Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-25
THE ALLEGED CUSTOMS FRAUDS.
Awaiting the Result Of Mr. Hamlin's
Inquiries.

Awaiting the Result Of Mr. Hamlin'a
Inquiries.
The discovery Of alleged Irregularities in
the business methods at the New York Gus
tom house involving possible frauds Of large
dimensions Is the subject Of considerable
uneasiness to Secretary Carlisle and his as
sistants. Assistant Secretary Hamlin's re-
cent visit to New York was for the purpose
Of instituting a prompt and vigorous IN
vestigation Of the matter. with view to
correcting past abuses Qf any and to rem
der impossible q further continuance OF sus-
pected fraudulent transactions. The irreg-
ularities are said to consist of improper
vouchers for refunds on imported tobacco.
hat trimmings and other classes of goods.
Tobacco refunds, under the decision Of the
Supreme Court in the Schlesinger case. will
aggregate about $1.OOO.OOO. and refunds on
hat trimmings amount to nearly the same
figure. The payments already made in
these refunds are comparatively insignif-
cant. and If they are being irreguiariy dis
bursed 1t Is well that the information should
ments Of this class have been suspended
pending an investigation Of the system Of
settlement.
Referring to his visit to New York. AS
sistant Secretary Hamlin said:
II ascertained by the Investigation made
in New York that the principles laid down
in the Schlesinger decision have not been
followed in the matter of preparing ate
ments for the refund of excessive Il. %, in
cases which have been decided by the courts
In favor of the importers. These cases in
clude numerous lines Of goods" He ex-
planned that 1t would be impossible to esti-
mate the total amount that the government
may have lost by these improper refunds
until after the con clusion of the investiga-
ton which is being conducted in New York
and the customs division OF the Secretary 8
Office here.
The Schlesinger decision, which is the one
which should have been followed in making
all the refunds Of excessive duties, was an
nounced on January 24 1887. 1t was a con-
struction of sections 2.31 and BOIL of the
Revised Statutes, which prescribe the cir
cumstance under which and the manner in
which refunds Of excessive duties can be
made
Section BOIL provides that "any person
who shall have made payment under pro-
merchandise imported for him, to any COL
lector or person acting AS collector, Of any
money as duties, when such amount of
duties Is not or was not wholly authorized
by law. may maintain an action in the ma
tura Of an action at law which shall be
triable by jury to ascertain the validity of
such demand and payment Of duty. and to
recover back any excess so paid"
The refunds alleged to have been improp-
erly paid were made In two cases where the
prescribed conditions were not complied
with, cases where the duty was not paid
under protest in advance Of obtaining pos
session of the goods. and in order to obtain
such possession.
The investigation now in progress is ex-
pected to determine with certainty whether
certain suspicious cases already passed,
which show irregularities to put it mildly,
were male through an innocent misconcep-
ton of the Schlesinger decision or were the
result of fraudulent collusion between the
importers in interest and certain unnamed
In "a YprlS pppot ho,,
Ing to do with these refunds The result
will be known in a few days, and is NaIted
at the Treasury Department with consider
able anxiety.