New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-05-30
PART II.
MAY 30, 1898.
TIE APPRAISER EXAMINED
MIR COOPER PUT on THE RACK BY THE
FAIRCHILD COMMISSION.
THE wISwALL SUSPENSION NNp hE'NSININ
MENT INvEsIIGATED-TiiE WORK
DE\GS SLOWLY.

n 4, lie truc rs has been reported that President
Cleveland does not intend that there shall be material
changes In the force al the Custom House until after
,hc Faircbjd commission has ended It's work and has
made n report then. from the pace which the in
=. tcaon took Yesterday, 1t Is probable that there will
10 MANY more gray haired men In the service than
,,.,e are now The commission met yesterday morn
inc IN the Barge ONCE. and great the interest
a,sraved In II that four besides the reporters
ook seats when the commission began the public part
~ the investigation. For time previous to this
,h. three commissioners In earnest consultation
with q : Spaulding. the Assistant Secretary of the
Trossury Mr.. Tingc. the chief OF the special agents.
and Mr. Wiswall. whose suspension from duty at the
Arpraisers Stores fr alleged differentiation OF silk
Goods led 10 the charge that first taken mp.
Na,vele W. Cooper. the Appraiser. who TO be the
frs. witness. compelled to wait for over half an
hour after the time announced for him to testify before
he uas called.
MR. FNRCHILD OPENS THE HEARING.
Finally the members of the commission decided that
with all the department assistance they had on hand
they cocld safely begin The attorney and fourth
member Of the oomml- Wallace Mactarane. took
rs scat between the secretary f the Treasury Mr.
rs,rchild and the ex-Colectcr of the Port Daniel
Nagone and directly in front of Mr.. Spauding. where
the Of all three would be in easy reach when he
wanted to find out what - ask witness Mr.. Fair
child opened the hearing by announcing that the
charges that had been made by THE Dry Goods
Chronicle" would first be taken up. and he asked
Appraiser Cooper. with the air and tone Of man who
expected II be easy subject for him to talk about
I, tell us all tout it," The Appraiser was somewhat
taken aback BY the question but replied that he was
willing 10 tell everything that he knew. He wanted
the chairman TO indicate particular part OF the
charges upon which information was desired.
Well. tell about Your reason, for suspendin.
Mr.. wiswaD" said the chairman.
Mr.. COOPER TEsTIFIEs.
Mr. Cooper then related the stories that have
been published from time to time from jobbeis and
importers that certain importers were getting goods
passed at lower rate than others and of his in
vesugaton. Mr.. Cooper told how he investigated
The imporations Of J. K. simon j. = Rosen,hal. the
japanese Fan Company and Il. 1saacs & Co., and
found that while the goods imported lin this inStanc"
silk handkerchiets) exactly the same. having
been purchased at the same time and FOR the same
price, In every instance different values were set
on the goods Of the different firms. Mr. Wswa
made the appraisements lie then suspended Wis
wall and asked the Secretary of the Treasury TO re-
move him. After this J. r. simon paid about 10000
additional TO the Government for penalties. for under
valuation and for additional duties. Wiswall was
renstated on July 8. 1901. about a month after he
had been suspended. The Treasury Department sent
Special Agent Mccoy to investigate the Wi>wall case
and it his report that wiswall was rcnstated
Mr. MACFARLANE GETS TANGLED
For over two hours Mr.. Cooper explained as best he
MacFsrlane became tangled up in a maze OF invoices.
sppraisas, reapprasas assistant appraisers eNami-
samples markings. checks and other techncalitle'
Of this department. and he asked the Appraiser
question that would compel him IT, g. over the
entire ground again Mr.. Cooper did not like this at
all and blurted out
II you can't understand, cant explain it, AMI
maintained silence until he asked another Ques-
ton
ON some of the invoices wiswall had made ad-
vsnces over the invoced valuation CT the Goods but
other examiners raised the values sill higher Mr..
MacFarlane thought he put leading question TO the
witness when NJ asked:
fully and deliberately kept lower"
II eitler believed that he was incompetent or that
he discriminate" was the reply.
Mr. COOPER SAYS HE Is NOT GUESSING.
The invoices Of the four importing firms for the
good, referred to by appraiser cent fer BY
the commission the request Of Mr.. Magone and Mr.
Cooper The appraiser read tie advance, OF number
OF other invoices OF j. X. simon. on July is.
1901 simon added S747 % to invoice, and the cx
SIMMER put $40 60 more upon II; on July Is, simon
added si,7s9 so. and the examiner 1914 co; on July
60 simon and the examiner respectively added *l4-
O51 Sc $3.50 As; Sl,1S6 30 and 800? 16; on August
3, Simon added 81 900 g. and the examiner S6'2 80
to another invoice. Mr. Cooper was asked What bear
Ing these advances had on the suspension OF WIS
wall and told the Commissioners that he was not
guessing but simply was giving facts. When he was
asked TO name the examiner who made tie addllonal
advances on these goods he said that he would
rather Assistant Appraiser Corbett be asked these
questions Mr. Cooper said that he recollected mat
the excuse which Wiswall gave for underwriting the
goods was that they were damaged goods. Inis
statement he said was confirmed both by Mr.. Cor
bett and Mr.. Richardson. the president OF the SIX
Association who was making an Investigation OF the
charges that were being made by dealers that some
imam any one else several we-KnowD SILK dealers
examined the silks. and declared thai ,ley we're "'
Did you have any personal knowledge OF the I'M
dervsluaons he was asked asked commemorative Of
Arnold. Constable Go. told me that they co"ia mo'
compete IN this marke, WITH som "rc 81 9n T ycr and
ample credit, they could not import these socn' "S
cbesply as they could buy them in this city Oh ac-
count OF the undervauation.'
THE WITNESS TELLS OF AN INCIDENT.
Mr.. Cooper was asked II be charged wiswaI with
these undervaluati0ns when lie suspended him. lie
replied that he did think he did lie talked with
him several times. He told Of an incident, however
that was listened TO att"n,ively. lie said:
"Mr. Richardson Of the silk Association, VINO was
with Assistant Appraiser Corbett asked wswall for
. sample OF the japanese Fan Company SILK. Win
the invoice number, TO compare ii with other SILKS
which he had. Mr. wiswall said that lie would get
He gone so long that Mr.. Richard ana
Mr.. Corbett went into the examiners room, where
they found him with piece of silk In his hand which
he said sample from the japanese Ian Com
psnys goods e put oS number upon er. re n n",
n piece of the fan company's Invoices In the Ap
prsiser's stores. IL was false number and ial'e
sample. Wiswal was put In charge OF IN" hat
trimmings Department by the orders OF the Depart
Ment at Washington"
Mr.. wIswALl's STATEMENT
In relation to the charge that wlswall's I,instate
ment the result OF IL bargain between Assistant
secretary Spauldng and Special Agent Tingle Mr..
Cooper said he knew nothing When he asked
n they had called upon lin In relation TO Wswal
he replied Il don't think trey did" lie dcnieI
that he went TO Washington with the representative
of the silk Association 10 p:oeS; against the reinstaic
mept of Wswall He said that he went Their. and
that he me-, Mr.. Richardson The train II was
mer. coincidence. Mr. Cooper said that he could not
recollect I'm the SILK what caused Wiswals sis
pension that Wiswal Increased III. valuation from
% Der cent and then Mr.. Corbett. the Assistant Ap
praIser added from 10 to 20 cent but the Board
ps".eet. snnraisers s,,St ,ncd Wis,raii IT,, ranIy