New-York tribune., 1874-03-14

"Eov This Is tin this ia nothing but tin plate. Brt
we never had tin plate come except In boxes. ana 20
avoid any trouble, you might etter wTo 10 your
and mark the outside OF the boxes tne weignt a Nv
Of the manufactures ana theh theie eau Do nv
question IN the mdttor
We wrote to our house in Liverpool:
"The Custom house objects to sending ont these
large loose and not in boxes, an they require
wbotever sizes they NAV be. conveniently put M. ana
that the exact weight aud the name OF me
sizsd rim and we want yOu tO be very pirhcular 10
that and not let any more Of the large h c"o
out except III boxes
To that they replied:
We have received your letter in regard 70 large IN
and see that you have din uty with your ChStomhous
about it, We will endcayor TO follow out your lns,ruc
tions fully hut IL n any respect we dih'r icI Us Know
and we VIII fix IT.
AM Mr.. Butler bad caught us now You have trouble
with the Customhouse about the large sheets OF TN
plate and we your special Instructions what 10 90
aud if not right we will As it. That, thought Mr But
ler will convict you before any court Of the United
States
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE s27l0O PAYMENT
Now, gentlemen, when came back from Washington
my partners and myself consulted very carefully over
tn, matter and we decided that we might better paw
the money than TO have judgment against us Of
$75OCOO and to have that horalol over the world and
to run risk OF having these men using what influence
they could to secure the perpetuity OF that Judgment
because instead OF their receiving 10000 each (is their
share OF the moety OF the 5l7OO they wodd have re-
ceiyed each Of them 100000, and that was worm
working for And then there another difficulty
which stood right In our face. Tne question ot Mr
BoutwelPs being returned from Massachusetts 10 the
Senate OF the United States then just on the eve OF
being decided and IN fortnight aterward, on the l4th
March CHS was on the 22l February, Mr. Boutwell, was
elected to the United States Senate We said to our
selypa we do not know who 10 be secretary OF the
Treasury by whom this thing is to be settled ana We
came 10 the conclusion TO renew our Oh r. we made
our Offer and we settled, and paid the money We
paid the money to get rid Of this enormous charge
against We paid the rather than subject our
selves a forfeiture of s1,75o00O
We paid the money in ignorance OF the fact OF tie
amount we owed to the Government W. never mad
bill OF Specifications have not got one to-day We
have got simply the list OF the vessels which the
goods imported. We settled and this has become
the biggest record. It's known the world over
We look back upon it, and we think, "a you no doubt
think, that wei fools. We were fools.
But there was terror in all these thing.
there was terror in that first day when
we went INTO that dark hole in the Custom
house there terror throughout And this reminds
of another thing which will show the workings OF
this law because these gentlemen do not do anything
except within the law. suppose the detective has
right to any sort Of means be peases no matter
what becomes Of ones feen a, matter for the feel
ings Of families, wives and children. This man spoke
to you yesterday about his heartbrOken wife IL seems
that he knows something about these feelings. But
there happen to be seven OF us who have
wives and children. and who had reDuta-
ton that had been growing up great many
years We found ourselves dOggod by spies
every step that took We could not have meeting
of our partners of dwellings at night without
its being known in that dark hole next morning; we
coud not do q thing in our store without IT'S being
known we could not have our partners orIour lawyers
I'm our private Office without its being known VIII re-
ae an instance Of this NY partner, older than myself
(and more honOrab BILE does not live on the race OF
the earth than Mr. James Stokes Of NewYok, has been
in the habit twenty years. January came round OF
opening desk and clearing it out some rainy day, OF
the accumulation OF papers, which IL contained; thro"
ing them on the floor and having boy put them In the
fire and burn them He did 80 on the Sih or lOth OF
January and within half an hour we received letter
from our attorney to come directly to his office We
came up there and he said: "Wha In the world is the
matterl Jayne is tearing about in the most terrible
way Ho says that Phelps, Dodge & Co. are
burning up their papers and that he will have
every soul OF them In Ludlow-st. jail before
night" How did he know 1t How did he know
that these papers were burned up Because he PAID
man in our store to give him information. He had our
second bOOkkeeper in his employment. What he paid
him do not know but that he was In his employ
do know We traced that fellow and turned him out
OF our store And where did he when he was turned
OUT Where should he gol He went where he was en-
poyed And where is he todayl he is clerk in the
Post-Ofnce in the Money Department place obtained
for him by the Special Agent OF the United States.
Mr.. BECK-What is his name'
Mr. DopGE-Hs name is Kennedy. But will not de-
tain the Committee longer with this matter.
Mr.. NIBLACK-It is very interesting TO me.
MI DoDGE-This is the operation OF the whole thing
from beginning to end. At my age, having been mer
chant so years I desired to die in peace and when
paid this money 1 wanted that 10 be the
end OF it. But 1t is paraded from Dan to
Beersheba now, because other people have been
touched. SO sensitive was / about this that when
my friend Mr. Schultz to me about another case,
and said that they going to have an extra meeting
OF the Chamber Of Commerce on the subject said 1T
is not case OF mine and will not be there; you must
get somebody else TO preside" But Notwithstanding,
our case IS held up everywhere. For whati To vndi-
cate these laws and to show the propriety Of having
men TO watch these " Internal merchants"
CONVINCING EVIDENCE THAT THERE WAS NO FRAUD
We admit that we undervalued goods by mistake,
by the difficulty Of ascertainng the exact market value
of these extra goods at the time OF shpmentthe value
being governed by the general value OF the goods In the
main line the invoice In some Instances we did send
of these invoices at 6d or ls or Is 3d. and
believe in one at A. few boxes difference from
the prices paid for them six months before. But we
did not hide It, We put It directly on our invoice book
where everybody could it, You recollect, gentlemen
that that was year Of the most wonderful fuctuaton
In the price Of metals known The strikes in En-
gland tho rise in COAL the enormous rise in iron and
tu made the remarkable, that in the month OF
January 1872 paid 2ss for tin plates 10 the month
of July AS for the tin, and in the month OF De-
cember, $685. To show the wonderful changes in the
price OF metal that year will state this fact passed
through Liverpool In the early part Of the year on my
way 10 the East; 1 saw all the indications
OF q great advance in price. aud,
sulting my partner, we bought several hundred
thousand boxes of tin plate for future delivery That