The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-10-22
Our New York Letter.
Custom House Exforiiens- Indi entities 20
neutrality-suspicious. in the Name Of
Law-Abuses which Need 20 be Re-
formed
New YORK, Oct. p, 1873

House officials in the name Of law and unds,
authority of the Government ara beginning In
attract the attention of parties who have no
other interest 10 the matter than such as arises
from their concern for the good name of their
country. 1t is difficult to make anybody who
mas not had direct and disagreesbls experiences
OF the administration Of the revenue laws COM
prehend what capacities lie within them for
harassing and annoying importers. Very few
laws are simple enough to be intelligibls TO
people OF ordinary common sense. There iy
scarcely one that is not susceptible of contra
dictory interpretations. But the tariff laws are
marve's of bewilderng intricacy, and the off,
GERS on whom devolves the duty Of constituting
them get so tangled and confused IN their an.
deavors to unravel their meaning that there 4,
always great mass of litigation In progress in
reference to disputed questions THE word
progress perhaps is inapplicable to anything
associated With the profession or practice OF
law, but its use will serve the purpose Of this
occasion). There are suits on the calendars Of
the Federal courts that began early 10 the pres
ent century and will no doubt reach far into the
next one. 1t is not an unusual thing for a man
to receive summons to appear aud pay some
thlog alleged to be due, on a bond which he
knew to have been fulfilled and supposed to
have been cancelled great many years before.
The case being one concerning which his men,
ory of details has lapsed meanwhile consider
ably. and bis witnesses being no longer within
reach it is q great deal cheaper for him to sub
init to the extortion than to defend his rights.
The government picks up a few thousands I'm
this way every year, though the expense of
getting them is probably ten times as much "a
they amount to-
But the Kid Glove case, take il all in all, pre-
sents about as fagrant an example of legal
spoliation as was ever known in history.
Certain merchants of New YORK, the most
prominent being Messrs A. T. Stew art & Co.
import kid gloves which they have made for
their account, or purchase of manufacturers at
az francs per dozen. They are subject to
duty of 80 per cent. All Of a sudden the Gus
tom House people take it into their heads that
the gloves are undervalued They thereupon
call for an appraisal. The merchants thew
invite to sit upon the matter decide that the
gloves are invoiced at their proper cost and
value. The individual who holds the place of
appraiser, who is lawyer by the by, and not
acquainted with the glove business at all, over
rules the unofficial expert and decides that the
gloves are worth 80 francs and must nav duty
on that amount. He afterwards reduces his
ngures to 49 francs, and that is where it stands
now. The merchant is required to pay so per
cent. duty on 40 instead Of on AZ francs. This
Is Dad enough, but it is only small part Of the
hardship inflicted upon him He Ia also
muicted in penalty of 20 per cent. for defraod-
ing the revenue! In other words he is robbed
of 81 francs on every dozen gloves be receives,
ana then OF 20 per cent, or nearly 10 francs,
more and is branded as a smuggler besides.
Messrs. Stewart & Co. are not placed in this
latter category only because they enter their
goods as consiguees and any charge of undsr-
valuation would apply to their consiguers In
Paris and not to them.
Now the fact is, and nobody at all acquainted
with this description of merchandise disputes
1t, that these gloves are purchased at AZ francs,
and ought not to pay duty on any more than
that. Every extra cent squeezed out Of the
importers is taken from them virtually by
force and in contempt Of right. The whola
crusade is conspiracy prompted by certain
tradesmen of Chicago, who finding themselves
unable to buy gloves as cheaply in Paris as
their New York rivals, have adopted this plan
OF getting even" with them. They may have
thought that because the French manufactur-
ers charged them 40 francs the New Workers
must be paying the same. But If they had any
such idea they didn't understand the French
way OF doing business, which is to ask such
prices OF persons they are not accustomed to
trade with as will prevent them from being
troublesome competitors of their regular and
largest customers. This is the fashion, for that
mattsr, the world over. The great mills of
Lowell and Lawrence have their selling agents
In Boston and New York. If anybody were to
90 to one or more of them and propose to trade
directly so as to avoid the commissions he
would be very apt to discover that he coald nos
do anything like as we'll with the principals as
with the agents. IL Is Jus. so with this
glove traffic. The Western men for q while at
least could have procured their supplies on
more favorable terms in New York than in
Paris, and still left the dealers In the former
city margin for fair profit. They preferred to
try the experiment of buying from first hands
and because they had to pay more In that way
they organized crusade against the metropolis
tan dealers. In furtherance of this proceeding
they found jealous allies among the Treasury
officials. Mr.. Smith, the recently appointed
collector of the Port of Chicago. near person.
81 friend Of the President, led the raid, and
enlisted two special agents of the Treasury
Department in the prosecution of II. News-
paper aid was invoked, and the columns of the
Chicago Tribune have been placed at the dis
posal of writer named Ham who is vigorous
ly defending the predatory attack. This for
midab'e combination has been so far success
ful that the invoices that have been entered
after delsy that has greatly deprecated the
value of the imperilled merchandise, have
been advanced" seven francs per dozen and
the owners of them are absolutely without re-
dress.
There is no point of view from which these
transactions CAM be looked upon as anything
else than disgraceful acts of brigandage From
the standpoint Of expediency or Of honesty they
are equally reprehensible. 1t is for the inter-
est of the government to encourage the COM
merce whence its revenues are derived, not to
those who are engaged in it. But
when the functions of authority are so grossly
from their legitimate domain, as to
permit of the sequsstration of property under
,olor of law, the thing becomes iniquitous in
.he highest degree. Such offenses would be
impossible il the people were as jealous Of their
rights as they ought to be. Our revolutionary
sires raised the standard Of revolution on far less
provocation than these New York merchants
have, British tyranny never was carried
10 the extreme of robbing the colouists
outright. The shame has fallen on their de-.
scendents century later, of seeing a govern
nent of their own creation seizing unoffend-
ng citizens. By the throat and wrestling their
money from them by force.
There are other perform snces OF the Revenue
,ficers that are utterly incompreheusible ON
any theory except that it is the purpose Of
he Administration to make the whole system
If customs duties iusupportably odious The
notifications and indignites to which travel
RS are habtually subjected are calculated to
crimson the cheek of every decent American
With shame. Incoming passenger are required
% furnish list or inventory of their effects
certified under oath. This paper Is handed TO
N inspector who, when the baggage is landed.