C7Z0 0ZI5X UC-NRLF ^B n 7SM \i^!^"i0^&^-^'s ■'' ^n •.v;r..,' ||,.A.v ^ ♦, ' 'n: APPRAISERS, SPIES AND INFORMERS. STATEMENT OF Mr. THOMAS BARBOUR, President of the Paterson Board of Trade, AND OF THE FIRM OF Barbour Broth^ei^b^ REPRINTED BY ORDER OP SPECIAL COMMITTEE 'ON REVENUE REFORM, OF THE NEW-YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, FROM THE TRIBUNE OF MARCH 23, 1874. PKES8 OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 1874 APPEAJSEES, SPIES AND INFOEMEES. STATEMENT OP Mr, THOMAS BARBOUR, President of the Paterson Board of Trade, AND OF THE FIKM OF .* „ . . , Barbour BRdTil:^^^^;;:;;; 01 i^w-foyfe. EEPEINTED BY ORDER OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON REVENUE REFORM, OF THE NEW-YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, FROM THE TRIBUNE OF MARCH 23, 1874. PKBS8 OP THE CHAMBER OP COMMERCE, 1874 ^ , fair illustration of the danger of the moiety systenf?" Wscf,'\v«'wiii ;/' print. Respectfully yours, (Signed,) Jackson S. Schultz, Chairman Committee on Mevenue Reform. Barbour Brothers, 134 Church-street, New- York, 3farch 2Uh, 1874. Jackson S. Schultz, Esq., Chairman Committee of Revenue Reform^ Chamber of Commerce^ Nexo- York :■ Dear Sir : We would not permit any statement to go before the public in- relation to our house that we cannot verify to the fullest extent.. We trust the history of our troubles and losses as reported may be the means of aiding those who are making efforts towards obtaining a remedy, and you are at perfect liberty to make what use you please of the statement to that end. Yours respectfully,. (Signed,) Barbour Brothers. 678978 MR. THOMAS BAIiBOUR'S STATEMENT AN IMPORTANT BUSINESS BROKEN UP. CUSTOM-HOUSE SPIES AND APPBAISEKS DKIVE A LARGE MANUFACTUB- ING HOUSE OUT OF BUSINESS ONE OF COL. FBANK E. HOWE's BAIDS — NO MONEY SECUBED, BUT THE BUSINESS DESTBOYED. ; ,'A rema,v]^a;b?.,e;*Uistance of the evil effects of the present system of informers and moieties iipon American industries is shown by the ;c^s',e of the Barl^Q'ar, Flax Spinning Company, whose works are at "Paterson, N. J. The jDarent establishment of this Company, that of William Baeboue & Sons, is in Lisburn, Ireland, where their mills 'have been running since 1785. These now employ 2,000 workmen, whose houses form a village in the neighborhood. Thomas Bae- boue, a member of the firm of William Baeboue & Sons in Ire- land, the President of the Barbour Flax Spinning Company, and the senior member of the firm of Baeboue Beos. at No. 134 Church- street in this city, has been established in business here over 20 years, and in that time his house has paid the Government over $2,000,000 in duties, while it has always occupied a high position, and never had the least dispute or difficulty with customs officials till 1872, when, as the firm assert, Feank E. Howe's special revenue bureau made a series of determined efforts to extort money from the firm. In 1864, when the duty was taken from flax machinery, the house of William Baeboue & Sons determined to establish branch works in Paterson. Extensive jDurchases of factories, tenement- houses and water privileges were made. Flax machinery and skilled labor were imported at great expense. Large numbers of operatives were brought from Ireland, houses were provided for them, steady work was furnished them, and the prosperity of the city of Paterson was much increased by this enterprise. The manu- facture of shoe threads and of linen threads which are largely used in various leather manufactures, was begun on a liberal scale in mills called the Passaic Flax Thread Works, driven by water-power and employing 450 hands. An extensive department was estab- lished for the spooling of linen threads imported in the bundle, as cotton for spooling is so extensively imported to this country. A manufactory known as the Arkwright Mills, driven by steam power, was also started by the Barbours for the manufacture of flax twines and the coarser grades of goods for which American grown flax is suitable. Yarns to supply this mill were imported from va- rious manufacturers in Dundee, Leeds and elsewhere, and from the parent house in Ireland. The business steadily increased from 1864 to 1872, the time of the customs troubles of the house, and the ex- tension of the business by putting up a large new mill was begun. This would have given remunerative employment to many hundred operatives, and would have developed largely a new branch of in- dustry in this country. The foundations of the new mill were laid, and additional machinery was ordered from Ireland, but the revenue oppression of 1872 checked the enterprise. The following statement of the case is given by Thomas Barbour, who is President of the Paterson Board of Trade, and one of the largest tax-payers in Pat- erson : ^ The first intimation we had of any trouble came from our cus- tomers. We afterward learned that the special agent got his infor- mation from a rival manufacturer, who had exerted himself to stir up the revenue informers against us, and had made false statements to them. I found afterward this man in close conference with W. V. Alexander, who, under Col. Frank E. Howe, had cliarge of the case against us. In order to hurt our trade this manufacturer circulated reports of impending troubles with the authorities among our patrons, and took pains to see that those reports should be proved correct by the issue. A letter written by one of the largest houses in Chicago to their buyer in New- York in the early part of March, 1872, ran thus : " Outside parties inform us that Barbour Brothers have had difliculty with the Custom-House and cannot deliver thread; if so, we must look elsewhere. If they cannot fill our orders this week, you will send us a line of the," etc. The steamship Italy, in port three days after the date of this let- ter, brought us a shipment of goods which the authorities did not deliver as usual on the payment of duties, and they afterward re- called goods previously received by the Abyssinia, on which duties had been paid Feb. 13. Our shipments consisted of flax, which paid a specific duty ; without our regular supplies of this flax it was impossible to keep our machinery in motion. The supplies for (Gur Arkwright Mills consisted of linen yarns, which paid, for the most part, a specific duty. Neither the yarns nor the flax were affected in any way by any assumed charges of undervaluation. Our shipments of machinery were also kept back, together wath our dye-stuffs, bleaching-stuffs, and supplies of foreign paper for wrapping. I ascertained that the charges on which these detentions were based came from a department afterward known to me as the Special Revenue Detective Bureau. There I was told that informa- tion had been lodged which accused us of irregularities. The par- ticulars of these allesjed irreojularities I could never find out from any one, although I was busy upV 'ii- ''»y^>/, , * ^"\^ ■T^v^r'-i mum 678978 H^ b^ f60^ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY ■11 iV mimmmmmmmm^^m