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His ICOLERCTOR. MAGONE, First. Four Months of Service. Difficulties in the Way of Reform— What He Has Already Accomplish ed. On Thursday last Collector Magone ended his first four months of service in charge of the New York Custom house.. In view of the disposition to com plain of him in certain democratic quarters, where it is charged, that his course has not tended to keep the party in power, a reporter of Tas. EvENING Post has made some inquiries in the direction of ascertaining whether his official conduct has tended to help honest merchants and to beneefit the com munity at large. From conversations with promi nent officers of the customs, who have been famil lar with the new Collector’s proceedings,and whose exitions and relations are such that they can be relied upon for artfal utterances on the sub ject, the folio general statement has been ab stained. . . . Coliestor Magzone took office under circumstances of a kind to embarrass very greatly: all work of change and reform under his direction. He succeed ed Sr. Hedden, a Collector,who was practically re moved after serving but,a nice part of his term, and who had permitted his office to be turned into a political machine so far as the civil-service ruler permitted. Most of then re mioved, by Heiden, were ' comperous and honest, and most of his selections were changes for the worse, as might be expected from the fact that the appointmentsite was the medium of giving were generally political soup-tickets to “ workers” hungry for office., The force at Collector Magone’sa ‘disposal was greatly impaired by failures to fill va cancies by promotion (only nine promotions in the force having taken place since the act of January 16, 1683), and the United States Civil Service Com missioners have failed, for sgme reason, to supply the new Collector with definite rules and interpre tationg so as to enable him to go ahead and make such changes in the force as he deemed de sirable, ‘then, too, while a few officers In the ser vice have gladly seconded the efforts of the Col lector to improve its efficiency, the body of the employees, it is said, are wédited to old usages and have yielded but an uf gracious obedience when new methods have been introduced to facilitate business. It is understood that the Collector be lieves great changes to be desirable both in the or ganization of the farce and in its composition, but many needful removals are delayed until promo tions can be legally effected, and a crippling of the service be thereby avoided. At the same time he has not hesitated to recommend the dismissal of officers’ believed to be dishonest and faithless. He has appointed a comission, com posed of Auditor Comstock of the Naval Office, Deputy Collector Mason, and Special Agent Tingle, to make a thorough examination of the organiza tion, methods, and working force of the various divisions of the service, and it is expected that the reports resulting from this investigation will lead to radical changes for the benefit of both the Gov ernment and the merchants. The Collector has exargined the system of mak ing protests and appeals, and given attention to the lack of proper care in the preparation of the many papers required in suits against the Collec tor. He has become convinced, it is said, that very large percentage of the claims in each suits are not well founded, and that in many cases ‘the conditions precedent, prescribed by the statutes as, requisite to give the plaintiffs status to bring suit, have not been observed. Be leving that, if carefully prepared for the Unite States District Attorney, a large proportion of these actions could be dismissed as wholly pe tate of merit, he is considering measures to bring about that result. . . Despite his inadequate force, Collector Mazzone in his brief term of office has unearthed severe cases in which gross frauds upon the revenue are charged. In the case of Walter 8. Hil, a United States storekeeper, through whose collusion with importing firms large quantities of goods| subject’ to duty were withdrawn ‘from bonded warehouse without any payment of duty or lawful permit, the Collector procured the indictment and conviction of the faithless officer. The firm of Pings Pinner, who through Hill's connivance withdrew fifty-six vases of gloves in this mannet from the bonded Warehouse ‘Nos. 102 and 104 Greenwich Street, were required to ply all the lawful duties upon the goods in question. The ‘value of these foods was $68,238, and the duties collected $34,119. The Collector has also secured the unpaid duties on merchandise im ported by Israel Hamburger in 1884, and likewise unlawfully obtained from Storekeeper Hill. In, this instance it is charged that the execs of foods were opened by the importer, yna_ the merchandise being removed, were rest. guith, trash, returned to the warehouse. ‘aq exported, so that in this way payment of duty was evaded. The duties collected amounted to $848.65, with, interest of $101.85, m@s npe a total 0F3950.50. . An examination by instituted by the Collector in regard to the duties performed by Douglas Smith, then, “lerk in the Auditor's office, which established? the fact that Smith had embezzt some 4 thousands of, dollars, and resulted and his arrest and indictment. The accuse is “ON in jail awaiting trial. The investi gation of this case was begun on August 31, tha of the Ping ® Pinner matter on September 1 and that in the case of Hi op September 2. In regard to other acts of the collector for the benefit of the service, it is said that he was secured a more careful examination of imported lumber, and established the fact that very considerable quantities of lumber were being imported into this port without payment of the lawful duties. As a result of this inquiry, there had been a decided increase in the amount of duties collected. He hag reformed the methods of trans acting business in the customs department at the Port-omce, having found that branch of the stryke witho wt any responsible officer in charge, and ita work only halt done... Meinas, weeder out the force of storekeepers, and thus salen the warehouse keepers from an unjust burdext imposed upon them in maintain 8% Useless officials ; and he has caused the dismissal of 2 ° centilorers, who had been kept on the rolls by favoritism, replacing ‘them by vigorous, active pon bic and willing to earn the wages paid to per.
Newspaper Details
New York Evening Post
New York, New York, US
Wed, Jan 05, 1887
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Elena H.
NL 19 Jul 2026
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