The New York herald., 1870-05-21
The Customs Carriage Bmrcam-Amathci
Incubus Upon Our Commerce.

mcnDuS OpOn Our Commerce.
While the worthy Collector Of the PORT OF
New York is exerting every endeayor to pro-
mote the interests and conyenence OF our
merchants, and at the same time taking rigid
care of the concerns OF the government in the
premises, it seems that certain parties are
continually striving to throw obstacles in the
way OF the commerce of the port and endea-
voring to cripple il in every way they can.
The shipbuilding interest having been essen
TALLY crushed ont by the exorbiiant tariff upon
the raw material and other restrictions, includ :
ing the intolerable quarantine regulations
under the late Health Officer watch were
imposed upon the commerce of the port greatly
to its prejudice, it now appears that another
and very annoying incubus has been cast
upon 1t in the shape of new tangled notion
called the ''Customs' Carriage Bureau"
In order to obtain a proper understanding Of
this new machine for plucking our merchants
we will briefly recur TO the warehousing system
since its organization. The first warehousing
law was enacted in 1916. and provided that all
bonded goods should be held in warehouses
owned or leased by the government and the
Collector of the Port was authorized TO take
possession of the goods at the vessels side
and place them in the government stores.
The operation of this law was found to be
oppressive to the merchants, and in 1854
bill was passed abolshing all gov
ernment stores aud permitting citizens
to bond warehouses, making their own
terms with the importers for the storage of the
goods, and at the same time the importer had
the privilege of carting his own property to the
bonded warehouse he might designate on his
qr,ired to give satisfactory bonds to the gov
ernmcnt equal to double the amount Of duties
any loss of the goods between the vessel and
the warehouse will not exempt the importer
from the payment Of the duties. This system
has worked well for sixteen years but sud
denly the whole machinery is thrown into con
fusion by the introduction of the present
method of carriage through the medium of the
s'Customs Carriage Bureau" concern located
somewhere outside the Custom House and
MdudScu Wy piiFtIc pdTtcs iOT prlVaLe INFER
ests-interests inimical to those OF our heaviest
importing and duty paying merchants. Under
this system the charge for carriage to our i'm
porters has been increased hundred per ceut.
and SO grievous is the additional tax consid-
cred that some of our merchants are importing
their goods via Baltimore, Boston, and even
Canada. The leading merchants of the city
openly protest against this usurpation, and
when such houses as A. T. Stewart Il Co..
Phelps. Dodge & Co.. Spoford, Tileston .S
Co., Bernhard a. Hutton, Wetmore, Cryder g.
Co., Olyphant Il Co., Fabbri q Chauncey, P.
Balen q Co., Kunhardt IL Co., John E. Devlin
u Co., Chamberlain, Phelps & Co., w. II.
Westervelt Il Co., Lawrence, Waterbury &
Co.. Frederick Schucbardt & Co., William A.
Freeborn e. Co., and large number of other
most pr0min nent merchants demonstrate against
the continuance of the system, and the influ-
ence Of members of Congress having been en-
listed to further the same end, we feel assured
that the Secretary Of the Treasury will promptly
authorize the Collector Of the Port to abolish
1t altogether and thus relieve the commerce
Of New York from at least one intoIerabIe
incubus.