New-York tribune., 1874-03-16
TUE REMEDY,

In conversation with reporter OF lhe Da'ly
Bulletin Mr.. Ii. b. Claflin is represented as
saying that the safeguards against fraud upon
the revenue ought to be made moro stringent
instead of more lax and that even now 1t Is
impossible for an honest merchant to COM
"pete with the goods that are entered at an
undervaluatOn." "The greatest hardship
"honest merchants haye to bear," said he, SIS
" the fact that they are undcrsold by those
"who pay no duties at all or less than they
"shouldn There is not respectable importer
in New-York who will not agree with Dir.
ClaNin in demanding the most effective pre-
cautions against fraud which the Govern
ment can possibly devise, and insisting
that dishonesty shall be punished with
the severest penalties. There is not one
of tho gentlemen recently before the Com
mittee of Ways and Means who will
not Join him in this But MIR. Clafiln Is q
witness that the present laws are not efectual.
They are intolerably burdensomo to good men !;
they are instruments of corruption and black
mail in the hands of rascaly special agents
and other mOiety hunters; and yet, according
to this eminent authority, the market Is fuli
of goods which have paid no duty. Mir. Jayne
himself told the Committee that he had de-
tected over fifty cases of bribery i'll the Custom
house and reported the guilty officers to the
Department., yet they were not removed
What is the remedy
No good can be done by making the law
more severe. 1t is already so oppressive that
il cannot be enforced. 1t already imposes
penalties out of all proportion to tho oifense,
and Furnishes even technical frauds with fines
that are absolutely ruinous. The experience
of all governments teaches us that laws which
are too severe defeat their own object sooner
or later they invariably break down In exccu-
ton, and encourage the very otienses they
are intended to prevent. Neither VIII 1t do
to leave the general purport OF the law un-
changed and simply reduce the penaitics'
Nobody asks that. We must look carefully
into the system to determine where 1t ls AT
fault. and where it needs to be amended.
Our 6rst step must be to cut OIL the 1aciaties
for fraud. This can be done by simplifying
the laws and regulations OF the Customs
Service Under the present complex methods
of entering goods and fixing the duties,
swindling is as easy as lying. An importer
can hardly do what is required of him IL he
tries his best and the temptation, to man
of lax conscience, to omit some OF the IN
Vulnerable declarations which he is expected
to swear to is almost irresistible. In place OF
this system of traps and pitfalls we ought to
have a clear and simple code of regulations,
and rational punishments for their violation.
In the second place there must be reform
in the character of CustOm-hOuse officers
The Government is responsible for the mis-
conduct of its servants, and while it intrusts
the collection of tho revenue to rogues it may
as well make up its mind to be swindled. If
the New-York market is filed with smuggled
and undervalued goods, it is because the
Custom-h house clerks and Inspectors are dis
honest; and it would not be difficult to show
that the present cumbrous and unjust laws
have tendency to keep them so.