The New York Times from New York, New York • Page 29

ll Sli-e Jfe Jfedjrk FS? 'i 1 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 0. 1910. 1 COLLECTOR LOEB ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SMUGGLING i i llillllll't li IB Despite the Experiences of Dishonesty Is Not a the Past Summer, Racial Trait of the He Believes That American. TIT! mm if i i By Edward Alarthall. HAT the syehology of the smuggler la he actuated by (rrcfil'' Ines he love the garre for Ita excitement? he upon tlm Government rn Impersonal a tMnrt that to steal from tt la not It? la the rich man ir.itlnctlvely greater srmigirler than poor man.

the American a greater sinner thnn lil nllen brother? These quealU'iis surely muat have oo rurtad to everyone mho haa been matching tlin extraordinary recent happenluga at the New York Cuatom Houae; who haa made not of the mil llonalrea and their wives who hava bean raupht red-handed In attempt, to rheat tho Government in the moat brazen fashion; wlii haa read of tha tremendoua frauda upon the oustoma perpetrated by the Sugar Truat and other great Importers. hava talked with eminent Eu repeana who declared theae thlnga to be good evidence that all Americana are really dishonest In their hearta. But. aaya Loeb, who baa been tn tha thick of tha axpoaurea: -Dlahoneaty la not a racial trait of tta American. "Itai Immigration -No." "Does money make the cuatoma thtef, than? Moat of them are rich." I Tha Rich and th Poor Smuggler.

Whether the experlencea of tho erae-totn houaea ahow tha rich man to ba let honeat than the poor man have been unable to decide, but I rue a tha average runa fairly even and la not ao vary much affected by material proa parity." And he had other thlnga to aay about the relative honeaty of men and women, young and old. and divert ether matters, aa will be learned by thoae who read thla Interview. While he talked, aeated at a large, plain deak. la one of the least pretentloua room a la the beautiful new New York Cuatom Houae, he was Interrupted by- the tele phone and I heard an lntereatlng half conversation. Plainly an Inspector on onie dock was asking In tha other, tha laaudible half, to ba Instructed.

"Lara? Did you find It en berT the Collector asked. "In her hair?" "Oh. Ii her hat. Well, aetae It. of esurse.

and hold her." He hung up the telephone receiver vlth a elgh and turned back to me. I had ben atudying his face. It haa changed very little alnce the days when be ti Secretary to President Rooae-velt He la known aa the hardest. worker ever tn the office of Collector ef the Port of New Tork, but he keepa la splendid physical condition and doea ot lat tha work wear on him. Rooae-vait.

parhapa. taught him the neceastty at spending some time out of doors and exercising constantly. At aay rata, be eeea't look the forty-throe yean he la eredlted with having; lived. An official job haa not- tranaformod hla face ta paste or made hlra nervoua Cfcancag Against Successful Smug tUsg. "I wtah people wouldn't try to beat tt cuatoms," he eald earneatly.

The are against their getting by tth It, and It makes everyone un-appy." la the eld daya this was far from tnis. it ig, really, an extraordinary change which Ieb has brought about. I have traveled much upon the ocean and have listened to tnuob Interesting: talk ta amoklng-rooms. among male fel-to rag era tn steamer-chalra, on sack, among women tourtata. To get things througtu" In the old days.

was. la the mlnda of many, the right and Proper thing to do. Only Innocents and ta known with. occalonaJly. some Hraoa, ty hla fellowa claaaed aa a -Uo.

thought of paying duty whan It ld be dodged and almoat always it poaslbla to dodge It. I aertoualy doubt If many of theae "nuffglera realised that they were doing anything in the least criminal, or even Kpreheaalble; but Loeb has made them "tee that amuggtlng ts not vicious but ts dangeroua. UUstlca are dry things and shall set use many, but he has made so 4 change in customs Income that IB'e matter of bis salary (which properly ehould bo jarge) ts 'aDowed up, sometime several times ftionth, by the tnoreasa -he has about tn revenue collected. at Loeb Mas Done. OaOactor Xxeb has ayateTnatlsed.

a with a rare executive ability and I a -mm L. yl if vha-'il-l a. fi if a v. i artaVtVeYVa TV-'' "iav Imbued with the conviction that they are not raid their aal- arles to help' folk cheat the Government. Among oaaeongers.

at least. most of the emuggllng in the old daya waa accomplished through collualon of subordlnatea tn the euatoma aervloe. The system ateadlly developed through many, many yeara, until the sophls-tloated traveler knew perfectly that a ten or twenty dollar bill, laid on the top-tray of a trunk, would, when that 1 trunk waa opened on the dock, Inaurs Immunity from actual search, and that the money would bo missing, later, when tha trunk was opened at hotel or home. A ten or twenty dollar bill. ao placed.

