The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-11-01
DAILY PRESS,
PORTLAND
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER l, lsh'
s;,,-. -. Ripbon. from St. John

m
Hou mich of the talk about smuggling,
a,,onaa 20 have been attempted on the occa-
sion of the late excursion to the Province of
New Brunswick, is humorous, and how much
has relation to events that really took place?
Ever since the excursionists returned, rumors
of silks, gloves and other dutiable articles
brought away from Bluenosedom without pay
ing tribute to the custom house Cesar, or
c0nfiscated on crossing the frontier, have
come from all quarters. Even now, at the
expiration of almost fortnight, the papers
have not yet done recounting the varied ex-
periences of the buyers of st. John wares. 1t
is devoutly to be hoped that most of these
reports will Slack confirmation" For if So
ciety, as aohole, is so completely democrat
lied as these jocose variations indicate, it is
no wonder that Camerons and Tweeds, But
lers and Garveys, Fisks and the whole tribe of
embezzers of the public funds, exist. If the
Average man isn't strong enough morally to
go down 10 st. John on an excursion, and re-
sist the temptation to commit a petty, con-
temptible fraud on the government, one is
almost forced to conclude that Fisk and
Rogers are eminent in crime only because OF
their opportunities to steal. Not being Will
ing to reach such lamentable conclusion, we
are glad TO believe that the humor of the mar
ratives is their only claim to public attention,
and that they are pure fabrications. 1t is
with especial reluctance that we should admit
that our public men were guilty, as alleged, of
20 c4ao fha Of ha
people of the United States, to whose good
opinion they owe their official employment.
No man who does not instinctively feel that
the essential immortality of defrauding the
revenue, of affixing stamps once used but
not cancelled, of the predatory raids Of col
lege students, or even of the appropria-
ton of anotber's umbrella on a rainy
day, loses nothing of its character by
the merely conventional federation of those
particular forms of robbery, is fitted for any
responsible place whatever. We have not
vet heard the name of one of these high
toned smugglers, and hope we shall no., lest
we should be tempted to point it, whether it
belonged to Senator or to Judge, to a
Democrat Or to a Republican, to " one Of our
own citizens" or a dweller in far off Acadian
Madawaska, to church member or to a
Philistine. The worst thing about snug
Cling is that it may be INDUCED in with i'm
punity only by rich or influential men who
are amateurs in the business. Such men, who
are led to commit the criminal act from a
disreputable longing to enhance the comforts
Of their already sufficiently enviable position,
at the expense of the people, often escape
with light penalties for the grossest offenses.
The very courts sometimes shield them, not
only from humiliating or burdensome punish
ments, but from publicity, taking care that
their cases are not reported with those of
''vulgar" criminals who smugge profession
ally for their daily bread.
1t is an unfortunate necessity that compels
apeople to levy customs duties. The Gus
tom house is undoubtedly relic of barbarism
and is consequently in its very nature demon.
alizing. But the most importunate free-trad-
er, even Judge Rice, can hardly show how il
is to be dispensed with till such other relics O.
barbarism as wars, standing armies, navie,
and the consequent public charges and debt
are first abolished. No man with the mora
capabilities of flea will excuse himself fol
thieving because restrictions on trade are in
compatible with the highest conceivable state
of civilization and the most perfect ideal of
human society. Let us wait patiently, or at
least neutrality-suspicious. the custom house
will disappear little before the millennium
romesi l5J j t.-lf -