The age-herald., 1897-08-20

wrong decidedly. He should have allowed you to take tho dog ashore and then put you in jail"
 That was the last beard of that com pnint
 An Indsprnleut Service. sss.s
 Although 1t is the function of the treas ury agents to assist collectors and apprais- CTS in preventing fraud. they arc by no means under the coars5l of these officials On the other hand, 1t is not only the priv llege of the special agents to examine in- dependently into the methods of apprais- crs' and collectors employees, but 1t is their bounden duty. They like to do it with the full approval of tho officials, but it has happened in tho past occasionally that these lattor have looked upon the agents when engaged in this branch of their work as interlopers, and there have been some exceedingly lively rows in con- sequence, but so far as recorded the agents have always como ont ahead.
 From the naturo of their duties and the intricate knowledge and extended experi- ence required of the treasury agents they are not often subject to changes when a new administration comes in. They are now included in the civil service, though there were comparatively few changes be- fore they were thus classified, but their pay seems strangely inadequate. The su. pervising treasury agent is fairly paid, but the others get only S6 and S8 day, while the special inspectors and other employees get about S4 Of course there arc proper expense allowances.
 Careful, Patient Work.
 The detection of smuggling and dis honest employees of the customs service, thouyb nrooo0 tha biut., ., .7, of the treasury agents, is by no means the most absorbing. Their heaviest work con- sists in bringing to light the underyalua- tion of goods This is almost always dono on complaint of some merchant who finds himself being undersold by rival dealer in imported goods. He states his case in a written complaint to tho collector, who in turn refers tho case to the special agent Perhaps the latter can detect the fraud, if there be any, in short soance with the examiner thereof, but very often indeed it requires weeks and months of attention. Sometimes even a trip abroad is neces- sary. In some cases the first suspicion of underValution is got through tip from special agent abroad and from United States consul
 When a case of undcryaluation or other fraud has been fully established, the facts are communicated to the collector, and tho violator of the law is made to pay full du- ties and punitive duties besides. If he de- sires, he may appeal to the board of nine general appraisers who have jurisdiction over the entire country and are located in New York Such cases are generally de- cided by one member of the board, and if the culprit appeal again the case is then passed upon by special board of three, but the appraiser making the first decision is never member of this board From this decision there is no appeal save to the. courts. ee s-ass
 For the purpose of making their exam nations and tests the special treasury agents have to be outftted with all sorts of accurate scientific instruments. For examining certain fabrics they use the finest magnifying glasses with which to count the threads for examining sugars the polariscope is used, for imported liquors gaugers implements, and so on
 It goes without saying that in order to do their work these men, in addition to possessing the qualifications. described in tho beginning of this letter, mustsbe men of wide and accurate general knowledge, as well as the most detailed special infor- nation. DEXTER MARSHALL.