AMERICAN CUSTOMS MORALITY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 3265, 23 October 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

AMERICAN CUSTOMS MORALITY.

Henry George, in his “Piotection or T re© Trade/* lias made na familiar with the coirupt practices of United States customs officials, and his statements are fully borne j out by a letter from “An American ” which has appeared in The Times . This writer says :—“ On my last visit to New York I was landed on the wharf at about 4 p.m. (the examination of luggage was stopped at 5) with a large number of passengers. J’he pressuie for speedy examination was naturally argent. I threw open my trunks and valine, having nothing subject to duty, and waited my turn. The officer who came to mo opened the lid of my valise and said, ‘ What you mean to give us, put in there/ ‘ But/ I replied, * I havo nothing dutiable, and have no objection to being examined/ * Well, if you don’t give us something, I will go through you/ he observed, sotto voce, on which I offered him what silver I had in my pocket, knowing that this meant detention till after 5 and coming back for my luggage the next day. My gentleman looked at the silver (a few shillings) and said, I We give such stuff as that to bootblacks; we only take gold/ To save greater expense and a day's detention I weakly yelded to my country’s representative and deposited a piece of gold in the place indicated, whereupon ho closed all the packages and checked them off without turning a hair and I escaped. “ A friend who has had a later experience says he was introduced by another victim to a Mr X., of the Revenue service, who was examiner on the steamer. My friend gave Mr X. lOdols, with a request to hand tbe half to the officer who actually examined his trunks, and they were passed unopened. On another voyage the same friend, having a largo quantity of bric-a-brac, was directed to a Mr Y., a high-grade official, who, after a cursory examination, assessed the duties at much less than SOOdols, which was promptly paid on account of the Customs; but in the course of the evening the officer called on tbe passenger at the hotel, and received a cheque for SOOdols for himself. The actual amount of the duties as per schedule would have been about 4,000d015. Our Civil Service organization and our Custom-house opportunities combined create such inducements to dishonesty that no Customhouse staff can resist them, nor can even honest passengers be expected to respect the law/ 1