Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1881-04-07
COMMUNICATE.
MARcM, I8s1

Messrs. Editors - Dear Sirs:-A vol
ume Of brecities, each with its necessa-
ny dressing, might still be consistent
with the aphorism-Breyity is the soul
Of wit. Fortunately | have but one
breyity 70 offer. and that on the tobac-
co question. Your able editorials on
the subject apprise ne that il is Of late
gFayltaiing more rapidly to an issue in
the courts than suspected. So far as
| recollect Governor HamiIion's ex-
pressed intentions, he shows q fair viii
linEness 10 take prompt action ttpon re-
liable evidence III corruption. This top
ic 81 aasmplar Of the debstahillsy Of tue
tousssates sviLeate
And Gen. Chapman warned Us at Char
lotte Hall, during the recent campaign,
as TO the late record Of The Legislature
on this head and as the result Of closer
inspection Of the system, It's history and
the rights Of the tobacco growers who
created the property Of the warehouses,
that we were IN danger by injudicious
haste, Of lying no things we know not
Of" Mr. Bond, Of Calvert county, has
lucIdly shown in your paper that the
very nature OF the Maryland tobacco
supply furnishes the basis Of all the CIR
cumstantial evidence lhatlbc merchants
are heapiug upon the inspectors
Now, whereasin Ohioand other States,
such large quantities oftobacco are turned
IN 10 the local factors, who make spe-
cialty Of preparing il for The market, az
70 justify the outlay for firing Il, aud as
sorting il so that no hogshead shall con.
tain more than one grade, IN the few to-
bacco-cogniles OF Maryland each farmer
must prize and ship for himself bis few
boEsheads, 10 which he must necessau-
y mix all grades. This makes inspec-
ton here an expert business, Each
hogshead being allowed but one sam
pie 10 represent it 10 The market. the
inspector must find this one that shall
contain leaves OF the different grades
contained 10 the hogshead This passed
lHio the hands oi purchasing ageuls--oi
Vienna merchants says no longer
under The surveillance OF inspector OF
commission merchant even, and ~ open
90 al manner manipulation and fraud
The foreign agent may, aud 10 doubt
does, since retaining his visible means
otsuppoH depends upon bis satisfying hts
principal for his investments, poll out
all leaves representing inferior grades,
thus, by manufacturing eifcumNanliai
evidence against the inspectors. cover
ing his own tracks. And why uol the
commission merchants. 'a8i2er auay
contribute 70 this cifcunAantial eyi-
deuce by the cafelcssncts with whlch
some OF them allow all roura 20
lou.el over the bundles} The hogs.
heads arc not open 70 This lampcring
before reaching their destination, being
/ shipped from the warehouse by ware
house officials, each hog,hcaJ number
Z ed and branded like a makers watches.
When these reach the purchaser and
are not found To correspond to The
samples received from unofficial par
\ iies, this circum.tautiai evidence, as kg
a. regards the inspectors is worthless
/ pro OF con, while q may be presump-
tive evidence against the travelling
/ agents, on the caal-ifon principles OF
business. which assume that every fraud
lbsl Is posH5if Is graeiisea The Prince
Of Denmark OF THE communication j.,
simply this:--lo allow the inspector 10
extract duplicate sample from every
/ hogshead sold aud forward this sample
to the purchasing principal lit differ
appreciably from The sample sent by
the purchasing agent, and correspond To-
the contents OF the hogshead, it con-
yicls the agent ia cgar9sc, II il dii-
fer from the contents Of the hogshead
this becomes testimonial evidence,
which The merchant can forward 20 the
Governor, and this viii have all the
weight for conviction against the IN
epectnr that any testimonial evidence
would be entitled to IN the case But
since the two classrs 81 evidence have
relatively different weight in different
cases, and since neither can ever have
as much weight as both combined, the
Governor can convert il into evidence
OF this las. character by sending a dep
uty 70 examine the hogshcad and the
official sample IN The merchants hands
where this shalt be practicable.
am aware that kin idea has bean
promulgated 10 The Legislature, or per-
haps appeared 10 PRINT but il is not
Identical II proposes to allow tie IN
speotofs 10 retain duplicate samples 10
the warehouse for future comparison,
to be disposed Of by auction or other
wise, after reasonable time. But this
has It's objection IN that II retains mod
ifable evidence ia interested hands,
whereas my plan dispenses the SAM
pies among many supposed disinler-
ested parties, thus creating evidence to
crimin9te or yindicate the inspectors
not under their control: and even ifin-
dividual merchants have political rea-
sons 10 yitiate this evidence by tamper-
ing with the bundles, 1t would require
concerted felony aud cooperative spite
on their part, an indispensable thing on
its face.
Very espectIully,
Gro. S. king, NJ D.