New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-01-06


ieny Oh r. I'D from the office Of the u s. DistrctAt
noy u tho District Of New-VorF pup,
nshed a. artie9 some weeks M Ano,asrs ONCE
The authority Tor every one o the oss' SH an and and
se nov on e IN ,S n ne aurSy VA Of that
gntemaO therefore beg that If ven ws' 70 E2w ,de
in Tea to The 1Pp %na ee his 70 make
Ia re eases on record that Office in which the Gov
'' r. = s. Kennedy Of the importing house Of J. e
Pos DIV Co, told me about three weeks aeo nS 20
r., the street certain Custom house broker no aiS
bra br whose name at this moment loTgc.d lot of
tlas broker said TO him You lmpG Udnied YES
w. it a. or Something to that effect The broker re-
You SSG d In Kennedy 1.-THE not
damaged" "Oh, we replied the proE Ike Una, nst let
me G pG Claim FOR yOaF I the
money. and we will share it" Mr.. Kennedy declined III
WbSt T WAS the character of the good A. The
goods railroad iron Laughter ne sq ho me 'Te
nred vet the broker said IT would make no difference
this suggested to the idea of collecting some evidence
on that point
MR. BOUTWELL, coGNIzANT OF CORRUPTION.
This was doing when fell in with MIR. Boutwell, the
Secretary, and mentioned the fact TO him. requesting
him TO give some investigation He told me was 100
ate that his attention had been called to this DIVISION
lately remember he added, that he had already had
number OF cases in that division carefully investigated
and that he had not yet found one when was NOT
fsnd on the mart of the applicant which clearly
understood by those to whom the application was
with regard each Of these three departments ouGS
say that far as the impressions MADE on II IL
are concerned have reason to believe tnat ueIe 10
any corruption IN any OF them now man I9I
ago. but cannot help considering te the poIihcaI
system here which has always been in practice ana mas
Produced these results year after year
O. That is ali the personal experience you have bad OF
the transactions in the Surveyors Department. A. N0t
quite year later my sister On invalid, came 10 TINS
port and her baggage be taken from the Custom
house he unfortunately lost her Keys before LEAVING
was brought out the pier; l was WIN
her; the Inspector turned to me and asked
him there dutiable goods in the trunk after
consulting with my sister told him there were not ne
the Office for present which he received for his CON
| sideration this was in 1869, after midsummer.
O. Touching the Appraisers division can yon put us
the track tell us how to 60 10 work. who are the
guished from those who doing their duty A. BY
applying the DistrictAtorney for all the knowledge
have a large amount of Information.
Q. OF those who are still in the servcef A. cannot
say think they nearly all apply to period previous
70 Does VonT Information lead Won TO the conviction
that IL you apply to the DstricAtOrney he will put us
tbose now in the depSTtmepti A. think he could give
You the proof that would convince satisfactorily
that there system of fraud IN the Appraisers Depart
prqctced without the knowledge Of Collector the
ais ana Which m 6 eo1 9ps TO nn
stand You TO give example Of the information that
j. rife upon the street He can tell undoubtedly who
| that broker isl A. Yes, Sir,
| BAGGAGE cHEAIER THAN FREIGHT
Senator Pratt-Q. At what time did this transac-
ton occur-the baggage Atari A. 1 cannot fix the
time but would suggest that you ascertain what pro-
portion the whole burden Of passenger steamers
running this port and Europe consists of passen
gers baggage and what amount or duty is upon that
baggage especially within the last six months; have
been Informed that the duty has been extremely small
that the proportion OF passengers baggage IN the
reightCsrriage has been growing rapidly and is now
Senator Casserly-Q. In other words, the amount of
socaed baggage Increasing and the amount OF regu'
lar baggage is decreasngi A. Yes, Sir.
Senator Pratt--Q. When did this other transaction
occur where passenger received large amount OF
household furniture and 1t passed without any in
spectioDi A. That occurred about 10 months ago, as
q Can Ton Give the Committee the name OF the IN
spector who received the $50 bribei A. don't know
O. Didn't THE gentleman furnished you the informa
ton give you the name A. No, Sir, dop't think lie
but present IN consideration of his great kndness;
can give you the OF the passenger and II you apply
TO MIN yC Te esR 81 Ike aTnSGe was MI 'O
Q. Resumed) when you gave TINS snm 10 tne ,h
A. No. Sir, not exactly the amount OF goods that were
dutiaho contained IN this baggage was either nothing or
meres rfe in the world the Inspector repre-
scented 10 me that they such trlfes IL not worth
clean bii took il Mt the time as Kindness; suppose
that greenness my part but when he called on
me that it looked like a very bad case.
O. Had you had any understanding or agreement with
O. Are you the managing editor Of The PoSti A. Yes
O. H. Of course your duty to learn the basis Of
your information such facts as are Of public interest
upon what would be evidence in court Of Law A. Yes
O. But still evidence that satisfies you in the nature of
thingsi A. Yes, Sir.
@ DO understand that the settlement you nave made
Of The condition of things under the present anstrG
on derived in that way from the best no ge on
formedi A. Yes, Sir
SECRETARY BOuTwELLs OPINIONS.
O When was the INSTRUMENTATION you had with MI
Boutwell, when he stated u you that corruption was all
but universal now1 A. 1t not he who made that as
sertion I'm regard the department Of baggage sug
eesed it, and he seconded it; don't know that he said
that ..,.. m,
day before the adjournment OF the Senate by the holiday
ssSato, Casserly-o DO you find any difficulty in ex
nainng how the state Of things that is publicly known
and publicly talked 9bout can escape Tor any long pc
those Departments FOR instance, this malpractice OF
The INSPECTORS passing baggage, how can everybody
else know it and the very whose highest duty it Is
70 nrevent H. does not know it A. Ii seemed TO me
would be very likely TO be hidden from him until some
O. some three years ago you did bring 1t TO his notice.
90 YOU not consider that the remedy was easy A. on
Tho contrary think talked for hour with Secretary
Boutwell, and he told me he was peTplexed ana emDar
IT. and he d a S 70 for sdo s
without coming nearer remedy than we WeTe When we
TO get rid Of in the whole administration
q Have You ever known OF those men turned out
a Gii p Isl aSp 5Tns S tSc THeY s96eS,
Of political appointments ane removals Is entIey W. ~
o. know Of any attempt 10 do sol A. NO, Sir;
know that men have been in office here whom know
10 have been men Of character and integrity and who
believe would not under any circumstances rate for
moment, any fraud; and yet, have seen what con
WINGED me that those frauds would on before their
ewes without any knowledge on their part.
O. You have spoken OF the frauds IN the Appraisers
Office and understood you say that the SecretarOf
the Treasury had told you lately that Ia nearly al the
was faint Of fraud A. He said he had investigated
number OF such In short tme and had failed yet
find not tainted.
Q. You also directed us TO the District-Attorney's