Year: 1875




OF the entry clerk Of the customs depart
ment, the entry clerk Of the naval office,
and the cashier, is now signed by the dep
uty collector. and countersigned by the dep
uty naval officer. and is taken to the deputy
surveyor to have his signature affixed.
With this permit the importer now OBJ


tains possession of his goods with the ex.
,ception Of those which have been sent to


the appraiser's store. The invoice which


has been left at the cashiers office is sent


to the appraisers office. and the entry


itself is sent to the manifest desk, where
it is indorsed and then goes to the impost


division of the statistical department., where


the value. rate of duty, amount of estimat-
ed duty. and description Of goods are copied


upon an abstrac. which is made into


monthly report for the department at Wash


ington. The entry is then sent to the liqui-


dating division of the Auditors office. where


the duties and values are liquidated, or


exactly ascertained and adjusted. the ex


aminers in the appraisers office having BY


this time examined those packages which


had been sent to the appraisers store. and
made the correct notations Of rates OF duty.


and classification OF goods upon the invoice.
The invoice thus annotated is sent back


to the entry clerk. who then makes permit


for the delivery to the importer Of the


packages which are in tue appraisers


store. The invoice is then sent TO the


liquidating clerks. who compare the values,
classiications and rates of duty returned
by the appraiser with those made by the
importer at the entry desk. correct what
ever discrepancies may have been made
compute the exact amount Of duty.
which should be paid on the importation
| covered by the invoice. and close the ac
count opened between the government and
the importer, with the proper debit or credit.
The entry and invoice thus liquidated are
sent to the naval office and the liquidation
therein examined by the liquidatinR clerks
Of that Office; if found correct. a similar
liquidation is placed on the duplicate entry
retained by that office. and the original
entry and invoice bearing the check of the
naval office are returned to the auditors
office.


1t sometimes happens. though rarely,


made at the entry desk BY the Importer re


quires no change or correction. In that


event, the transaction as far as the in.-
portor is concerned is ended. But when. as


is almost invariably the case, the aecer


tained duty is found to be either less or


more than the original estimated duty. the
entry is sent to the desk of the amendment


clerk. who notifies the importer of the


amount due to or by him, and the importer


must thereupon close his entry and cancel his


bond by paying to the cashier the amount


of the deficiency or collecting from the as.


sistant treasurer whatever excess may be


due.


This constitutes an impost entry, or in


other words, an entry for immediate con
sumption on arrival. Frequently it is found


inconvenient by the importer to pay the
duties on arrival, in which case warehouse
entry is made and the goods sent to the


United States bonded warehouse.


/ The same routine and means are employed


as with an impost entry. with the exception
that no duties are paid, bond being given
for double the amount of duties. After
this bond has been given the entry is passed
to the warehouse withdrawal clerk. who
makes an exact transcript Of the entry in
alI its details upon the warehouse ledger.
The entry is then liquidated in the same
manner as an import entry. The importer
can at any time withdraw all or portion
Of the goods by making Withdrawal
entry and paying the duties thereon.


At the present time the value Of mcr.
chandise in bonded warehouse is about
81, 100000, the aggregate of some 500 sep
arate entries and bonds. {.


As mentioned above. something over
$5,000.OO0 worth of merchandise is trans.
ported yearly in bond from New Orleans to
Western ports. The manipulation of these
entries is much like that prescribed for
warehouse entries. Bond is given for the
delivery OF these goods at the port desig.
mated within sixty or ninety days, as the
law may require. The various shiftings
from one bureau to another. and the conse
quent chain OF systematic examination.
may seem tedious and full Of delay to the
general business world; but these checks
and render fraud almost impossible.


Frauds can in no way be perpe.rated save
by the conniyance or instigation of the i'm
porter. Aud the fraud must always be
consummated at the outset. for when once
reduced to figures and tabulated the &C
IN
as many departments should be bought
over.


The simplest way to defraud the govern.
ment is by false invoice--that is. an IN
LIBERALIZATION OF goods that pay an ad va
loren duty. For the honor OF our mer
chants It must be put on record that no
willfui attempt to this end has been made
Tor many years.


The next method Of beating the govern
ment is to buy over the weighers in the case !
OF VEGETABLE goods. which pay SO much |
per pound. Under the Democratic admin. |
istration Of Perry Fuller this was favcrite
mode Of importing goods cheap. 1t don't
work now worth a cent. for the present in. |
cumbents don't elaborate that way. and !
even il they should be SO Democratic che |
OF this port is too we'll under.
stood both at home and by department
officials to admit Of any vagaries in weight !
that are not substan:isted By the best of /
proof. There was time when the safest |
method was the transportation dodge.
Cargoes we're entered for immediate ,rant-
portation. Papers and merchandise went