New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-03-03
Rid Law AND WORSE PRACTICE.

BID LAW AND WORSE PRACTICE
The more carefully one looks into the 0por-
atoms of the CustOm-house Seizure Bureau the
more amazing seem to be the abuses first of
the law itself and secondly Of the subordinate
officers intrusted with its execution. We have
shown that the Act of 1867, which purpOrts to
justify the operations of Mr. Jayne, is an un-
constitutional stretch of authority. 1T violates
the provision of the Constitution which for
bids unreasonable searches and seizures"
because it empowers the special agents OF the
Treasury to seize a mans private papers for
the purpose of discovering evidence against
him-a process utterly repugnant to the prin-
cpes of the common law, the rulings OF the
highest courts, and the whole spirit OF our
free institutions. 1t violates also the pro-
vision of the same section OF the Con-
stituton that every warrant shall par
"ticularly describe the place to be searched
"and the persons or things to be seized"
inasmuch as q warrant for merchants books
and papers must necessarily be moro or less
general in its character, to enable the officer
to seize everything that may possibly relate
to the matter under investigation. The act
indeed declares that the warrant must specify
thorizes the removal of all "invoiccs, books,
cor papers relating to the mercban-
"dise in respect to which fraud is alleged to
shave been cOmmitted;' and this is not
particular description in the sense of the Con-
stitution, but q general description, empower
ing tho Selling officer to lay his hand upon
everything in his victims office. In the case
of Jordan, Marsh g. Co. it Is reported that
the officers carried off ton of accOunt-books
and papers-everything in fact relating to the
foreign business of the house as far back as the
statute of limitations would allow them to go;
and it was not until after two months
examination that they were able to select from
this immense pile of documents the particular
volumes and papers they wanted, aud to return
the rest to the owners. Judge Lowell very
properly compelled the Special Agents to make
this preliminary examination under the eyes
of the court, but in New-IOrk they have
always made it in their own offices. Whether
in court OF elsewhere, however, 1t cannot law
fully be made at all. No warrant can con-
stitutionally give the Special Agents COM
mission to sequestrate the contents of mans
counting house while they rove through it in
search of particular class of entries. Even
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give evidence against himself by Selling his
private papers, it would still be essential to
the validity of the warrant that it should
particularly describe" the very papers to be
seized, which these Custom-house writs never
do, and in the nature of things never can do.
Besides the abuses for which the statute is
responsible, there are others of very gross
kind attributable directly to the subordinate
officers of the bureau. OF these we are glad
to believe that the Secretary of the Treasury
is innocent, and it is even possible that the
Collector is not always aware OF the wrongs
committed under his authOrity-though that,
perhaps, would be rather violent presump-
ton. 1t Is certain that when an importers
books are seized the Special Agent does not
confne his examination to the particular cases
specified in the warrant. Mr.. Jayne confessed
before the last investigating committee that
he sometimes "went fishing" for frauds, and
got out of the books in his hands every
thing no could, whether it related to the
original subject of inquiry or not. If
the reader will observe the signif-
cant fact that Custom-house cases are
almost invariably compromised for much less
than the legal penalty, the importance of the
books and papers to the Special Agent will be
at once apparent. This officer never allows
case to 70 to trial if he can help it. In the
first place, the ofense being in many instances
technical, a verdict is uncertain. In the second
place, verdict could only be for the full
penalty, and that is SO heavy that the defend
ant would often find means to put part Of
his property out of reach and then go into
bankruptcy. The first business of the Special
Agent therefore, after making up his case, is
to find out how much the merchant can afford
to pay, and on that basis to propose COM
promise Here is an important use for the
books. The search-warrant gives the officer
free opportunity not only to examine
into the importers transactions with the
Custom house, but to investigate his pecu-
mary conditiOn-tO ascertain the state of
the patients system in order to judge how
much it may be safe to bleed him. The report
of the Secretary Of the Treasury in the long
list of cases we published the other day. does
not give the amount of penalties incurred, but
only the sums for which the claims Of the
Government were settled. Here Is table.
obtained from other sources, Of tho legal