Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1893 — ALONG THE FRONTIER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ALONG THE FRONTIER

MEANS ADOPTED TO COLLECT TAXES ON IMPORTS. Intricate System of Invoices, Affidavits and Official Papers—How Goods Are Shipped Through the Custom Houses—But Little Tuner lion of Land Frontiers. Typical Custom Houses. When a foreign vessel comes to this country it comes as an alien and a stranger. Its only rights are secured to it by treaty. . Unless a ship seeking to land at one of our ports has its flag flying to denote its nationality, and unless it has its clearance papers from the foreign ports from which it sailed or can account for them, or, in short, unless the vessel can produce its passports and be properly introduced, it cannot be admitted to land and unload merchandise in the ports of this country. A foreign merchant desiring to ■hip goods to the United States must first go before the American Consul residing at the port from which he intends to ship the merchandise and make oath to the kind, quality and quantity of the articles he wishes to ship to the United States. This affidavit is called a “consular certificate” and is attached to the invoice of goods the merchant is going to export. Three of these invoices, properly certified, are made out, one of which is kept by the Consul, one sent to the Collector of the Port to which tne goods are to be ■hipped and one given to the exporting merchant, who sends it to his customer in the United States. The invoice which goes to the Collector of the Port in this country is sent by the captain of the vessel which carries the freight listed in the invoice. After the vessel crosses the ocean

and is within fifteen leagues of the main shore it ie possible tnat it may run across one of Uncle Sam’s revenue cutters. If the ship is in the regular channel and making directly for port the revenue cutter will not molest it. But if the vessel is out of the beaten track, or has no colors flying, or if there is anything rakish or suspicious looking about it, the revenue cutter will signal it to “bring to,” as coming to a halt is called in sailor parlance. To make this signal the revenue cutter runs up 'the revenue jack or fires a gun across the bows of the incoming vessel. When the vessel comes" to a halt a boat is lowered from the cutter and two officers are sent aboard the •hip to make an examination. If the captain can show his clearance and other ship, papers, and they are found to be regular, he is permitted to go on, otherwise the vessel is placed under arrest and taken to the nearest port. A Revenue Tug. Having passed the revenue cutters, the vessel in some of the larger seaports meets a revenue tug just after entering the harbor. These little boats ■team out to meet the big ship, and turning around run up alongside of the •hip while it is slowly moving toward the landing place. A ladder is run up from the tug and two inspectors are placed qn board, who remain on the vessel until it lands and the cargo has been unloaded and the duties assessed. In ports where there are no revenue tugs the inspectors go aboard when the vessel first lands, but in either case no one on board the ship is permitted to go ashoye and no part of the cargo can be unloaded until the officers have made an examination of the ship’s manifest, and clearance papers. After the vessel lands the Captain must, within twenty-four hours thereafter, “enter” his vessel —that is, he

mast report to the Collector of the Port, delivering to him copies of the manifest and clearance papers. To do this he first deposits his clearance papers with the Consul of the nation from wsich the ship sailed. The Consul examines the papers and if they are regular he gives the Captain of the vessel a certificate to this effect. The Captain,then gives the Collector this •ertificate, which is official evidence that the vessel is from the country that it plaims to be. Besides delivering his clearance papers to the Collector the-Captain also delivers to him the manifest of his ship, containing a list of the jpassengers on board the vessel and the invoice of goods sent to the merchant in this country, which it will be remembered was indorsed by an American Consul in a foreign port before the goods were shipped to this country. The Captain must make oath that his manifest is in every way correct to the best of his knowledge and belief.. When these regulations have been complied with the Collector issues an ordey for the delivery of the cargo. But -before the importing merchant or consignee can secure his goods he must go before the Collector and secure a permit allowing him to unload his freight. To do this he goes to the Custom House and produces his invoices and bill of lading. The invoice is compared with the invoice in possession of 'the Collector and which was sent to him by the Consul residing in the counter from which the goods were shipped. Tf>« bill of entry, which is presented br importing merchant, is also bmpared with the bill of entry which

