Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-03-11
At the Receipt of Customs.

At the Receipt of Customs.
The revenue service of the United States
is taking a pretty thorough course of ven
tilation in Washington. The stir is not
made by those who have some theory of
civil service reform which they wish to
see tried. and whose arguments are always
met by the assertion that they are fine
spnn. and that the plans proposed will not
work practically 1t comes from the most
respectable of the merchants Of our largest
cities. and is cry both against a system
an the appointment of a class OF men to
work it. who make that which is already
bad. intolertble.
The United States government does not
leave the collection Of revenues to its regu
larIv appointed officers working because
it is their duty to work, because they are
paid to work, bat uses what is, known a
the "a moiety system -; that is where an
officer unearths any attempted fraud he
gets part, and frequently large part,
Of The penalty affixed for the violation of
law 1t IS hard to see why this extra and
speculative reward for services to which
the government is already entitled from
its subordinates, does not presuppose that
they will not do their full duty in the regu-
lar way of business. In theory it GER
tainly seems to be putting Il reward in the
hands Of men for the lax performance of
a present duty that shall be followed by
espionage, and the sharing of what is lit
tie better than plumber.
Bad in theory as this system is, it never
called out the Indignation and protests of
honest merchants in body, until its bad
opportunities were improved by class OF
men who sought only to put money in
their pockets, rather than to do justice be-
tween government and citizen. New
York and Boston within year, have had
examples Of this that were so fragrant,
that their cry has reached high places
Jayne the special agent of the treasury
department who has been and is now Civ
inc testimony before a committee of Con
gress, stands Us the most successful repre-
sentative Of the informing system He
has retired from business with about a
quarter of Il million dollars in his pocket
as the result of his raids upon importers.
The case of Phelps, Dodge & Co, of
New York shows his plan of procedure
No firm stood higher than that in the esti-
nation of the commercial world They
affirm and bring good proof to show, that
the firm had been guilty of no fraud, or
fraudulent intent, but that clerical errors
had been made that took $1,000 out of
their payments Of duties. They We're
pounced upon by Jayne, who threatened
and swore; their second book-keeper was
bribed, and they were logged by spies
.Ltyne claimed something over 100000
from the firm; as the differentiation of
part of the invoice tainted and subjected
to forfeiture the whole of it, They thought
the proposal eXtortion, but JAYNE claimed
that lie could show the firm had within ten
years, by Il system of false invoices and
differentiation. forfeited Il million and
three quarters dollars, and that he had a
warrant to seize their books and papers.
They paid the 100000 to get rid Of the
infamous charges and now are aware of
the fact that il was drawn out of them by
terrorism. and that the representations of
the effect of what they had done was not
truthful.
Last fall n similar outrage was enacted
in Boston. when the books of Jordan.
Marsh and Company were seized. Phla-
delphia merchants have likewise suffered
from the working of the system, and the
boarl of ira lie of that city petitions for Il
revision of the revenue laws, and claims
that officers have been high-handed and
offensive. Many other cases show that
these given are but samples of the work
ing of the present law.
In connection with these matters, and
still more unjustifable. is the accompani-
ment to this system which allows the
making of such contracts as those made
with Sanborn. Here the government hay
ing already officers, who not only get
regular pay for their duties, but share in
great sums by acting as informers, hires
outsiders to act the part of spies and in
formers. SanbOrn was thus hired to lunt
up violations of law, and pocketed hun
dreds of thousands of dollars for his work
work that ought to have been done by
officials. He got no great aid in Phladel-
phi, however, rs his list of delinquents
contained no names not on the revenue
books, and the officers there preferred to
do their own business, and not to allow
him to inform them of what they already
knew. Whether the collections made else
where by Stnborn included payments
from men who were already known to
regular officers rs dellnquents, or not, is
not yet fully known, but the papers pro-
duced will soon show.
The better part of Congress seems to be
awlking to the necessity of doing away
with this system that is so full of abuses.
that it has become a nuisance to business
men.
NEW HAMPSHIRE observation-disclosures
from the election yesterday indicate no
election of governor,by the people, and give
no definite knowledge as to the status of