamers in the transpor.
tation Of his merchandise, paying extra freight
and extra insurance therefor, are often nullifed
by the delay in passing his goods through the
Custom House. Sometimes his market is lost
by the close Of the season, while in other ports,
less business to do and greater proportion of
officers, enables other merchants to precede him
in taking advantage of the favorable season for
trade. Onr merchants have to calculate all this,
and ore forced to look upon our New York Gus
tom House as one of the greatest impediments to
their business
This is all wrong, and should not be permitted
to continue. The force and the accommodation
Of every Custom House should be strictly appor-
toned to the amount of business the trade Of the
country requires it to trangact. Aud political
reasons and the grumbling Of politicians should
not be allowed to have any influence in the
question of increase or decrease of the number of
persons employed. The truth is that the whole
system of our revenue aud treasury department
needs reorganization and smpIGcation. Organ
ised by Alexander Hamilton with the first
organization Of the country, it has grown with