The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-02-22
IMPORTERS Of
China FACE. A
j. BITTER FIGHT
Wholesale Frauds Deprive
Treasury of Millions.
it is Said.
APPRAISERS JOBS
INVOLVED IN ROW
Webb Asks why Criminal Prosecutions
Failed and Were Succeeded by Civil
Proceedings-Much Money is In.
volved in the Affair.

Washington. Feb. 22-The govern
ment is preparing to file suits against
New York importers of china and
porcelain to recover several millions
OF dollars of which the treasury is said
to have been deprived by wholesale
undervaluations and frauds In the
New York customs house.
This announcement and the resolu-
ton submitted to the house by Repre-
sentative Edwin Y. Webb Of North
Carolina, calling upon Attorney Cen
eral Wickersham to explain why crim-
inal prosecutions against the china
importers have been. dropped, were
the chief developments this week in
the big customs scandal stirred up by
the complaints Of pottery manufactur-
ers Of East Liverpool, Ohio, and Tren-
ton, N. ].
Involved in the civil proceedings
which the government is preparing are
the jobs of two members of the New
York board of general appraisers,
Thaddeus S. Sharretts and Roy H.
Chamberlain. who are under a heavy
fire Of charges Of fav0ritism and
prejudice from the Ohio and New
Jersey potters.
Friends of both men are making
strenuous efforts at the white house to
prevent their dismissal by President
Taft. The jobs pay $4,000 year.
Says Frauds Were Found.
Representative Webb also issued a
statement, replete with sensational
charges, that the Limoges commission
Of 1911 and 1912 discovered evidences
Of wholesale frauds in pottery i'm
portations aggregating millions Of dol
lars. and that in January United
States District Attorney Wise Of New
York. had begun to present this evil
dence to a federal grand jury when
the proceedings We're stopped sudden
ly and he was ordered to prepare the
civil suits instead.
Webb's resolution was referred to
the house committee on judiciary on
which Webb is ranking democratic
member. He declared. that he will
bring up the resolution and ask. that
1t be reported Immediately. Webb as
serted that e. r. Wakefield. mem-
Der Of the Limoges commission. who
was assigned special assistant for the
prosecution of pottery importers. re-
signed in January Immediately after
the order came from Washington,
withdrawing the criminal proceedings.
Much Money Involved.
4nOoc CdScS COuSIlLuI0 Ou0 VI Luo
greatest customs frauds that have
been perpetrated. both in the amount
Of money involved and the number
and Importance of the persons con-
cerned." he said.
"The Limoges commission, which
dug up the evidence submitted to the
department of Justice. consisted Of E.
r. Wakefield. George c. Davis and
Fred Achenbach. employees Of the Gus
toms service. Wakefield was an as
sistant solicitor in the service. Davis
an expert examiner and Achenbach q
confidential agent.
THE committee gathered 'indisputa-
BILE evidence showing that there had
been heavy differentiation of this
merchandise: that false statements of
cost Of production and market value
had been made by the manufacturers
to induce the making and adoption of
the 1908 schedule Of valuations, and
that in order to obtain the benefits of
these low schedule values many ex-
porters and importers had made false
and fictitious customs invoices and
false and fictitious declarations on
custom house entries. When these
facts were reported to the treasury
department the 1908 schedule was set
aside.