Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-01-03
MOSBY UPON BAILEY.
The CHARGES of EYaud.

| quite yoluminous document 1t is dated Hong
| Kong, october 2fst, 1879 This correspondence
| it will be remembered. was called for by reSoiu-
| tion of the House OF Representatives. but
| has not yet been transmitted to that body by
| the Secretary of State. In the letter Col Mosby
says:-''In the first place, 1 will say that while
| it was notorious here that frauds existed, yet
had not deemed the proofs accessible as almost
| all the ships that paid extra wages during
| Mr. Bailey'S term here had left this coast,
tigating the emigration business with GEN
| eral Stahel, my attention was attracted
| by the internal evidence Of fraud furnished by
| the quarterly returns Of Mr. Bailey. After Gene
! raj Stahel left, l made a careful analysis of
| these returns, and comparison OF Mr.. Batey'S
| and Mr.. Loring's and my own. The result is a
most cOgent demonstration of their fictitious
| character Colonel Mosby then goes into de
| tails concerning frauds in the matter OF sea-
mems wages and the number OF Seamen dis
| charged at the consulate. He next takes up the
subject OF extra wages, and says: - BaileyS an-
| nuai average was about 500; in less than eight
months my returns show sl,il6 collected and
| in mind that of the eighty-five vessels have
cleared, over twenty had returned before my ar
rival hele, and had already discharged their
NJ. Iorins. SO p that very little was left for me
TO do for them except to shin their crews.
| My dispatch OF February Il, 1872 and No. l6 of
jul Is, 1879. show that have taken exactly an
| opposite view of the law of extra wages from my
| predecessor, and have adopted the most liberal
construction of 1t in favor OF the ship and have
exerted myself to reduce them to a minimum
| Tor | do not approve OF the policy of the law /
believe it is generally used as corruption fund
and divided between the consul and keepers of
sailors boarding houses" After an elaborate
criticism of Mr.. Bailey's reports Col Mosby says:
81 now offer some evidence 'alunde' to sup
| port the theory that they show their fraudulent
| character on their face" Then follows a COM
| of the ten or twelve vessels, with Consul
Baleys official return showing discrepancies.
In concluding his chapter on the subject OF
''seamen'S wages" Col. hLOSby says
81 have selected these cases as examples to
| show that the returns OF fees and extra wages
| accounts are fraudulent, and that from them on
| the principle Err pede HercuIem the character of
| the whole may be inferred. 1t would take me
six months to present all the evidence In de-
| tall
The next chapter in Mosby's report is devoted
| to the caption OF shipping Seamen.' Under
this head he says:
ssMr Bailey reports 1000 seamen shipped dur
! ing his seven years In Office from 652 vessels
Loring reports 716 in sixteen months from 1856
vessels, and | report $50 in less than eight
months from 50 vessels. Baley'S proportion Is
the same thing, over three men shipped for each
vessel cleared; Lorlng's about 5 and mine about
| {. Any one at all acquainted with the restless
| and hayward character OF sailors knows that
| shipped at this consulate in nearly seven
years. 1t is notorious fact that Hong Kong is
| the great shipping port OF the East. Mr.. Bailey
says this in one Of his letters to which have
| referred. now offer the most conclusive evil
| dence furnished by Mr.. Bailey himself that his
returns of seanen shipped are false. The con-
Sular regulations require all shipments Of sea-
men to be made on duplicate shipping articles
and one copy to be retained in the consulate. A
| found in pile OF rubbish. OF course they are
| not more than one-fourth the number of copies
that ought to be On file. The Others have either
| been lost ordestrOyed. These seem, however
to contradict and falsify the returns Of seamen
| shipped. l append list of shipments taken
| from these articles which are not accounted for
| In the quarterly returns. They amount to about
| 200 But there is other evidence. was struck
| with the fact in looking over the quarterly
returns. that only in one instance during the
whole time that Bailey and Loring were here
was there any credit to the government for any
| shipments by the Pacific mail steamers which
make the largest shipments The fees for these
seem all to have been appropriated. Since
ances of these steamers; only two without ship
| ping sailors; these shipments by me have
amounted to 1os During the eight years Of
| at least thousand, for the company ran more
| steamers then than now. There is also another
class OF fees for shipments they always appropri-
ated. have said that IL Is the custom OF sailing
| vessels carrying Chinese emigrantS to ship a
considerable number of Chinese on their
articles as doctors, cooks, &C., in order
| to carry more passengers, and at the
same time not violate the passenger act. These
| shipments often amount to as many as twenty.
