The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-02-16
CROOKED COSsULATES.
THE SPANISH WINE RING.
It's Main Support in the White House
as Usual.

FRAUD-THE INFLUENCE OF THE RULING
FAMILY.
The Washington correspondent of the
New York Sun contributed. the following
to Tuesdays issue: The facts which were de-
veloped during the examination OF Rhod-
erick F. Farrell before the committee on ex-
penditure n the stese department. in regard
TO the existence OF wine ring, which has
been Systematically defraudiDg the govern
uent out of many millions OF dollars by
. the undervaluaHon- OF wines have ere
ated q decided sensation here. Persons
who are familiar with the trade
have long been aware of the fact that certain
grades OF wine have been selling on the
market at less than it would cost TO import
it, but they were not aware OF the manner
in which the customs dues were avoided
The explanation of Mr.. Farrell throws
flood of light on the subject, and it Is said
that rich Developments will be made if the
matter is probed to the bottom. ME. Far
rell is indorssd by some OF the best men in
New York as a man of the strictest integrity
and undoubted veracity. The manner in
which he was treated by the president when
he persisted in having thorough lnvestiga-
ton into the ...-..1 - s.eF .e -r..
OPERATIONS OF THE WING RING
is significant, because it Is we'll known that
General Dent, who secured the appointment
of Dufie, FsrrelI's successor, was on terms
OF the closest intimacy with persons here
who were supposed to be interested in opera
lions of this kind. 1t is also a well known
fsot that parties here who enjoyed close rela-
tons with Dent and Bsbcock had peculiar
facilities afforded them for getting goods
through the custom house. The story as
told by Farrell of his experiences while CON
sui at Cadiz, Spain, with the wine
ring, is so interesting that condense from
the report of his examination the following
out line thereof, which embraces all the
most important facts as detailed by him: he
was appointed consul to Cadiz, Spain, on
theIOth of August, 1865. and took charge of
the consulate January l, 1866, where he re-
manned till January 30, 1869. He had trav-
eled extensively in Spain, Italy, France,
England and Ireland. and it was his judg
ment that our consular service was filled
with very inferior men, that they were,
rule, very inefficient, and the majority OF
them are either
NEGLIGENT, IGNORANT, OF CORRUPT.
Frequent changes in this service are very
preudicial to it. The merchants take ad-
vantage of the inexperience of the consuls,
and in his'opinion not less than $40. GOO, 900
had been stolen south of the English chan
mel since 1861 by false invoices. In 1896
there was over $500, 900 worth of wine seized
in this country a. his suggestion. He had
discovered shortly after his arrival az Csdiz
frauding ship-owners by making their
quarter casks large enough to hold 40 gall
Ions of wine, instead of the legal measure of
80 gallons. The freight was charged by the
ton Divine, and eight quarter casks of the
regular size would make ton. The low
priced wine shippers would put in eight
of their 40-g gallon casks, and in this way
they got 800 gallons per ton instead
o: 256 gallons, the legal quantity. On
every 20 tons the wine merchant gained
in ifxT md he chi
lost one-fifth In freight. The goods were in
voiced simply as quarter casks, without
specifying the number of gallons, and the
price.was fixed at so much per quarter. Mr..
Farrell, by accident, discovered this trick.
The principal fraud was in sherry wine.
This wine was undervalued for the purpose
OF bringing it to the United States custom
house at less than the duty fxe1 by law.
1t was to escape paying either the fifty cents
per gallon duty or the 81 per gallon duty but
generally the fifty cents duty. If the wine
was worth fifty cents per gallon the mer-
chants would put it at eighteen cents, and
thereby escape difference OF thirty two
cents a gallon duty, wine costing over fifty
cents payisg duty of Fl ty cents gallon,
and wine costing less than fifty cents pay
ing only twenty cents. In an invoice of
10000 gallons this made big difference in
favor OF themerchs0t. Mr.. Farrell
HAD HIS SUSPICIOUS AROUSED
bg his own experience in Csdiz. He saw so
mach sherry invoiced at less than 90 cents
that he Easvery much surprised when he
found he could not bay even comRaon table
sherry at that price. He communicated his
suspicious to Secretary Seward, who turned
overthe information to Secretary McCul-
loeb. who sent out W. B.tFarwell as special
agent of tho treasury. He came to Cadiz,
reported to Mr.. Farrell, and together they
worked up case by which over six handred
thousasd dollars worth Of wine wss seized
at New York and Boston. which had been
invoiced at 20eents per gsllen. Immediately
was an effort made to secure Mr.
FarrelI's feEaoval. Senator Pomeroy
called far his confidential communi-
cations 60 tbs state department, in
which he had given information in regard
TO the coEduct ofsome of the Cadiz mef-
chants at the time the Alabama was lying
in that port These letters were printed
in New York and sent out to Spain, and l
ersnslsted and pgblished in che Spanish
papers. Petition after petition was pre-
scented TO Secretary Seward by New York
and Boston merchants interested in the |
Cadiz wine tcade asking for his removal. |
but they bad no effect They charged that |
he had been collecting more than his legal |
fees for signing and sealing iuvoicss. This |
failiHg, the Cadiz merchants insisted that |
the Spanish M mister OF state should inter- |
fere, which he did, but still Mr.. Seward /
stood by the consul. "a did also Secretary |
McCuhOch. From 1856 to 1869 Gar. Farrell /
refused to sign invoices which entered /
sherry wine at less than fifty cents par gal
Ion. Wken he would call the merchants |
attention TO the fact that u
NO SHERRY WINE COULD BIZ BOUGHT
At the prices at which they had invoiced 1t.
they replied that 1t was not sherry wine,
bat common white wine, which was made
from grapes growing on low lands. Then
why not invoice 1t as white wines? he
asked, but they would not explain, The con.
sui could not zee sne goods being shipped,
because the vessels lay of I'M the bay and the
wine was SEPT out on lighters. By giving
bonds for double the amount Of the Invoice
they were enabled to clear the goods for
American ports, notwithstanding his re-