Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1889-04-05
A CUSTOMS FRAUD STOPPED.
UNDERCLASSED SECURED WOOL
WILL NOW HAVE TO PAY
FULL DUTY.
The great wool interests Of this

Guy dlb ltIOlCiuB bNbl a utClslOu
of Secretary Of the Treasury
Wind0m-One Of his first i'm
porlant official acts-that means
q good deal to honest importers
and home dealers and to the ad-
mimstrauon Of the protective tariff,
according to the spirit of the law.
The Cabinet was hardly named
before the Wool Merchants Elk.
change, Of this city, memOrialized
Secretary Window, praying that
he make rulings on the question of
"wool taps fraudulently imported
as waste,and paying ten cents daty
where sixty cents was the intention
of the tariff law now in force, and
a rate of duty necessary to protect
the same grade of manufactured
wool in this country from rulnOus
competition.
Mr.. Theodore Justice, prOmi-
nent wool merchant OF the Wool
Merchants Exchange, was yester.
day asked what the effect of the
decision, Mr.. Justice said;
"To tell that it's necessary to 90
back a little. A great fraud against
the Treasury has been perpetrated
during the last year by an indus
try, mainly entered in Bradford,
Eng, by which the Treasury has
been cheated out of fifty cents per
pound, properly due 1t, upon i'm
ported secured botany woods en-
tered as waste. The duty upon
secured botany wool is thirty cents
per pound, and where the same IS
changed from Its usual and or
dlnarly condition, double duty is
imposed, making duty OF sixty
cents per pound. This is the legal
duty upon millions of pounds of
carded and cOmbed secured botany
wool, which has been admitted
during the past year as sO.called
waste, paying only duty of ten
cents per pound.
"Ht is well.knOwn fact and
common talk IN the Bradford, Eng
land, Exchange that the best and
most profitable business in wooden
manufacturing there is to take
such highly purified articles of
semi manufactured wool as are
known az tops rowing and so on,
to manipulate them in imitation of
waste and ship to the United States
and have them passed through the
Custom house as waste dutlable at
ten cents a pound.
"a leading Liverpool wool house
saws in a circular on this subject,
dated March ., that 1t is matter
of general surprise that the United
States Government has not sent a
special agent there to watch the
shipment of this manufactured
waste. The circular calls atten.
ton to the double dUty clause |
nave referred to, which is as well
understood there as here. In an
other circular they say that the
facility with which this com
modify is apparently passed at the
custOm.hOuSe IN America is a
matter Of general surprise in Eng
land. The business is carried on
SO openly that it is common topic
of conversation in Bradford and
elsewhere. Less trouble was taken
than ever to disguise the nigh class
OF the wool.
"Again under the date of
February ., they say The manu-.
iacturc of the spurious waste in
Yorkshire for shipment to the
United States IS a matter of com
mon gossip. The thing is so open
ly done in Bradford that the
American Consul would have no
difficulty IN tracing it, and an ac-
tive and special agent as capable
as Colonel TichenOr should be sent
over here to look after this and
many other matters
sit was easy to import this
article, because decision Oh
tanned in a United States court
was to the effect that an article
should be classified tor duty &C.
cordng as it is commercially
known. The importers success
lulh tried a case before Judge
Butler in the United States Court
i'm this city, claiming that az the
article IN dispute was commercial
+ " known as waste it should pay
only duty Of 10 cents per pound.
The evidence that was offered 10
prove that it was secured wool,
qntiaDle at 80 cents per pounds,
changed from its ordinary and
usual condition for the purpose OF
eyading the proper duty and there
fore liable 10 the penalty Of double
duty was not permitted by the
court, aud while the witnesses for
the Government were convinced
that the article was manufactured
waste and should be dutiable at
60 cents per pound, they were not
permitted to give such evidence
On the other nand their evidence
was secured to the effect that its
commercial name was waste, and
the court decided that 1t was
dutiable at 10 cents per pound
only.
"Abundant evidence has been
furnished to the Treasury Depart
ment how this article was fraudu-
lently classified, but Secretary
Fairchild refused to interfere. The
late appraiser at this port, j. Il.
Baker, was convinced that this
article was fraud upon the
Government and he assessed
several ImportatiOns at the proper
duty Of 60 cents per pound. But
the United States Treasurer be-
lievcd IN tree wool AMI took no in.
tcrcst III the matter.
an one case where the article
was consigned from France, the
consignor finding that he could not
get it through the appraisers de-
partment in Philadelphia as waste
at 10 cents per pound, 10y cable or
dered it re-shipped to France and
on arrival on the Continent, with
out ever leaving the wharf it was
shipped to another port in the
United States and was passed az
waste ana this secured wool ulti-
mately found its way to a mill on
the banks of the Schuylkill. On
these facts being presented to the