The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1888-01-04
CUSTOM HOUSE CLERKS.


Driven Mad by Figures.
There is one department in the custom
house for which there are not many as
pirants though the pay is good. 1t is tho
liquidating department the work is
hard and puzzhng, and it requires man
of peculiar temperament to make his way
in it, The liquidating Office is sle place
where the final calculation of tho duties
to be paid on imported goods is made
When the goods are first entered II rough
estimate Of the duties as per invoice is
made and the duties are deposited Then,
after the work of the surveyors office is
completed and the appraiser has examined
the goods and placed on the invoices their
classification and rate of duty, the work
of the lquidating office begins.
One Of the lquidating clerks, in speak
ing to reporter about the work of the
Office, said:
''To one who is not acquainted by act
ual experience with the work, it is n hard
matter to explain it. have never known
such difficult work In the first place the
invoices come to you in every known Ian
guage, and the measures of quantity and
value are expressed in the same tongue as
that in which the invoice is written. All
these, in the first place, have to be re-
and is trying work Then man in our
department has to be walking encyclo-
pedia of commercial and trade technicali-
ties.
''One of the most puzzling things in
our work is the figuring out of the duty
on articles which pay compound tax.
Take for instance dress goods. The tax
is 8 cents n yard and 30 per cent. ad
valorem, or 7cents yard and 40 per cent,
according to whether the value is over or
under 20 cents yard. Say we have
consignment of 900 yards Of dress goods
from England which are billed in the in
voice ut 2 shillings and pence, less | 81,
n favorte discount less per cent. less 2
per cent, and with charges say of t12.
The charges must be deducted and dis
counts taken off in order to find out just
what the cost per yard is, and on this the
duty is assessed. This is simple opera
ton compared to many we have.
On all worsted goods there is Il specific
and nd valOrem duty for goods weighing
under four ounces a yard, and another
for goods over four ounces, and on some
other wooden goods we have to find out
whether they cost 40, GO or so cents a
pound because different rates of duty are
charged. have had sometimes to make
rs many rs twenty-five different calcula-
tions to ascertain what the rate of duty
was on certain line of goods. We can't
go by the appraisers calculation at all;
his work is done hurriedly in many cases,
and we can't afford to trust him.
about the most tedious work we have
il on invoices of glass. 1t comes in all
sizes and weights, and there is different
duty for each size and weight. | have
known Of invoices that required the max
ing of 10000 figures to ascertant the duty.
Sugar is another tedious article to figure
on. 1t is graded by polariscope test, and
different rate of duty is charged for every
degree above 70.
''Wines, liquors and tobacco all have
compound duties, which, as | said, give
us the hardest work. The work never
gets easy, as puzzlers are liable to come
up at any time There are men in the
office who have been there fifteen years,
and they frequently come across some
thing in an invoice which they have never
met before. 1t is like sitting down to
solve Chinese puzzle and keeping at II
for eight or ten hours every day.
sit helps n man very little to be a
Young Mather, who
suicide, was in the office, and
was n splendid mathematician, but he was
of n nervous temperament, and don't
doubt that puzzhng over some of those in
fernal over or under four ounce invoices
zy.". York Press.