The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1889-02-18
Sugar Frauds.
Operations Of the Trust in
New York.
How ii was Worked.
--s .
Correspondence of tie BrLLrrlN, |
How ii was Worked.
Correspondence of tie BrLlrrtS,

that sugar importers in New York
had robbed the revenue of $4,000
600 annually is not an eXaggeration.
The investigation continues. Two
more assistant appraisers in the SUI
gar department have been dismissed,
and Secretary Fairchild will soon
publish Il statement giving his
reasons for his recent shaking up of
the Appraisers Office.
The New York "lIerald" of Jan.
20, contains long article on the
sugar swindles at that port. An
official of the Treasury Department
was interviewed and said: cts
enough to make a mans head swim
to investigate this sugar business.
For several years past the importers
seem to have paid just about what
duties they pleased"
The official then proceeds to illus
trate his meaning from the follow
ing fraud of
HAvENIEYER AND ELDER.
''Not long ago my attention was
called to a cargo of 1900 bags of
centrifugal sugar by the steamer
Arrecibo, consigned to Havemeyer &
Elder. 1t was all entered under one
mark-'F.,' and to pay duty at .95
polariscope test. | learned the
cargo had been picked up at 3 Cuban
ports, and knew that it must neces-
sarily have been gathered from a
number of plantations and therefore
was of different degrees Of tineness,
for no two makings of sugar ever
polarlze at the same degree, and
every degree of course means diff
ferent rate of duty.
"When | demanded of the con-
signees the plantation marks they
told me they didn't have them. You
can judge as well as | whether that
was the truth or not. | had to have
all the cargo overhauIed and found
no less than u different plantation
marks on the bags. The sugar from
each OF these was tested and found
to run from 80 to 9S, and the con-
signees had to pay about 100000
more in duties than if the sugar had
all been graded the same at 50, as
would probably have been done had
the usual practice of the Appraisers
Office been followed. 1t was only 9
rigid examination that saved this
$50, 900 to the government.
"As to the other cases found
on inquiry, that the firms whose
cargo overhauled imported about
100000 bags of sugar between
September, 1897, and May, 1888
And if a rigid inquiry required addi
tional duties of about 1000 OF
1900 bags, what ought it to have
: been on 1,0O0.0OOW
, The principal importer of sugar q
New York is that illegal combina
tion known as the sugar trust, which
apparently, will soon be broken VI
by the courts. All the sugars uset
by these relineries, with the excep
tion of q few cargoes of Hawaiian
sugars, that have been imported vi;
l San Francisco, are subject to dut,
. according to quality. A low ap
praisement of the grade of suga
would be to the manifest advantage
: of the importers, as can readily b
| understood when it is stated that th
d. amount of sugar duties collected i
: about 100000 annually, tn
G largest proportion of which is pai
= at New York.
;. The Herald then goes on to refe
to the
FUNNY BUSINESS AT SAN FRANCISCO
Recent events at San Francisco
according to gentleman acquainte
o with the sugar trade in that city an
who is now in New York, would in
~ dictate that there has been som
# funny business in regard TO suga
q cargoes.
n A cargo of Java sugar was in
II ported at San Francisco by tn
=. sugar trust refinery at that place an
If entered at the Custom House, will
r. out the regular invoices, as polari
:, ing ut lightweight degrees an
IF | Delnp unucT NO 10 DuIcu SIanuaf(
Il the duty at this rate being l.92 cen
# per pound.
n "Another San Francisco import,
f. had documents in his possession,
! he told me, Showing that, owing
the high grade of Java sugar,
could not be profltably importe
into the United States, the dut
being too high. The Collector of Il
r Port was notified of this fact an
:. caused an examination of the Jay
IS sugar to be made. The report
,r the government chemist showed th
n the sugar had been artiiicially colo
e ed; that it polarized from 93.5
IS 98.4, instead of under SO, as swol
yr to at the Custom House, and tht
it approached No. 20 Dutch stan'
X ard instead of being under No. /
% The difference in the amount of dut
l. between what was originally pa
le and what should have been paid WI
l. $4,000 on cargo of $500 sho
N tons.
II HOW ABOUT NEW YORK!
il "As 2G, 1889 tons of Java sugi
,e were imported at New York durir
4, 10 l.,