The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-03-05
" Morally and Legally ITrnudu-
lent"

1t is really painful to witness the efforts of the
ministerial Gazette writer in his attempts to justify
the local Agents of the California Sugar R~efnerres
for their part in the efforts to defraud the revenue of
the United States by mixing charcoal with sugar,
and also justilying the morality of the attempt at
a defence of the fraud, made by the late Mr..
GOrdOn's literary champion in this city. 1t is
painful to think that n mar who has for many
years challenged and won the respect of our best
citizens a man possessed Of n sound reasoning
mind, and mercantile abilities second to few if
any in this community, should so far forget him
self as to prostitute his ability and intelligence by
stopping to defend an act which has been pro-
nounced by eminent authority as a palpablc fraud:
as 50 MORALLY AND LEGALLY FRAUDULENT"
We have followed the writer in his tortuous
course through column after column Of the Gazette
with the hope that We might find one sentence
which could be held up in extenuation of the error
in judgment, to call it by no harder name, of which
the writer was guilty. We are satisfied that
conscience is doing its work. The literary efforts
of the gentleman and his friends C) are for the
purpose Of quoting the = still small voice. - which
is made manifest by their oft-repeated visits to
their mouthpiece, like the moth to the candle,
only to suffer the more
To our mind the writer for the Gazette, in his
attempts at a justification, has made a very strong
case against those whom he seeks to defend. Let
us quote a little Whenever immense duties
are levied on any article, and more especially
upon an article of prime necessity, there will al
ways be an exercise of ingenuity to avoid the
payment Of such excessive duty"
1t is well known that Il high tariff necessitates
n vigilant Custom House staff. n strong coast
guard, a corps of detectives, whose only duty it
is to expose Just such attempts at a violation of
the revenue law as the writer essays to defend.
The highest order of cunning and deceit is called
in play by the successful s~muggIer the ingenuity
practiced often challenging the admiration of
honest men but not necessarily enlisting their
to such an extent as to lead them to
aid and abet the schemes. This writer contends,
however, that in the matter of these sugars there
was no ingenuity exercised to avoid the payment
of what was thought to be excessive duties, and
But 1t may be well to say how it hap
pened that the device of mixing carbon with the
sugar was resorted to. 1t had been usual, before.
to mix a light sugar with 4 darker one to bring
down the whole color below No. u. This no one
ever doubted to be perfectly legitimate; but it
found that the darker sugars, which generally
were second or third crystals. melted (delique-
sence as it is termed) the lighter, or first crystals,
so that there was a loss of weight or in other
words, the perfectly legitimate !" method en-
tailed n loss. 80 For this reason, it was thought
necessary to resort to some other expedient,' or,
in other words, to prevent a loss, some expedient
other than a 80 perfectly legitimate - one must be
ingeniously cOntrived. II is Of record that n
council was held and the propriety Of mixing
charcoal in the sugar discussed, and one party, in
the employ of the Refneries, objected TO the plan
as he did not believe that the mixture would e-
cape detection by the Custom House authorities in
Francisco but = Mr.. Gordon did not believe
that the admixture of charcoal-which could only
be taken out by refining, and which reduced the
sugar to refinery sugar,-could be construed into
any fraud on the revenues of the United States,
more especially as he was not required to state the
color in his invoices. but is always left to the
Of tho appraisers" And in defence of