New-York tribune., 1877-09-15
pASSENGER.Y LUGGAGE.

| PASSENGERS LUGGAGE.
The discovery that some large cases con-
tanning several thousand dollars worth of church
vestments have been admitted free OF duty as
L" passengers luggage" and the goods almost i'm
mediately afterward placed upon the market,
supplies a striking commentary upon certain
recommendations Of the Jay Commission ana
recent orders of the Treasury Department. 1t
has been notorious for years past that great
deal of smuggling is carried on by passen-
gers arriving at this port by the favor
ite foreign steamship lines, and that the
revenue has suffered severely from their dis
honesty Travellers of good standing in sOci-
ety-and especially ladies-cannot be per-
suaded that it is dishonorable to cheat the
Government or to tell lies to the inspectors,
and they will go to great lengths in order to
avoid the payment of few dollars duty
on goods which they have brought home from
London or Paris for their personal use or for
presents to their friends. Besides these
small fashionable swindlers, there are
the commercial smugglers who evade
the duty purely as matter or business.
Undoubtedly the evil is serious, and though 1t
has been much reduced within two or three
years, passengers still bring in free large
quantity of goods upon which the United
States Treasury ought to realize revenue.
The remedy, however, is not easily found
A few years ago the Treasury prescribed
stringent form of declaration, which every
passenger is required to sign and swear
TO- Blanks are furnished on the ship, to
be filed out during the voyage. Full printed
directions accompany them, and the Oifi-
GERS of the vessel are ready to give any
further explanations that may be desired as
to what articles ought to be declared. There
is no evading the searching inquiries OF this
paper without perjury. simultaneously with
the PRONUNCIATION of these forms, the Treasury
made certain changes in the force OF In
spectors, and as a consequence, there was an
immediate and a very considerable increase In
the revenue from duties paid by travel
lers. Smuggling. however, has not been
stopped Some hagrant instances of abuse,
not to say fraud, have induced the Gov
ernment to order that no luggage shall ever
be passed without real examination; inspec-
tors are required to open and search every
trunk and If the orders are carried out to the
letter, even Mr.. Tiden's valise must be ram
| sacked when he comes home, and Gen.
Grant must expose his foreign-built coats
officer. The Jay Commission now renews the
recommendation made some time ago for the
erection of q general passenger landing at
| the Battery, where luggage can be overhauled
with greater care and th0rOughness than seem
| to be practicable under the present arrangement.
| If the plan of a single landing wharf for lug
| gage were combined with severe and leisure
" search of every package, the revenues of
the United States might be somewhat increased
and the morals of the Appraisers Department
protected; but whether this gain would be
worth the annoyance, delay, and money which
| it would cost is an open question: 1t is not at
all unusual for one steamer to land over
thousand large packages of passengers lug
gage. such as travelling trunks, cases, etc., not
to speak of small bags, satchels, and hat
| boxes, and sometimes as many as six trans-At-
lantic steamers reach this port in a single
day. OF course, if there is to be literal ex-
animation of everything, the force of inspectors
must be largely increased. To the establish
ment of a general landing-shed there are
some serious objections. Either the debarka-
ton must be effected by tugs, at considerable
cost to the steamship company, and unneces-
sary trouble and detention to the passengers,
| or the vessels must make two landings,
! which, in the case of the long, un
wieldy ocean steamers, Is no tritiing mat
ter Moreover, it often happens that steam
ers are detained outside Sandy Hook by fOgs,
until quite a fleet collects there, and when the
fog lifts they all come up to the city together.
Let any one imagine what the result would be
if they attempted to discharge simultaneously
at common landing stage Steamers, as
general thing. have no time to waste in port,
| and it is absolutely essential to the regularity
of their trips that they should be able to un-
| load without the loss Of an hour
All the lines now have covered wharves of
their own, on which counters and barricades for
the Use of the Custom House examiners, such
as ono finds almost everywhere abroad, could
be erected at slight expense Then the pro
cess of examination oug 1t to be governed 10y
common-scnse Ii is well to make rule that
10 traveller shall receive Irregular courtesies,
but there are cases in which the opening of
every trunk would be an absurdity, even if it
were possible.
Mr. Kenneth Rayner, the Solicitor of the Treasury,
thinks he has been misreprcscnted IN The TGIBUNEs
accounts of the late afiriy in which he engaged
on the steps of the Treasury Department and appeals
for a correct statement The points Of which he
al. - .,t . atr Efrlt af1