| also came in possession OF other evidence
colony requires a fee OF 81, to be paid by the
master for every seaman shipped in the colony.
The masters generally 60 1irst to the harbor
the names and number Of the seamen to be
shipped. The permits show a large number
"X.'D Isubmit tie following propositions de-
Quoted from the evidence. The number OF
shipments actually reported by Mr.. Bailey is
| so out Of proportion to the number Of dis
| ton of fraud. This presumption is strength
ened if not confirmed, by comparison
my own. lThen follows the compar son.
| The principal source of revenue at this consul
late being shipping and discharglng seamen,
| invoices and Chinese Migrants OF which Mr..
Bailey had great many more than have had
his surplus balance paid into the Treasury
| ought to have been proportionately larger. In
| larger than any annual balance ever before paid
| by this consulate into the Treasury; and this
In spite of the fact that owing to the decline in
| business and reduction in charges, the amount
| collected by me, both in fees and extra wages
is far less than that collected by my predeces-
sors. Bailey's annual average surplus was
| about $31 1926. Mine has been from February
4th, 1879, to September 3oth-less than eight
months-S1, 9lS.29, or at the rate of $4,000 per
annum, without including the sum of S7s5l0
turned over to me by Mr.. Loring when took
| Treasury. Mr.. Bailey has charged the govern
ment S,403 for relieving distressed Seamen, or
| annually about 81 ,200, so. have charged moth
ing. My attention is called to the fact that in
about seven years Bailey's total surplus balance
was $26, 565.73. Loring'S, without any increase
of the business OF the consulate, was $40, Is,
nearly one-lalf OF Baileys total in sixteen
months. Mine about one-third in less than eight
| months, A comparison OF BaileyS annual total
! reported with his surplus shows the purely arti-
fetal character of his returns; that is. that the
! surplus amount was not regulated by the
amount collected, but by the eXigencies OF the
consul; e. O. from total Oh Sl2,311.46 collected
| by me since February 4th, 1879, l pay sur
plus Of S7.9lS.3I; with total collected in 1874 OF
| S12,3I016 Bailey paid a surplus of S2,6SII0.
! In the same way Bailey's returns may be COM
| pared with themselves to show that the annual
| balances paid into the Treasury were not de-
pendent on the annual amounts collected. For
| ported, his balance was 81 ,291.OS; while in 1872,
with total OF 12,34l.52, his balance was
s4,s0S.7s. SO in 1873 his total was greater than
| in 1872, but his surplus less. The surplus pay
| over into the Treasury depends upon the amount
| collect. Mr.. Bailey must have discharged at
| least 2G0s seamen, and at least four-1fths OF
| those with extra wages and shipped 1854 sea-
| men. His defalcatiOn on this account must be
between th1l ty-f1ve and forty thousand dollars.
In conclusion, as Chinese emigration was the
| original subject of inquiry, submit the follow
| ing extract from letter just received from the
| collector of customs at San Francisco, dated
August % 1872 81 congratulate you on your sue
| cess in your effort to prevent the shipping of
lewd women to this port. The fact that you
have succeeded demonstrates the truth of my
| theory hitherto expressed to your predecessors,
that vigilance and activity on the part OF the
cOuSul at Hong Hong was the proper way to en-