Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-04-27
FRAUDS IN RICE.
Excessive Rebates of Duty Procured on
ImpOrtatiOns from China-The Dam
age Brokers' Business.

age BrOker'S business
Ne10 York HeTdld.
The Appraisers office of the custom
house, and the Treasury Department at
Washington, are engaged in investigating
certain alleged frauds upon the revenue
in connection with the importation of
rice into this port. The complaint was
made. in the first place, it appears, by
agents of the rice growers in the South.
The raising of domestic rice is an I'M
pOrtant industry. and it would be
seriously affected by any extensive
Irregularities in the importation Of
rice from India; therefore, the Ameri-
can growers are greatly interested in
preventing foreign rice from coming into
this port without paying the full rate of
duty. Collector Robertson was rather
reticent when spoken to by a Herald re-
porter on the subject. He admitted that
serious Irregularities i'll connection with
the impOrtatiOns of rice had been charged,
but he preferred not to speak further about
the matter while it was under investiga-
ton. 1.-The extent and character of the
alleged frauds are being officially in
quired into" he said, land it would not
be proper for me to give any information
to the public at present"
\ prominent merchant, dealing largely
in rice was asked if he knew that fraudu-
lent importatiOns had been made, and he
how they had been discovered by the
trade he replied: ''Well, if tailor offers
YOU a coat at about the cost of the cloth
you probably think he has cheated his
workman or his landlord; but if he offers
you a coat at less than the price of the
cloth, then you know that there must be
a steal somewhere
"Have these frauds been eXtensive|'
''They cover several months, perhaps a
c,,I LOFT
fragrant. They have all been perpetrated
in the entry of foreign rice, about half
upon direct importatiOnS from the East
Indies, and the remainder by way of the
English and Continental markets.
''Are the duties on rice heavy enough
to encourage attempts at fraudE
THE duties on rice are heayy-in the
opinion of many too heavy. On cleaned
rfce-mOst of which comes by way of
EurOpe-the duties average 100 per cent.
on the value, making the cost of the pro-
duct, duty paid, just double the price in
bOnd-Or while the cargo is in the govern
ment warehouse before the duty is paid.
For instance, the various grades of cleaned
rice, costing say from "a to "a cents per
pound, have to pay tax of % cents per
bound. As to whether such high duties
are necessary there is much difference of
opinion. Our planters certainly need
some protection, and, under the present
policy of our government, are entitled to
a little paternal care as well as other in
tereSts.
1.-The high duties on rice-as on other
materialS-give employment and oppOr-
tunitY to a class of shrewd custom house
brokers called damage men," They
make a specially of obtaining rebates
from the government on cargOes on the
claim that the goods have been damaged.
They often 90 to an. importer who knows
that his consignment has arrived in good
condition, and saw, Give me certain
share in the rebates and I'll have those
goods reappraised and marked as
damaged The importer says, GO ahead
and the damage broker. by some hOcuS-
pOcus. and through the cOnnivance of
some of the examiners in the appraisers
office. has considerable percentage
taken of the duty on the pretense that
they are damaged. This is done when the
cargo is in sound condition, and in twen-
ty-fOur hours time the goods are put on
the market and sold as perfectly sound"
Mr.. John Talmage, of Dan Talmages'
Sons, said, when asked as to the natureiOf
the frauds and the manner in which they
were perpetrated: ''There has been irreg
ularitv various ways. UndervaluatlOns
by inlporters through false invoices, i'm
nrODer claims and allowances for pre-
tended damages-these are the principal
avenues through which the government
has been defrauded and the honest mer-
chant placed Mt a disadvantage. There
has certainly been much underhand work
done in the way of securing rebates OF du-
ties on one preteXt or another. Importa-
tions have been made from the East Indies
of cleaned rice, and on arrival of the
cargoes here claims have been made for
rebates on the ground that the rice has de-
Perforated on the voyage. The allowances
made on these claims have been enormous,
running as high as so per cent. In one
recent instance, where an importation
was made of 1000 bags, the duty on which
would have been $50, 900, allowances were
made of about $6,000-an average reduc-
ton of nearly 20 per cent. On another
consignment of 1000 bags, on which the
duty was say $4,000, there were rebates
of over 81 800.
"There is another way in which there
is. if not fraud, an evasion of the law.
refer TO the importation of broken rice for
use in the grocery trade at twenty per
cent. duty. or about half cent pound,
when the law specifically calls for pay
ment of two and half cents. The APP
praisers are often misled. The goods are
called by other than the true name in the
invoices, and the appraiser is thus de-
ceiyed. Under the name Of rice meaP
everything nearly up to the full grain is
nassed through at low rates. often the
annraiser depends upon the merchant for
his sample where goods are entered for
duty. and the samples sent are false. In
stead of sending the appraiser the grains
he receives rice meal, and he appraises
the duty accordingly