Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-08-24
CONSOLIDATION Of
CUSTOM SERVICES
Plans under Way for Reorganisa,
ton Which Will Mean Say
ing of $4,000 a Year.

VISION or the treasury department to re-
organize the customs districts on "A mod
erh oasis. Not since 1879. when the act
estaohshiog the customs districts was
psSseu. nus any general legislation upon
this subject been enaoed Vcgsols then
were OF light draft and ports OF entry.
Wero designated to accord with the con-
Nehiehces or navigation railroads were
not IN existence, often compelling the
abandonment of old business centers and
tho establishment Of new ones. Alexan-
dr1a, Va, for instance, now a town where
even the excursion boats hesitate. m
touch was great trade centre and
merchants GENE there from evpn as far
as New ENGLAND to draw upon the stores
OF goods piled in hcr warehouses from
all over the world. Salem, Mass. WIS one
or the greatest ports of entry on the A.
Ianuc coast during the halt-ceuttlrv fol
OWING tins enactment Of tho old law, ard
''e" Bedford now nothing of cotton aud
e'"i''nihg or ships. The ancient law no
douht fitted the old conditions, hut they
nave hng been outsrcWn. Yet Congress
never has modelled he arcfti, Gus
toms framework or long ago. ana even
toms framework of long ago, and even
representing up-to-d4te business meth
DDS. may be overwhelmed by the locnl
opposition certain to develop when any
general plan of Improvement of this
character 10 proposed
LEGISLATORS FAVOR TIE PLAN
The plan under discussion was devised
by the customs division Of which Assist
ant Secretary OF the Treasury James +.
curtis or IlOStnn lie b,
taken before the new committee on OK
penditnres In the treasury dcuartmeut
of which Representative Cox OF Indian,
Is chairman, and there met an enthustas &
tc reception. The committee at once saw
the Importance of the proposed reorgani-
cation, and in Its desire to accomplish re-
forms, listened patiently to the eNplana-
tons Of the treasury officials. and will
introduce u bin in the regular session
carrying out their accommodation. II
probably will be as hard to bring about
customs reform as 1t has been for years
to abolish some dozen ana = half useless
pension agencies. but the COMMITTEES. will
press the bill
WILL. SAVE $4,000 a YEAR.
In brief. the plan is to reduce the mum
Der OF ports of entry from l2i to -. This
Will be accomplished chiefly by consoN-
dating various ports Of entry as sub
ports; reducing them in rank, although
not necessarily cutting down the incomes
of tho local customs officers Where a
collector Of needless port of entry Is
pa.I n nominal salary and the actual work
Ia done by a deputy collector paid three
or -FOUR times "a much, the collector will
lose his position However. very few
ports are actually abolished and the econ
omies. estimated at $500 n year. will be
effected by readjustment Of the work
CHANGES IN NEW ENGLAND.
In Maine the districts VIII be reduced
from fourteen to four, namely. Aroostooll.
Passamaquoddy, Bangor ana Portland.
with Houlton. Eustport, bangor and
POI uand as the ports of entry Respective
". Practically none OF the ports of de-
livery--where goods may be delivered aft
er having been received at u port OF en-
try-will he abolished and as a rule the
ports of entry abolished as such will be
made supports of the district
No change is made IA New Hampshire.
where Portsmouth will continue to be the
port of entry. with the State composing
the district. Vermont viii bc mad. on.
district instead of two, tho plan retain
Ing st. Adams as the port Of entry and
making Newport "A suh-port Rhode Isl
lands three districts viii be consolidated
into one, with headquarters at Irovi-
dence, Connecticuts five will become
four, Stonlngton being made a sub-port
and the other districts being groilDed
about New London, Hartford Now
Haven ana Bridgeport.
RADICAL CHANGES IN NEW YC,pt,
Radical changes are made In New
York, where the districts are reduced
from ton to five. The State Of Nav
Jersey Is made one district instead o.
SIX, with headquarters at Newark =.
New York, Albany becomes SUPPORT
as also do Ogdonsburg, Cape Vincent
Niagara Falls and other places whose
customs affairs in the past havo beer
administered by n collector. Tho pro-
posed redistricting Of New York ia a,
| follows;
City Of New York-Sag Harbor
Albany, sub ports.
st. Recommendations por,
Of entry; Malone, Rouses Point. For
Covtngton. Osdonsburg, Nynndo. Nor,
rIstown. sub ports
3-Oswego-Cape Vincent. CLAYTON
Sacketts Harbor. Utica. Syracuse sub
ports.
4--Ro chester-Charlotte suh-port.
b-Buffalo--NIagara Falls, Dunkirk
North Tonawanda, SUPPORTS
In most cases rearTangements Inv,
been made within State lines, but &c
casionally Ties" are crossed. In In.
diana, for example. the northern mr.
Of the State is placed under the chi
cago district ana the State. which hai
had no port of entry of Its own, hithar
to. Is now given two, Indinnapolis EN-,
| Evansville.
NEW DISTRICTS FOR ALAasAcIItr-
SHTTS.
| in Massachusetts the districts aro re
| dused from eleven to four pho CITY q
| Springfield, hitherto only an ipdcpcad
ent part OF delivery, is made a port o
entry thus giving Senator Crane IL
| opportunity 70 name Il collector Worces
lcr' unul now only port OF deliver
IKE Springfield u made q SUPPORT undo
the Boston district. Ncwburyport, SsIer
and Marb!ehead step from their prou,
positions as ports Of entry TO become sub
ports OF tho Boston district Glouceste
ID made separate diatrtct as befor
and the new district Of New Bedford 4
created Fall River 10 denoted TO be a sub
port of New Bedford. as are also Edgar
town, Plymouth and Barnstable Prov
incetown is raised from u port Of deliy
cry TO SUPPORT in the New Bedfor
| district Springfield, us stated, Ia made