The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-02-22
NEED AN APPRAISER.
Serious Obstacle to Foreign
Commerce on the Coast.
4 CAUSE OF vExATlous DELAY.
Disputes IN Regard % Duty Omen Have
to Awais m Appraisers Come
Ing From New York.

The need Of the presence on this Coast
OF . member q the board Of general APP
pr1isers Of the treasury department. for
~ least o pc<tion of tho year In urged
very strongly by customs ossiciais ana
importing merchants Ia this city. The
fact 10 exnphssized BY the recent In
crease In the volume % Oriental COM
snerce. which IL expected to bring about
the result desired
All merchandise imported - appraised
at the port OF esa.ry by tho appraiser,
or by the collector or his deputy, in.
the capacity Of acting appraiser. II the
apprassernent Is satisfactory 20 the I'm
porter, the entry is Hqsddatef upon the
appraisment and the transactions Is COM
pieted- But IL the arpraiznent Il not
satisfactory. then . protest Is filed by
the importer. ani q rearpraisement il
demanded. At present II the importer
Is willing 10 walt until q member OF the
general board Of appraisers feels that
he can absent himself from New York
city. and this Is likely to involve a
delay Of at least . year. he refuses 10
waive his right 70 have the rea2praise-
ment made at the port of entry. As the
supporter Is usually unwilling 70 submit
TO such a delay. he allows the reap
praIsement to be made upon samples
. mode manifestly unsatisfactory where
q great variety OF goods are involved
The board Of general appraisers. to
which are referred ell questions Of APP
praisement. consists Of nine members.
I'VE Republicans and four Democrats.
and Is located in New York city. Where
the work Of an appraiser IL not eatis-
factory to the importer he has the right
of filing q protest and appealing to this
board for the purpose OF reappraisement.
Where an appeal IS taken from the ac-
ton OF an appraiser at this port, az re-
Gently occurred In the case OF a seizure
of certain Japanese curios, 1t involves
the tying up of the shipment for an
indefinite time. in all probability for as
much as year. as IL would be that
long before ore OF the general apprais-
ers could get out here.
Some years ago Frederick N Shurt-
liff, appraiser AZ Portland, Or, was ap.
pointed a member Of the beard OF gen.
erai appraisers. and there was then
good reason TO believe It was expected
that he would reside on this Coast
While II Is considered that there Is no
doubt that the board should meet as a
board. all the members being present
for some portion Of the year. New York
being unquestionably the proper place of
meeting. at least one member OF the
board should be at San Francisco for
a portion OF every year, from which
point Portland and Sound ports could he
reached readily. for the purpose Of pass
ing upon Just such cases as the one Cit
ed above. But although II IL Q port OF
great Importance. San Francisco has not
insisted that member be stationed even
a portion OF each year on this Coast.
There are certain clasees OF merchan-
disc. such as Papanese and Chinese rice
and curios. that, while they are not Inn
ported exclusively through the custom
houses on this Coast, comprise such a
large proportion OF the importation that
importers claim reappraisements should
be made promptly here, as they are
fruitful sources OF differences between
the appraiser and the impcrters. Tfis
is notably true OF Chinese rice. Under
the Mckinley tariff there was room for
uncertainty in the classification Of rice,
the line OF denanrkation between clean
and unclaimed rice being q constant
cause of differences between the custom
house ana the importer. Under the pres
ent law, at this port alone there has.baen
collected between 81. 500 and 5000 In adj
ditionai duties on rice alone. the import
er entering rice as uncieaned, whereas
the new tariff aca. the rice schedule OF
which was drawn with the especial In
tention OF overcoming any ambiguity In
the former bill. still seems Ia be eufTi-
GENTLY ambiguous TO justify the same
kind OF rice being entered at one por,
as cleaned and at another as uncleaned.
II an appraiser were to be stationed
on the Pacific coast. all these matters
could be passed upon quickly and ex-
peditiousiy. and thus save considerable
difficulty both to customs collectors and
importers.