El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-12-16

7 was given Two years. ana went u LlAG
| federal prison at Atlanta
All Must Pay
! But might I'LL a page OF this news
I paper with the stories of smugglers
l who have been fined and with those
who have come forward upon being
! caught and have COMPROMISED by pay
/ ing the duties. Take the wife of
/ millionaire ship owner of Boston VINO
/ tried to sneak in a pearl necklace by
] way Of Canada The necklace was
valued at $4,000 and she paid $4,000
/ me. ex-governor Rollins paid $1,000
/ and jules and Hugo Rosenberg gave
/ pack to Uncle Sam $4,000 each The
I wife Of former head of the Panama
canal work made an characterization
! Of the stuff she brought in. and her
husband cOughed up 1900 to settle
/ u1e trouble. prominent woman of
/ Wisconsin had $4,000 in ieWelry in her
/ baggage 1t was all new and she did
: not declare it. She was compelled to
pay 500 fine and forfeit the goods.
With the Other seizures made was
one Of two ,42-karat diamonds which
peiOnged to the princess Montylgen.
Sne claimed they had been in the FAM
lly Tor wears. and were not subject to
J duty Another was 80 trunks of Paris
/ Iinery which was valued al $50, 600 and
/ a uhlrd was one Of sleeper trunks which
/ contained $4,000 more.
The Sleeper Trunk Frauds.
The sleeper trunk game is one
which was worked very largely before
J the advent of collector Loeb. 1t con-
I sisted OF leaving trunks on the dock
/ ana OF sneaking them off after the in
! spectors and. other customs officers
/ had left. Some of the custom officials
I We're IN this conspiracy to defraud, but
/ When Mr. Loeb came in he appointed
new set OF Watchmen and reorgan-
I lzed the old force. He now has the
docks under inspection day and night,
and anyone attempting 10 take away
( a trunk uninspected is arrested The
business has been probed to the bot
1
( smuggling stopped.
Another means Of passing the Gus
toms was by spOnging oft and chang
ing the labels and others got goods
/ through by bribing the officials. Not
I many years ago ] am told that one
4 could lay 10, a 20 or even a so dol
lar Dill on the tray Of his trunk and
+ the inspector who examined it thought
norhlng of putting the bill in his
pocket and closing the lid Even now
I checks are sometimes sent to the in
spectors by passengers who have been
/ wen treated, but such checks are in
! Yariably turned in to the collector, for
( II the man did not and it was dis
/ covered he would surely be dismissed.
Our Big Customs Business.
LET US mere stop moment while I
4 tel you how big the customs receipts
pulk IN the treasury of the United
States government. / have been look
ing up the figures and find that last
year Iney amounted to more than 333
millions of dollars. That was more
tnan q million dollars for every work
I ing day Of that year. Indeed, the
customs IS the biggest gold mine that
Cncie sam has, and ever since the be-
ginning he has relied upon it to pay
{ his employees The total amount so
/ FAR received since 1889 has been some
thing like IL billion dollars, and this
is equal to more than one-haIf of all
the taxes which have ever been col
lected for the national government In
. 81
revenue and all sorts OF direct taxes.
collector Loeb tells me that 20 per-
I cent OF these customs receipts are now
coming into New York and that this
/ port in its tariff duties is now paving
about 90 percent Of the working ex-
I penses Of the government From this
u VIII be seen how important il is
. that we have an honest man at the
mead OF II, and that that honest man
nave the nerve and ability to collect
what IS really due to our own Uncle
sam I believe this to be the case with
collector Loeb. He is running the
customs as business Institution and
MS only requirements of his EMPLOYEES
are efficiency and honesty.
The Collector and His Job
turing my talk with the collector
replied:
All 1 have attempted TO do is to
take this place out of politics and adj
minister it on the plane of honesty,
with the laws. I did not make the
laws am here only TO enforce
them"
.n How about q. politics ana political
Politics does not enter into this Of
flee. II a man does his duty we do not
ask him what party he belongs TO-
our promotions are by merit and BY
merit alone
These are remarkable statements
from man who holds an office which
an the past has been one OF the chief
political plums of the president 1t has
peen one OF the best paying offices
under the government and the one
most fought for. When Garfield be-
came president it was the appoint
ment or the New York collector Of Gus
toms which caused the break between
MIN and COnkling. and it was that
which drove COnzling from public life.
and which indirectly caused the as
sassination of Garfield by the villain,
Guiteau.
Twelve Thousand Dollars vs.. a Million.
The collector of customs now re-
ceives fixed salary. He gets $1,000 a
month, or as whole, $4,000 a year.
N the past he was paid a commission
OF 10 percent upon all compromises
and fines for CONGRATULATIONS. Since
Mr- Loeb took office the amounts col
lected of this nature have footed up
more than $1,000 0o, and at the old
rate his commission therefore would
amount TO more than S1,05O,OOO.
This represents a wonderful increase, /
and also the detection of many frauds
that have been going on for years One
was that of the sugar trust. where, In
round numbers, about S2,900.0O0 worth
OF duties were collected, and for which
one Of the Investigators received a fee
of 100000 from the government for his
exposition of the frauds and the de-
lection Of the criminals.
The story of that fee was published;
and since then, Mr.. Loeb tells me, many
people have sent in information as to
other frauds, hoping to be paid for
aiding the government in that way.
The total fines and penalties for Is
years preceding Loeb's appointment /
averaged only $1,000 per year
The Custom House Spies.
During my talk with the collector I /
asked him whether it was true that
the New York customs collector had !
an army of paid spies scattered over /
Europe and travelling back and forth /
upon the steamers across the Atlantic I
He replied that the New York office 7
had not. but that the treasury depart /