Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-12

Copyright. 1911. by W. A. Du Puy.l
ECAUSE Franklin
3 MacVeagh was a
H-SH-l merchant before he
sal 0S1.H became Secretary
OF the Treasury.
Hi }O~~ he had very ex-
E&ED IA eellent opportunity
ID $ d
HH" IA to learn the manner
in which some un-
E3a ~ scrupulouS e a i
HH ~ ers evaded customs
Hs - duties and so con-
founded the hon
est competitor One of his first acts after
becoming a member of President Taft
cabinet was to turn the watchdogs> of his
department loose on the trail Of these
evaders. The shaking up that commercial
New York has undergone under the
regime of Mr.. Loeb is the first outward
evidence Of this activity.
Now the customs service OF the en-
ire nation is to be Loebized. Chief John
=. Wilkie Of the secret service, the
.reatest Sherlock Holmes that America
as developed. has been put In charge
the Secretary's special agents and
..iven every facility and all needed author
ity for carrying out his superior's great
lobby. For the past sixty days he has
been going through the customs service
of the nation like a ferret, bringing TO
hear upon it all that he has learned IN
his twenty years as chief OF the secret
service and even, upon occasion, falilns
back upon some Of the old tricks he
used when he made that long-ago repu-
tation of being the best police reporter
in Chicago.
=
The special agents of the customs serv-
ice are the inspectors who report direct
10 the Secretary of the Treasury. Ihey
re entirely apart from the STATS Of the
ELECTORS OF customs at the different
,orts. They bear the same relation to
the customs houses that the bank exam
iner bears to the bank. 1t is their duty
to see that all is constantly well with
the customs house and its entire opera
ton.
But this is but small part OF their
,iuty This is but the obvious part of 1t.
The special agent at a given port Is TO
Keep his finger upon the pulse OF the
business OF that port and when II does
rot beat true and normal he Is 10 ma
lie cause To be sure, he 1Oafs about
ne dock when a steamer comes to port.
lie keeps an eye upon the work OF the
men who examine baggage and notes any
dereliction Of duty. He watches Tor any
Suspicious looking character who might
he suspected of smuggling. He examines
any shipment of goods that he suspects
is not in accordance with the bill or lad
ing. Perhaps he carries III his pocket
cabegram stating that some interna-
tional crock sailed from London on this
vessel with his belt full of diamonds
He watches to see if those diamonds are
declared. Perhaps some returning lead
er OF society has purchased heavily
abroad and may not declare her pur-
chases. He has the tip and she is In
danger of trouble.
Yet all this is rather in the way OF his
routine business. il he is stationed at
New Orleans, for instance. he watches
the flow of trade. If certain importer
IF Havana cigars is selling them at a
greatly reduced price. this fact attracts
his attention 4 fellow-agent has in
formed him that these cigars were bought
N Havana at a certain figure. If the
duty was paid upon them, they represent
certain cost. The dealer must have
lrofit- If he is selling them at price
that allows him no profit, he places him
self under suspicion. 1t Is the duty of
the special agent to find out whether an
overstock is responsible for the necessity
of making this price. or whether 1t is
made possible by an evasion of the Gus
toms duties. The same is true OF the
jewelry trade, the silk trade, the sugar
trade. or in any other trade which pays
duty upon its import
The famous Rosenthal case IN New
York some years ago illustrates this eva
sion OF duty perfectly. The Rosenthals
we're great handlers of silk, particularly
pongee silks. For years they had been
selling silks in great quantities and at a
price which could be met by no COM
petitor. Marshall Field. in Chicago,
could buy his pongee silks cheaper from
Rosenthal than he could buy them abroad
and pay the duty. So could all the other
big merchants. Upon this basis Rosen-
thai cornered the pongee silk market of
the nation and kept it cornered until he
was found out.
RosenthaI had subsidized an examiner
lie had found the one point where his
invoices and his goods came together At
that point the examiner held the invoice
and the weigher called the weight and
class of the package. rosentnal bought
the examiner.
Then he invoced his packages OF silk
weighing i5O pounds as weighing forty
five pounds. They were invoiced mixed
silk and cotton, which was lightly taxed.
On one of these packages upon which
he should have paid $1,000 duty he paid
about 81. He did it for years. He mo-
nopoliZed the business. No honest i'm
porter could compete with him. When
he was shown up both he and the ex-
aniner jumped their bail and both are
low fugitiyes abroad.
Then there is still another branch of the
special agents work There are scores
81 them abroad who keep in touch with
torei2n markets. Their obvious duty is
- keep the home office posted as To
prices, that they may judge as to the
"orrectness OF invoices on ad valorum i'm
a Ia dIilyy iS., oh,
more interesting and romantic, They keep
a weather eye upon purchases made
abroad. They know the Americans who
are buying gowns in Paris. pearls in Lon
don, opium in China. They trace these
purchases over continents and oceans.
They know whether or not duty Is paid
on these materials when they reach
america. These are the men who lend
themselves to the writer of International
romance. They are the Beau Brummels
of the service, the men of many capitals,
speakers of many languages. They fight
criminals.
There are multitude of other duties
that devolve upon the special agents OF
the customs service. These are no mean
tasks. They require eternal vigilance.
The men must be ever on their tiptoes
They must be beyond the reach of the
crafty who attempt TO buy them off,
They must be known to be beyond these
things.
IN is in this connection that the Secre-