Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-11-25
SCARED IMPORTERS
IN MAO RUSH
TO CONFESS
Spectacular Government Raid
Has Frightened Those Who.
Profit by Customs Frauds
Revenues May Increase S10l-
100000,
.so.eInI correspondence to Morning Journal

,sneclaI Correspondence to Morning Journal
New York, Nov. 22.-Ten million
dollars is q fair estimate OF the
amount that the federal are
lkely to be increased by the panic
hat has seized the big importing
firms of this city, since the govern
,,art officials made their raid on one
of the largest and wealthiest of art
,mnorting establishments or Fifth
Avenue and arrested prominent mem
hrs Of the firm. For q long time
The authorities have beer certain that
,nst frauds have been practised upon
tbe customs by the differentiation of
imported merchandise and that some
If The importers were implicated in
,hpse frauds, For several months
nast rumors have been flying about
The Wholesale district of the city that
the government was collecting evil
dence both here and abroad against
! number Of firms. This has led to
great uneasiness among importing
firms who were willing to profit By
mis- form of graft as long as there
seemed little danger of detection. but
who would rather sacrifice millions
thon TO have their business standing
gnlrched by exposure. The policy OF
the federal authorities IN giving lib
eral rewards to inforn4ers has increas-
cd this u~neasiness since il was prac-
tlcally impossible to carry on these
frauds without the knowledge of GER
lain employees. and a clerk h knew
that o fortune OF $50, 600 or $780,
600 might be his for a mere tip to the
federal officials naturally would be
tempted TO grasp such a rich prize.
When the spectacular blow Of the
Fifth Avenue raid fell the question
who next?n naturally presented it.
self to the importers with guilty con-
sciences and threw them into a blue
funk. The result has been a grand
rush to get aboard the immunity
wagon and Collector Loeb has been
kept busy for the past ten days list
ening to confessions, promises Of res
titution and pledges to be good. The
interviews have been carefully guard
ed but some of the facts have leak
ed out. Some of these offers may be
accepted, but the present disposition
Of the government authorities is to
make horrible examples of q few
more big firms for the moral ERECT
it viii be likely to have.
To what an extent New York has
become a city of hotel dwellers was
instanced this week by the statement
Of g department store head of long eX-
perience that the total amount Of
buyipg done by the $500 establish
ments catering to public wants in
Manhattan was far greater than the
combined purchases Of the occupants
of individual homes, although the
majority of the latter are persons OF
far more h aver"@e incomes. In
view Of the fact that the number OF
great hotels is multiplying with each
season while the number of private
houses is actually falling off, this as
sertion is not so incredible at Is Up
pears at first glance, especially IN
view of the fact that each of the
larger hotels, buying for n clientele
Of many hundreds of persons daily
makes purchases a housand-lolu
greater than those of the individual
family. For instance, in n new
Hotel Rector. now approaching com
pletlon on Broadway at Times Square
something like half a million dollars
has been spent in providing the fur
nishings needed for setting up house
keeping on the elaborate scale con-
templated by its proprietor. The Rec
tor. though one of the most complete
ana elaborate, is by no means one OF
the largest Of the city's hotels, bu,
this mount would be sufficient 10
start q thousand newly-wedded coup
les going. allowing $500 for each PAIR
Incidentally the anne department
store authority explained as one OF
the reasons for this change which is
leading more and more New Workers
TO give up private homes in favor 81
hotel life the fact that the hotel NY
or. dealing in vast quantities. Is aple
TO do much better than the individual
purchaser and so is in a position 10
secure for his patrons more for their
money than they could obIain tnem
selves.
While the automobile n nearly
displaced horse-drawn vehicles on
many Of the city's streets. it has also
been adapted to Tightening transpor-
tatlon burdens in a number of other
novel ways. one Of these is in oper-
alton at the Grand Central station
inn