The Washington times., 1909-04-29
SUGAR MEN AGREE
TO PAY THE DUTY
Collector Loeb Effects Com
promise With American
Refining Company.

NEW YORK. April 29.-The American
Sugar Refining Company of New York
and Collector Loeb have reached an
agreement for the settlement of all the
suits against the company involving the
alleged fraudulent weighing of sugar
on the company's Brooklyn docks.
The company, according to the attor-
neys in the case. has agreed to pay
the Government a sum of money almost
equal to the full duty on the raw ma
terial, had it been properly weighed
upon it's arrival here, and will agree
not to appeal the verdicts the Govern
ment has already recovered. The
amount involved totals 81, ,25O,O0o.
History of Fraud
'The American Sugar Refining Com
pany, of New York, has been for at
least the greater part of the last decade
engaged in smuggling sugar by the
daily use of a fraudulent DEVICE de-
clared The Outlook, today, land from
1901 to 1907 100000 pounds of sugar
were smuggled on whicn she unpaid
duties amounted TO 8. 10000. The Gov
ernment is also claiming today that 1t
was defrauded of duties on shipments
of sugar reaching back IS far as 1897,
at two Brooklyn refineries, and also at
Jersey City, and will try to collect
duties thereon"
Following what is characterized as a
"painstaking and careful investigation,
OF the recent recovery by the Govern
ment from the Sugar Company of mOrs
than million dollars unpaid duties,
turned over TO the collector under
protest" the magazine shows In detail
how the alleged short weighing OF the
Government was accomplished and It's
n 80 -
ed that the Government checker sits
at the beams end of the scale, and the
yard employe at the other. The author,
Harold j. Rowland, then takes up the
narrative of his experiences there.
Taking the. seat In the corner re-
served for the company employe just by
my left knee was a thick post support
ing one end OF the shelf beneath the
scale bar. Under tie shelt was a sys,
tenn of levers and joints which formed
the connection between the registering
bean and the rod leading to the plat
form outside. Between the post and the
end wall of the scale house was
space perhaps a foot wide, as dark as a
pocket Running my hand down the
post. I touched a thin strip Of iron. Its
outer end bent into ring.
Discovers the Device.
''The strip worked loosely in a hole
in the post ard, as pushed it through,
its inner end ran over joint of the
scale mechanism. The spring of the
steel exerted force on the levers and
made the registering beam drop. We
found that a pressure OF only one ounce
at that point was good for a loss OF
forty-eight ounces on the platform OF
the scale.
Regularly spaced around the dock
stand are the seventeen scase houses,
and in each Of these I found IN the dark
the post pierced with the hole. some
were worn more some less, for no all
Of the scales have the same amour of
use. In several Instances, the hole had
worn so large that ii had been filed
in, in one case. with putty, in another
with tacks, still a third had a silver Of
wood glued 20 it 10 make the hole
smaller, all showing how long the sioc-
tored scales had been IN use
Fraud Paid Dividend.
Ship bills Of lading which were evil
dence in the Government suit and sta
tistics of various kinds are then cited
at very great length to explain that
Only the Government was defrauded
by the false system of weighing. 1t is
alleged that two sets of books, one
showing what the Government was
paid duty on and the others. that the
they were pasted back TO back for pur-
poses of reference. 1t is: then stated
that the company claims none Of its
responsible officials knew of the fraudu-
lent weighing and the article concludes:
zone thing at least is certain. II was
the sugar company that prOfited by the
frauds. The amount realized was suf-
ficient to pay a dividend of nearly per
cert on the capital stock of the New
York Company"