The morning call., 1891-10-02
CIGARS AND WINE.
Are the Customs Appraisers
Helping Themselves ?
Importers of Fine Havana Cigars and Cham
pagnes Say Their Invoices Are Being
Too Literally Sampled.


A reporter for THE CALL has been inter-
viewing the importers of this city for sew
eral days past ana while nearly all tacitly
admitted that matters are not what they
should be in the Appraisers office, yet not
one could be found willing to state any sim
gle case of '.'abuse, nor would they talk at
all, except upon promise that they were not
to be quoted. They seem to stand in whole
some fear of something or somebody.
Uuder the United States custom law 10
per cent of all importatiOns are required to
be sent 10 the Custom-h0use for eXamina-
ton and appraisement for duties, Thus, II
a merchant imports lC0 cases of champagne
or brandy, ten of them must be sent to the
Appraisers Office for examination and
chemical analysis, 50 us to admit Of proper
adjustment of the duties. The same is true
of Havana and other imported cigars. The
examination my ba confined to single
bottle of the liquor or to one lot of each diff
ferent brand of cigars. In the former case
it is only necessary to sample small guam
tiy of the liquor, and one cigar out OF box
is sufficient upon which to base an estimate
of the dutiaDle value of all the rest.
WHOLE HANDFULS.
Right here, however, is where the kick"
of the importers comes in. They say that
instead Of one cigar only being taken, whole
handfuls are extracted; and in the case OF
liquors. one and often several bottles are
taken. In the aggregate the loss to the i'm
porter is considerable, as the imported
goods are very expensive. ami the loss by
this liberal method of 'sampling' some
times almost equals the amount OF the
duty.
One prominent Battery-street cigar i'm
porter said: "Yes, the Appraisers have the
privilege of taking one cigar out OF box
of each variety. but they abuse the prlVl-
lege and take whole handfuls. I've got no
comp laint myself, but nave heard Oh sucn
cases many times"
A Clay-Street liquor importer said in re-
gard to the cases of French brandies ana
| c!ampagn"S seat 70 the Appraisers office:
I'VE expect Il few bottles to be taken, and
we don't kick, but the loss on expensive
goods counts up. OF course we don't know
that the Appraiser gets them. We simply
charge them to brelkage or leakage. The
trouble is it would not do to make any
direct charges. The matter would be too
hard TO prove. Then, again, it might make
a good deal OF trouble for the kicker. His
goods could be delayed and lie be made to
suffer a great deal of Inconvenience if the
customs officers were SO minded. don't
say that they would do it. but they have
the power. We miss bottle or two out OF
many of our cases, but we don't mind II.
gu ole me-"
UNDER LOCK AND KEY.
A gentleman who overheard the
| reporter making inquiries of cigar
importer stated that he had been an
examiner, and explained how the APP
| praiSements we're made under that admin
| iStratOn. I'VE always put the goods tn be
examined under lock anu key, and put the
| importers name on the package. 1t was al
ways ready for him when he called ii Is
not necessary TO open more than bottle OF
a case Of liquors, and thea small quantity
K,,tl at,tf,a N ri
one cigar out of box OF each variety is
enough to enable the Appraiser to fix the
| duty IL he take more, as L have heard Is
| being done, he takes them for his own use
or to treat his friends Still, IL Is the I'M
porter's own fault if he is being imposed
upon, for if lie finds that much OF
his importation is missing he can 20 to the
Appraiser and demand restitution OF his
goods, CT money equivalent"
Are they not afraid to make any COM
| plaint?" asked the reporter.
MAY MAKE TROUBLE.
The ex-ufficial shrugged his shoulders ex-
pTessively, aud replied: ut may be. 1t is
in the power of the Appraiser TO make
great deal of trouble for the importer and
postpone the examination of the goods so
long as to seriously delay the delivery OF an
invoice. Understand that now, however, uu-
der Leavy, all the imported goods are piled
away lutO the basement of the CustOm-
! house, until q vessel has been entirely I'M
loaded. Thus, in the case OF sailing ship,
II often requires two aud three weeks to
unload, and If another ship arrives before
the examination and appraiseInent is COM
pleted, then it too Is uulOaded and packed
away, and the goods are taken in their turn
for examination. This cert ,inly delays the
shipper from ayaiing himself OF his invoice,
for lie cannot remove them until the eXamI-
nation has been completed on the 10 per
cent portion at the Appraisers ofhce."
Does not that give the Appraiser or his
assistants chance to show favoritismW
was asked.
or course it does, but whether it is done
well" aud another shrug completed the
sentence.
AFRAID TO TALK.
A cigar-dealer on Battery street, who
formerly imported large quantities, but now
confines himself 10 goods in bond, refused
absolutely to say anything on the subject
You will find no one, he said, no
will care to talk about it., and subsequent
interviews with a score or more ofimpOrters
proved the truth of his words. They all
seem afraid to be known as making any
complaints.
Another man said: eyes, there are more
OF Our goods taken than there is any need
for, but there is no help for it, II is the
Appraisers privilege 10 sample good cigars
and liquors Of course, II they dipped in
too deep we wouldn't stand il"
One kearny-street importer Of cigars said
JllbL ne udu OntC ca pti Il lEdb iCtL VI
trouble in the Appraisers office, but that he
had gone up to see that off er and the mat
ter had been satisfactorily adjusted. We
pay too much for our goods to afford TO lose
any He refused, however, to particular
ize the nature of the trouble or in what way
an adjustment had been reached,
RIGHTED BY THE APPRAISER.
w. Wolff & Co., wholesale liquor import
ers Market street. stated that about six
months ago several bottles of champagne
were mysteriously lost from case OF i'm
ported goods while in the Appraisers hands.
Complaint was made, and day or two
aftcrward Appraiser LeaYy called at their
Office and made inquiries, at the same time
Offering to make good tue loss. In Justice
to Mr. Leavy it should be- said that ut the
tine he particularly requested Wolff IL Co.
to report TO him in future any shortages in
cases of imported goods, and lie would en-
deavor to ferret out the source of the trouble.
Since that time Wolf d Co. had experienced
no losses.
HEAVY SHORTAGES.
Careful inquiry has been made in revenue
circles, and it has been definitely learned
| that not only have the shortages been great
in many instances, but some one" has been
accused Of taking cigars and wines from
| the Appraisers store and selling them.
This "Some one" is said to be an attache of
the Appraisers store, and the investigation
! of the charges made against him is now
| being prosecuted.
In the absence of Appraiser Lesvy. who
| is now on his way to New York City to at
tend meeting of local appraisers. Acting
Appraiser j. G. Tucker was called upon for
| a statement.
Il know nothing of specific charges hav-
| ing been preferred against any one." he
said. "a few days ago we had protest
from local importer of wines complaining
that he had missed three cases. We called
on him for definite charges. In response by
letter lie declined to make charges and re-
| duced the amount TO three bottles, which,
he said, lie did not care for anyhow.
THE USUAL COURSE.
'It is our CUSTOM in compliance with the
| law, to set aside tenth OF each consgu-
ment for the purposes of apprasement.
Where the consignment is OF spirits we
often retain a sample; also where it is of
IL fnr F,,.