New-York tribune., 1874-12-01
FASHIONABLE THIEVES.

FASHIONABLE THIEVES.
The public mind is now filled with another
horror for which it is debtor to the Commits
sioner of Customs. Scarcely have we recov-
cred from the shock of doubt cast upon the
virtue of the clergy, than we are called upon
to recognize all American tourists in Europe
as gang of public thieves! The Commits
sioner Estimates that these tourists returning
"during the year ending June 80, 1873, num-
"bered $780, and that each person brought on
d" an average seven trunks filed with dutiable
goods claimed to be personal baggage, rot
"dutiable. We have thus" anxiOusly reckons
the Commissioner intent on his mathematical
and moral problem, an aggregate of 2j7,Sl0
"trunks filled with articles claimed as duty
"frec, representing, on valuation for each
trunk of $500, the enormous sum of Sl28,-
1906, ,000." at is well known" he assures Us,
"that much of this baggage is in reality in
tended to be put upon the market as mer-
"chandise. Most of the persons engaging in
"this importation are people of wealth" 1t
would not be fair to deny that the shock felt
by the public at this announcement was rather
pleasant one than otherwise. The public, as
q rule, are not "people of wealth." and there
is always satisfaction of soul in being able
to write down our rich neighbor as con-
temptbe scoundrel. We stay at-homes with
lean pocket-books, who have been looking
longingly for years over our desks and coun-
tcrs across tne sea to Italy or France, shake
our heads now at this returning horde OF
thieves and thank God we are not as one Of
them.
That is the first effect Of the frightful dis
closure; but presently we begin to recall
certain people who came back during the
year ending June 3d. 1873 IA lot OF plOus
old clergymen whose congregations made up
a purse for them to spend three months In
posting through Europe; won-out lawyers
and journalists, who took few hundred dol
lars from the pittance laid By for their chill
dren to give themselves a short rest and
chance for life; mob5 of middle class people,
who have been saving and stinting for years
to earn this dash across the ocean to give the
boys glimpse of London and Rome before
they settled down to business. We had
pity for all these poor drudges before, and
were heartily glad of their brief holiday; and
all the while they had snug sum Laid by
and every seedy parSOn, consumptive lawyer
or school boy had his $500 worth of intaglios
or pottery slowed away in his trunks The
Commissioner makes no exception; and he Is
a man of figures. Honest fellows apparently
at home, all suffer the sea change into smu@glers
rs soon as they set foot on deck. Uncle Sam
need not inspect the returning swarm of pretty
girls or grave citizens for an honest phz ; the
Commissioner has not left them one; he may
begin to cry out with MacIulf: "What, all
GG 81. nj tbnir at
fell swoopw The Commissioner informs US,
too, that "many of these persons are people
" of wealth." which reminds us vaguely of loud
complaints made by these wealthy smugglerS
for wears of certain demands on them by Gus
tom-house officials for. tips" in order that
their trunks might pass without examination,
and that if these tips Of $50 Or $50 were not
paid immediate and irrcparable ruin fell on
Worth dresses or lace and linen. But how
shall we stay-at-homes solve these inscru-
table mysteries, known only to smuggers of
wealth and the Commissioners subOTdinates
When these moral pots and kettles begin to
call each other black, who shall decide between
thcm7
One question, however, forces itself upon the
mind: When the 2j1,e10 trunks were snug
glcd in, filed with dutiable goods, where were
these subordinates of the Commissioner Were
all the trunks rendered invisible with tips
Two hundred and tfty-seven thousand eight
hundred and ten trunks averaging $50 of tip
each. amount to 5t2690,5JO. There is rhyth-
mic harmony between the amount of spOils on
either side, which lifts the subject into poetry.
Custom. house officials will no doubt point
triumphantly to a trunk of some Madison
square belle, detained last week, the duties on
which amounted to precisely $500, as proof
of their vigilance and the ability of their
chiefs to cast up sums in addition, division,
and silence. But what of the 251,8l0 trunks,
all of which they knew contained dutiable
merchandise? Why were they passed un-
challenged, and the trunk Of this pretty little
pilferer detained alone to tell the tale?
Heaven forbid that we should cOndone crime
in fashionable belle or pinched, pious clergy
man. We are ready to pat on sackcloth and
ashes any day now, for this frightful epidemic
of fraud that has broken out among decent
and cultured people. But the perplexity is,
how did they learn to smuggleY Could the
$50 tips have given them hint7 Thereby
hangs the sequel to the Commissioners tale,
which we beg him to give us soon.