The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-07-16
REVENUE REFORM.
Custom House Seizures and tho Interests Of
The importing Merchants. s
Handcum % Inducements to Submit 10 0utra.
ssous Ofaeial Exsstions-An' Appeal to
President Grant and Practical Reform
Of Revenue Laws Hoped For. s

President Grant and Practical Reform
Of Revenue Laws Hoped For.
Merchants are merely protected pirates % says an
author, who would not be held . competent ethical
authority by commercial community. New York,
the creature and ofspring of trade, has ever
boosted OF her merchant princes, Of clear insight
into the laws Of supply and demand, Of tireess in
dustry and Of dauntless enterprise, who have made
both hemispheres tributary to their success,
amassing fortunes OF magnificent proportions and
distributing their gains with lavish munincence.
To-day the merchants Of New York, the men who
conduct her exchange OF commodities with the
world in our own country and beyond our impe-
rial limits, are class who win suffer nothing by
comparison with any other. We glory in their
prosperity Is we are proud Of their intelligence
and probty Our importers have an enormous
capital invested in bringing hither from all quar-
tors Of the globe those products which are
required by population OF nearly forty
millions Of our own people, besides answering
large demands for re-exportation They pay two
thirds OF that portion Of the national revenue de-
rived from tartH duties, our Custom House
frequently receiving more than million Of dollars
day for customs dues. In ordinary times before
the absolute cost OF the war and the reckless
practices to which It led had swollen our national
expenses, the New York importers might almost be
said to furnish the money which kept the federal
machine In motion. As Q class they do not grumble
ct tarin taxation, though, doubtless. an entire
emancipation Of trade from impost exactions
would prove marvellous sttmulant to their opera
tions a. wen as to the growth Of the city They
admit the propriety and convenience Of collecting
revenue BY an addition to the cost Of imported
commodities, which. In the end, is paid by the last
purchaser or consumer. The general government
could not well spare the duties paid BY the i'm
porters, and the latter md but small sphere for
their enterprise II the Union did not exist. Gov
eminent has most direct and vital interest in
the prosperity OF the import trade, from which 1t
derives SO large proportion Of its income.
AN ALLEGED PERSECUTION.
Yet merchants In this city complain that the i'm
porting trade is annoyed, hampered, prosecuted
by persons in of1cial capacity at washington and
In the Custom House here, whose acti0n tends to
drive honest merchants out Of the business and
leave the field to the unprincipled smugglers
whose aim woulo be to take every possible advan-
tage OF the oicials, TO run every risk and accept
any guilt which may accompany system Of
fraudulent invoices false entries and reckless per.
Iury., By our laws, and the Treasury rulings under
them, II an importer with fraudulent intent
undertakes his goods in the invoices pre-
scented at the Custom House, as the basis
liable upon detection to have not only the goods
80 undervalued, but the whole involce seized, con-
aemned ana sold After any such sale Inc
of the balance, One-third accrues to the Treasury
0ne-third goes to the person who entered the In
Otner third Is divided between the Collector Naval
Oficer and Surveyor. Originally the Surveyor and
his sub0rdinates mad the chief charge OF detecting
attempted frauds upon the revenue and OF seizures
Or late years separate bureau In the Collectors
ONCE is also specially charged Herewith, and In
addition thereto, the Treasury Department has
specially commissioned an Ofncer with power to
hunt for fraud everywhere and obliged to report to
no local collector. f tl-
AN OFFENSIVE ESPIONAGE. r
It is claimed on behalf Of the importers that
direct monetary interest In detecting fraud upon
the tartn revenue, and who share In the proceeds
q o.: seizures there Is system Of s;.ssing in1orma
therefor to a clerk other person In his employ,
with the stipulation that the person 80 giving in
tion and shall not be brought upon the stand as a
witness against the employer whose secrets
any merchant might, through the cowardly spite
Of a malignant clerk, be subjected to vexatiOus
persecution, while the venal informer would be
secure from question, protected by his bargain
with the Interested prosecutors. The Custom
House authorities do not admit that this charge is
papers and Investigations into importers business
have been made on the basis OF information from
discharged clerks. who may naturally be assumed
to entertain malice or prejudice against their late
employers.
A WHOLESALE SEIZURE BUSINESS.
Though the federal government is directly and
most vitality interested In the prosperity and sue
cess OF the importers, it IS readily seen that GER
wholesale seizures as Would tend for the time to
largely swell the incomes from their positions, but
In the end to break down and stop the importing
trade There exists in this city an organization
for resisting these assaults. Its secretary has Just
addressed q long letter to President Grant,
the merchants against what 1t stigmatizes as Of
dcial plumber. and to direct thorough examina-
ton into the facts by the New York member Of the
Civil Service Commission or some other high-toned
outside oflcia. The letter asserts that when the
vigilance Of the of1cials has enabled them to make
colorado case OF fraudulent intent against
house their practice Is TO endeavor to extract an
offer to pay some sum to compromise the matter,
and thus avoid the injurious results of prolonged
and vexatious suit, even though the importer may
be conscious Of absolute innocence and integrity.
in enforcing this design an official agent has
PLAYED WITH A PAIR OF HANDCUFFS
upon MS table, whose mute eloquence might be
supposed to supplement- his appeals to the mer
unpleasant difficulty, and the letter to the Presi-
dent quotes the testimony of Special Treasury
sort OF extra-onlcial logic
EXPERIMENTATION.
The tariff imposes certain duties ad valorem, the
basis OF computation being the value OF the i'm
ported merchandise at the time OF importation in
the chief markets OF the country rom which it is
brought suppose d dealer taking advantage OF
circumstances is able to procure an article at
lower figure than his neighbor pays. The low buyer
truly the actual cost His neighoor's invoices show
truly higher price. All the goods covered by the
invoice OF the low buyer are liable to seizure for
undervauation, even though but small portion
of 1t is invoced below the standard. Thus the I'M
porter complains that he Is liable to pay penalty
Tor his superior facilities Tor low buying in the
foreign country instead Of making an Increased
profit on his venture thereby.
THE CUSTOM HOUSE VIEW.
In conversation with a prominent Custom
House oficial on this subject he pointed out the
statute which makes IL the duty OF an Importer,
on presenting his Custom House entry, in case his
Invoice Is below the market rates in tho chief mar
kets OF the country rom which the merchandise is
Imported to add TO his invoice such sums shall
make up the difIerence, so chat the buyer who has
paid fair price and he who has bought below the
market shall pay an equal al val0rem duty, leav-
ing the sklul buyer still the full advantage Of his