Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-01-13
CUSTOM HOUSE CLERKS.
Dimculty Of Conn putting Compound Duties
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 the
iquidating department. Ile work is
hard and puzzkng. and it requires a man
OF peculiar temperament TO make his way
in IT, The Equidating Office Is .le place
where the fnal calculation Of the duties
to be paid on imported goods is marie.
When the goods are first entered rou-h
estimate Of the duties as per invoice is
made and the duties are deposised. Thea.
after the WORK of the surveyors office IS
completed and the appraiser has examined
the goods aud placed on the invoices their
classification and RITE of duty, the work
Of the liqtIidaring Office begins.
One Of the liqu!dating clerks In speak
ing to a reporter about the work Of the
office, said:
ITO one who is not acquainted by act
ual experience with the work, it is a hard
matter To explain it. ! have never known
-nch d.ficnlt work In the first place he
invoices come to you ia every known Ian
griage. and the measures Of quantity and
yalue are expressed in tine same tongue as
that In which the invoice is written. All
these, in the first place, have TO be re-
duced to American measures and values,
and Is trying work Then a man in Uur
department has TO be walking encyclo-
pedia Of commercial and trade technicaI-
ties
zone Of the most r.zzling things in
our work is the figtrng out OF the du,y
on articles which pay compound tax.
Take for instance dress goods. tbs tax
Ia ) cents yard and b per cent. Ad
valOrern, or 7cents q yard and 10 per cent.
according TO whether tie value is over or
under 20 cents a yard. Say we have =
consignment Of / 900 yards Of dress goods
from England which are billed in the in
voice at shiiIings and q pence less l.3f,
favorite discount les per cent, less ,
per cent, and with charges say Of El2.
The charges must be deducted and dis
counts taken off in order to find out just
what the cost per yard s, and on this the
duty il assessed. This il simple opera
ton compared to many we have.
On all worsted goods there is q specific
and adj valorem duty for goods weighing
under four ounces yard, and another
for goods over four ounces, and on some
other wooden goods we have 10 find out
whether they cost 90 60 or 50 cents n
pound, because different rates OF duty are
charged. have had sometimes To max
a. many as twenty FIVE different calcul1-
tons to ascertain what tae rate Of duty
was on certain line Of goods We can't
go by the appraisers calculation ut all;
his work Is done hUrredly n many casC3,
and we can't afford to trust kim.
About the most tedious work we have
ia on invoices of glass Ii comes in all
sizes and weights and there j. IA different
duty for each size and WEIGHT | have
known Of Invoices that required the max
ing OF 10, 600 figures to ascertain the duty.
Sugar is another tedious article to figure
on. 1t is graded by polariscope test, and Il
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 Mt any time. There are men in the
office who have been there fifteen years,
and they will frequently come across some
thing In m invoice which they have never
met before 1t is like sitting down to
solve Chinese puzzle and kee"in2 ~ 1
for eight or ten hours every day
1T helps man very little to be .
mathematician. Young Mather, whu
committed suicide. was in the Office, and
was II splendid mathematician, but he was
Of II nervous temperament, and don t
doubt that puzzlag over some OF those in
ferual over or under fpur ounce invoices
drove him crazy. New York Press.