192 Early History of American Auctions 



American houses having- no connection abroad; if sent by the 

 foreign manufacturer himself, the cost price could be quite 

 arbitrarily set for he could consider only the cost of his mate- 

 rials and omit his own labor and industry and his profits and, 

 as the prices realized in the American market bore no necessary 

 relation to the invoice j)rice, he was tempted to invoice the goods 

 at the lowest price which he thought he could get by the custom 

 house. ^-^ 



But more unscrupulous evasions were practiced, too. As the 

 valuation upon which duties were to be paid were determined 

 in most cases by the person who was to pay the duty, the tempta- 

 tion was strong to undervalue, and evasions were more common 

 after the passage of each law raising the tariflf rates. Various 

 devices were used to make fictitious entries.^"* The foreign 

 merchant who bought his goods from manufacturers would do 

 so as opportunities were favorable, and often in different parcels, 

 at dififerent places, from several persons, at diflferent prices; 

 obviously when he prepared his own invoice he could set arbi- 

 trary prices, for it was quite impossible to trace the true costs. ^-^ 

 If necessary, fictitious sales between principal and agents or 

 partners or friendly traders might be used to create semblance 

 of a true price. ^-*' The goods might be consigned to an Ameri- 

 can or foreign agent who had no knowledge of the foreign cost 

 of the goods, except the invoice as sent to him, and who could 

 without perjury enter the goods and take the custom house oath. 

 The danger of conviction for perjury in swearing that a fictitious 

 invoice was true was small any way, for the testimony requisite 

 to maintain a criminal prosecution could very seldom be obtained 

 in this country and the agent or consignee only swore that the 

 invoice produced was the true and only invoice sent to him. 



"•'' Annals of Congress, 15th Congress, ist session, p. 38; Niles, 27: 290; 

 Bolles, I, 391. It was alleged tliat two invoices were sometimes used, one 

 with undervaluations to enter by, and another with true valuations to 

 sell by; the true invoice was often sent to a third person, who was agent 

 of the consignor of the goods and who was instructed and authorized to 

 demand the goods from the consignee who made the entry. 



^■* See a series of instances in "Remarks upon the Auction System," pp. 

 12-18. 



*"" Annals of Congress, 15th Congress, ist session, p. ib-'i. 



'■■" Ibid., 47- 



