The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-02-25

SyeSe@s
If the most ingenious imp Of mischief had
been called upon to frame set of customs
laws and regulations for this country he would
have hardly succeeded better than have those
legislators and ministers who are responsible
for the enactments and rulings that now pre-
vail We have system which is neither pro-
lection nor free trade, which levies the
highest taxes and secures the lowest revenue
and which, while requiring an army OF phi
losophers and experts to carry it into operation.
provides for the purpose only unframed and,
for the most part. inexperienced officials.
We protect the ten million dollars worth Of
iron rails annually imported into the country,
but not the ten million bushels of grain which
are also annually imported. We accord free
trade in tea and coffee, articles upon which
export duties are levied in the countries of
their growth, and upon which any remission
of taxes here is sure to be followed by cor
responding imposition there, thus depicting
the Treasury without relief to the taxpayers.
We tax sugar by a Dutch standard of color,
while it is purchased all over the world
by standards of sweetness, clarity and
Capitalization. We tax wool by scientific
classification of blood. Of which there are
over three hundred and eighty varieties, while
it is dealt in by simple commercial classified
ton having reference merely to the length and
thickness of the fibre or the purposes to which
it is to be devoted. We tax women's shawls
and balmoral skirts and mems hats and broad
cloths by the pound, whereas they are invari-
ably bought and sold by the piece or yard.
Salt, which we cannot do without, is taxed
one hundred per cent while silk, with which
we can dispense, is taxed at sixty per cent,
and paintings admitted free or at a low rate of
| duty Some articles are taxed specifically,
that is by weight, measure or number; some
ad valorem; some specifically and ad valorem
together, and some, cotton goods, for ex-
ample, by all OF the following tests COM
bined Color, measure, weight fneness and
value.
Some articles are taxed by their commercial
names some by scientific names, some by the
substances OF which they are composed, some
by the countries in which they are produced,
some by several names and some by
no names. Hence, on one day buck
wheat has been decided by the
Secretary of the Treasury to be dutiable at
ten per cent, and on the next day, without
any change of legislation intervening, to be
dutiable at twenty per cent. Hence neckties
were decided to be dutiable at the same time
at respectively five different rates of duty by
five different legal advisers of the Treasury
Department. and for five different reasons.
Hence olives picked were assessed at thirty
five per cent while picked olives were ad-
mitted at thirty per cent Hence it is often
cheaper to enter goods at one port of the
United States than another, and hence it has
become common thing not to enter them at
any port, but to run the risk of punishment
for smuggling rather than submit to the ruin
Gus caprices of ignorant subaltern officials.
Under a system of conformation adopted by
the Treasury even the penalties for smuggling
| can be committed at reasonable rates.
! That these unjust, homogeneous and i'm
practicable laws and usages have contributed
to break down our foreign commerce and
commercial marine and to disgust honest and
respectable men with the importing trade,
substituting for them in many instances those
nomadic and unprincipled adventures who.
like other birds of prey, are always to be
found where corruption is going on, are facts
well known The only question is, How shall
these results be set aside, and out Of the exist
ing chaos, pillage, wastefulness and Unequal
ity be drawn order, regularity, economy and
justice? This question can only be solved by
reference to the causes of the prevailing con-
l. IL
hitherto made toward reform.
The reforms hereinafter adverted to have
all of them at times been recommended by
such of our public officials as have devoted
their attention to the subject. A codifcation
Of the Treasury regulations was completed
and printed by Mr.. Guthrie in 1857, with the
view of reforming the customs system. This
was followed by a codifcation of the laws on
the subject, into which many important re-
forms were introduced. But Mr.. Guthrie
went out Of Office before the work was pre-
scented to Congress, and it slept for nine years
in pgeon-hole of the department until, in
1866, and upon the recommendation of Mr..
Guthrie, who was then in the Senate, it was
ordered to be printed and laid before Congress.
Mr. Guthrie shortly afterward retired from
public life and the work fell into oblivion.
Between 1866 and 1868, in the reports of the
Revenue Commission and the Bureau Of Sta
tistics, the subject was again brought to the
surface, and quite wildly in the so-called
Suppressed Report of the last named year.
But its presentation becoming mixed with dis
cussions on the theories of free trade and pro-
lection, it was relegated to the limbo Of un-
done things, and has there since remained.
The chief faults of our customs laws are that
they are too comprehensive, they are altered
too frequently, and their base-foreign market
valuation, plus charges and commissions
is entirely too indefinite. Instead of ad-
l.