New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-01-23
CUSTOM-HOUSE ABUSES.


rpor,,.o>,v or cor GEORGE X. LEET
20 OBTAINED THE GENERAL ORDER
"pITNnWTuE PRESIDENTS LETTEH-AN
INSIDE VIEW OF PIE BUSINESS
m senate Committee devoted itself, yester-
dav to the examination Of Col Georee N Hoo, WV 80
soarcbnoly questioned concerning tne nys'oriou' "'
,n which he obtained possession OF the Dos' N"u
nio nerouisite" In the gift OF the 1oVerh-
go, Two letters 20 Mr.. Grnnen, are from
49, rosideut and the other from the Hon. E. b. wash
,n. were presented as having procured for Col Leet
che General Order "plum which he shared with MI
Rixby Mr. Horton, and ultimately with MI. STOCKING
his present partner The witness gave an extended ac
count OF the method Of doing General order business
showing clearly that Leet Co., are practically ire
sponsibe and that merchant who loses goods IN their
store can get no redress Their expenses from June IT,
1870 TO Dec ST. 1871, 35, and their receipts lOr
Warehouse and General order business were S2OSa65s
the cost of carriage being s51 ,S9599 additional
Senator Howe questioned the witness to his military
career from the time he entered the service as private
soldier in the Chicago Mercantile Battery in 1862 until
his resignation in February $780, and also as to the letter
to Mr. Grinnell which the president volunteered TO give
him Col Leet positively asserted that Gen. Porter ana
Gen Babcock derived not a cent from the General
Order business, and declared that he was not
n member of their mess in Washington in
1862 but only kind OF honorary boarder; Judge
Louis Dent far the witnessRknew, had never used
any influence in his behalf; he admitted that Leet d
Co.'S charges were higher than bonded warehouse
charges but thought absolutely necessary that they
should he If the General Order man is to make any
money because of the heavier expenses Of General
Order warehouse.
These charges were regulated by an expert and the
witness claimed that they higher than they had
been during the last nine years. except perhaps III the
case of Mr. Squire who on some packages charged nVe
cents less than Leet Stocking He admitted that the
might in cases exceed those directed by the
Chamber of Commerce. not intentionally however"
Senator Bayard crossexamined the witness closely as
10 his army experience his intimacy with Lindsay, his
application TO Grinnel his arrangement with Bixby, his
subsequent partnership with Stocking, and their invest
ment OF the profits Of the General Order monopoly
The witness persistent in asserting that Gems POr-
ter aud BabcOck did not aid him in getting
the General Order business. In answer TO the
question, "Did you ever intimate to any
body that Mr. Grinne would lose his place unless he
gave you these Z" he replied, say most en-
phatcally, did anything of the kind; Mr. Leet
explained the fact that Mr. HlOsOn was charged three
times much for labor and four times as much for stor-
age at the General Ordar warehouse as at bonded
warehouse Of usually good character, by the
suppONtiOn that the bonded warehouse rates
had been reduced "by lively competition"
The General Order charges, the witness affirmed,
had not been reduced during the past six weeks, but
were the same they were year ago He denied that
any arrangement had been made with A. stewart by
which the latter not TO be charged more than 81 IS
per package. Mr. Wakeman, he admitted, lad legally
represented him before the Committee during
the present investigation. He understood
from Gen Porter that the President regretted
that the Leet & Stocking General Order arrangement
had been entered into and lie had been told that Grant
wrote letter 10 Mr. Murphy, telling him that II there
was any person connected with the CustOnhouse who
claimed position because OF having been associated
with the President at any time. he wanted him dis
charged