The New York herald., 1875-12-05
CUSTOM HOUSE SALARIES.
WHY THEY WERE CUT DowN-THE REPEAL OF
THE MoIRTY LAw--wHAr IS DONE WITH THR

MONEY SAVED.
IL was question Of necessity. The Secretary Of tho
Treasury restricted to the annual appropriation and
that Irregular" 500 0OO and ST. 600 900 expected
to in from seizures fines apd penalties But that
81 600 900 has not come in-not tenth part OF it,
and so Mr. Bristow seriously "short" What
was TO be donep With republican Con-
gress he might have ventured to throw the mat
ter to that body. But the House is democratic,
and Of course since II is not democrats who are to
suffer- that party is horribly virtuous and terribly in
favor ofretrenchment So the Secretary thought sncd
something must be done be would make virtue or
necessity and little party capital too, by an order
for retrenchment
when the order came the Collector said to himself, +!
't will be hard to turn out lot OF the boys Just tho
winter is coming on; will ask them TO sacrifice some
thing for each other y Hence the reduction of ten
per cent all salaries not fixed by special law There
were some removals. some reappointments and a few
minor changes, and all was over. The place-hoders
grumble, Of course, but no one has resgned few could
afford to do So even the shave twenty five per
cent Business Is dull places are scarce, and coal and
whiskcy high Ii was rough, coming so soon after
a substantial i.gitt" for the election; yet they will
sandit.
their misfortune, that being the repeal of tho
Moiety law Under that law the infOrmer who traced
a fraud upon the revenue got about half the net
proceeds Of fines sales &c. This share incen-
tive TO vigilance the part Of officers and of the
sharpest Of them made great deal Of money-Jayne,
for instance In the eleven years and four mouths
alone alone footed up sl2iO,a7& or this sum
costs and expenses s407, ,246 to Collectors Smythe,
Grinnell Murphy and Arthur 1924 059 to tho
Naval Officer 1891 24 to the Surveyor and SIG PAS to
nformers and after all this the Treasury got TAG
clear gain. Here was average per month Of $5,26T
for informcr and there may be found powerful reason
for vigilance.
Under the present law such inducement exists.
Nothing is promised in advance, and nothing s pro-
vded for that the Secretary OF the Treasury may,
coed per OF the recovered For small Jobs
this amounts to nothing Indeed, in the matter or
cigars, from which much was formerly derived
the law is construed that the officer making
seizure cannot expect penny
The effect has been 10 the $500 900 5000 600
expected within the year from such sources TO about
nothing And the officers recently stimulated ~ zeal
by the hope fat moetes are not only without sucn
smuIant hut are actually assessed their 81 day
to make up the deficiency In the meantime the gov
ernment hires the old sugar house In Hubert street at
rent OF $50 600 q year aud the large building Tor tina
Naval once ats up both these establishments and re-
carpenters and paints the Custom House-workshVoiv-
ing great expendIturcand charges II all against thG
one appropriation And not only here Dnt all over thG
rnuntrv ma clerks and other officers complain thas
such extra expenses should not be charged against tho
fund from which their salaries are PAID Out there Is no
help for II. , .,.. !,
revenue circles is that the repeal Of the hoety law was
grave mistake IL certainly has not made smuggling
less difficult nor less frequent, while " assureuly mas
made revenue officers and outsiders Indifferent In his
remarks to the committee on the Moiety Iepeai ast
winter the United states District Attorney showed that
In the matter OF informal revenue such repeal had
completeIy suspended the operations OF all the best
detectives and no effort was made TO hunt out Illicit
disters and other frauds As Tar as tne customs are
There are about 500 officers connected with the Gus
tom House in and around this city The salaries wilk
not average more than $1,000 year-say 600.
Tho reduction will continue for seven months, unless
Congress nterferes IL viii produce about $25, 900
month, or $4,000 in all