I the captain gives to the Collector at I tne same time that he does his manifest and clearance papers. These papers are then taken to the Naval Office, where the work is verified. When these papers are returned to the Custom House and found to be regular the Collector makes out what is known as an “estimate” of the amount of duties that should be paid. He also names a certain number of packages that must be sent to the public stores for appraisement in order that the rate of duty may be accurately ascertained. After these formalities are through with the importer pays the estimated duty on the goods he wishes to transfer immediately to his store or ship to other merchants in the interior of the country. He may, if he wishes, get two permits, one allowing him to have immediate possession of the goods upon which he has paid a duty and the other

to allow him to remove the goods on which the duty is not paid to a bonded warehouse When a merchant imports a cargo of goods which he does not wish to place immediately upon the market, he can store his merchandise in a bonded warehouse by getting a permit to do so and by giving a bond to secure the payment of the duties. The bond is to the effect that if the merchandise be withdrawn within three years from the date of importation and the duties paid then, the bond is to be void. If merchandise is removed within a year after being placed in bond, then only the regular duties are imposed, but if it remains in bond longer than one year an extra charge of 10

per cent, upon the regular duty is added. All meredandise placed in a bonded warehouse must be withdrawn within three years or the goods will be sold to pay the duties. The Mexican “Free Zone.*’ At ports other than seaports the methods employed in collecting duties are the same as those just described, except, of course, that there are no revenue cutters or tugs. The manner

of collecting customs at some of the frontier custom houses is quite informal. This is especially true of the customs offices on the Mexican frontier and on the boundary line between the States and t|ie British provinces. There is a peculiarity about the Mexican frontier that is entirely its own. It consists in what is known as the “free zone,” and is situated in old Mexico. Several years ago the Mexican Government passed a law setting apart a narrow strip of territory on the boundary line between that country and the United States to be a “zona libra," or free zone, into which goods and merchandise could bp shipped from any part of the world duty free. The object of this legislation was to build up a narrow strip of Mexican territory at the expense of the United States frontier. This piece of strategy by the Mexican Government is accomplishing its purpose, because the United States is debarred from retaliating with a similar law, for the reason that it would be contrary to the provision of the Constitution which declares that “all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” The free zone is a strip of territory twenty miles wide on the Mexican side of the line, and extends from Matamoras to Tijnana. The United States frontier adjoining old Mexico is poorly guarded. There are custom houses at Brownsville, Laredo, Eagle Pass, and El Paso, Tex., and at Nogales, N. M. Mounted inspectors patrol this part of the frontier, but they only act as detectives, and there are not enough of them to guard properly the boundary line between this country and the free zone in Mexico. It is doubtful if any ordinary number of men could guard the Mexican frontier. The barren

plains in the northern part of Texas and in the southern part of New Mexico and Arizona afford great protection to the smugglers Usually natural impediments make smuggling unprofitable. But it is the reverse in this instance. To the professional smuggler this sterile and wild tract of country is

f a bridge between Mexico and the inhabited part of the United - States, which, if he can but safely cross, he feels that he is secure from pursuit and capture. The Canadian Frontier. The frontier between Canada and the United States is not patrolled in any manner. The only guards are the iron posts which stand like sentinels on the boundary line at a distance of one mile apart. These posts mark the line between the United States and Canada as settled by the Ashburton treaty in 1842. The custom houses are at the railroad stations on or near the line. Sometimes the custom house is three or four miles from the line. The collectors at these ports do not exert themselves very much in the way of guarding the frontier. In some instances they lend a helping hand to the smuggler. A collector of a small post on the New York frontier told the writer of a scheme he had devised to help the “boys" bring horses from Canada to the United States. He talked freely about the matter, and seemed to think that he owed these courtesies to the “boys” for having indorsed him for the office of collector. Along the New York and Vermont frontier, every few miles, can be found what is known as the “line store.” These stores are built on the boundary line, part of the store being in Canada and part in the United States. The chief object of these stores is to avoid the payment of the Government license required of retail dealers in liquor. Another object is to avoid the customs duties on such articles as are generally sold in country stores. They are closely watched, however, and not much is done in the way of evading customs duties. But as respects the avoidance of the Government license tax, the scheme is almost perfection itself. When the American customer comes to buy whisky he must go to the Canada side of the store, but when a Canadian wants his jug filled he must go over to the counter on the American side. Saturday afternoons and rainy days it fs a common sight to see the lines of customers going and coming, one from Canada and the other from the United States. The proprietor escapes paying a tax in the United States for the reason that he does not sell liquor to a citizen of this country on American soil and the Government cannot bring a foreigner into this country as a witness.

The country along the northern boundary of New York and Vermont is not very thickly settled, and the people living there are are rather oldfashioned; yet, in a quiet and prosy way, there is a good deal of smuggling going on. It is a wonder that this part of the frontier is not better guarded. There are no police regulations whatever. The inspectors at the railway stations go to bed and to sleep at night, and the bars between Canada and the United States are left down, with no one to watch them. That the smugglers living along the line make the most of this opportunity is a matter of common notoriety in this part of the country.

FRONTIER CUSTOM HOUSE AT LOCHIEL. ARIZ.

INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE AT EL PASO.

POLICEMAN OF THE SHORE.

INITIAL MONUMENT MARKING MEXICAN BOUNDARY ON PACIFIC COAST

IRON POST ON THE CANADIAN LINE.