In these daya, would be Ilka a spark to aet a whole train of official powder burning a train of powder which would lead to an explosion beyond doubt. It might blow the culprit Into jail; It certainly would blow a heavy fine out of his pocket Doaena of explosions have occurred of lata and It la In a way. refreshing to run through the list of victims although, of courae, thla also haa Ita melancholy aspect. Here can be found no favoritism, auch as Sociallata complain of. The rich smuggler geta no more of mercy than the poor one and the amuggler oftener la rich than poor.

In numerical proportion do you catch aa many smugglers among steerage passengers as among- travelers In the first cabin?" I asked tha vigorous Collector. No," he said. don't believe we do." "What la the psychology of that?" "I haven't thought It out." aald he, a little hesitantly. It would be Inter eating, though. Perhaps the fact that one has money makes bis nervier.

That may be It" as a. -wusi masse nim oiaer in wrong dotng? Otvee him a feeltnc of eeourlty? Tou don't think, then, that having money actually hurts his honesty COLLECTOR OF THE PORT WILLI AM LOEB, AT HIS DGSK. Averags of Honesty Is High. "Of course dont The average of human honeaty ts very high. Newapa-per readers are likely to go wrong in thinking about that Tou see there la bo mention made.

In newspapers of tho ten thousand passengers who come Into this port and make oompletely honest declarations ef their baggage; there is not the Slightest comment on the one hundred? thousand business men who eonttnosilr import material without effort at svaaron. Only the crooka whom wo martags to detect attract attention. That's one trouble with thla world, No reporter dashes down here with hla psocU and hla pad. hts fingers ssger ta record the fact that no dishonesty haa boon discovered among tha paessngwr of an tnoomtng ahlp. Not frntugglar Caugnt would bo a ttresom headline possibly, to most newspaper Isadora." Are yoa getting an tho smugglers nowadays?" i XI answered without hesitation.

"There I voir tittle smuggltn at this port which we do not dleoovor. No; don't belter we rntas so Tory much." "Among the prosperous among first cabin fjassengir tthi find that any one particular nationality ts mors prone than others ar or vaai we Government? A mil 1 1 mini i asaaasaaasaasaaaasaaaaaaaaasaasaaaaaaasaaaajpwwa vSv' SJ' oasEaagiaKWHr II IO ST III I the English are the moat puncttlloua In making declaratlona of the contents of their trunks and bags, but that may be due more to national habits of exact-neaa than to oharacteriatlo national honesty. And. too, tt must always be remembered that the XCngusn trader stand what our men say. read the notice at the top ef declaration blanks with ease, are tn many way less likely to go wrong through a mla understanding than travelers of other natlonalltlss may with justlos be expected ts." Many American Smugglers.

How largre a proportion of the imnc-gllns; class Is actually American?" "A very large proportion. But that is to be expected. Any parson has a greater fear of the unknown than of the known. Tho laws ot their own country are familiar to Americana, and, unfortunately, some of them do not fear them. They are unfamiliar to the foreigners who oome here, and they fear them.

Therefore two msn of equal honesty or one an American one a Czech, tho latter never having visited us previously, might be animated with an equal willingness to cheat the Government, cheat anybody, but the Cxectf would be leas Ulcely to attempt It Be would be mtore likely to be fearful." "Are you trying to tnstm fear Into every one Amerloans as weH as for elgnera?" am trylnste are att trying-down here at tho Cuatom House to make It Tory clear that our object of existence, our en excuse for holding office la the enforcement ef the law as found within the statute book. TVs don't want to frighten any honest person: none but the criminal need feel tear of any righteous law or of the men who put tt jnto operation. are simply trying to sonvlno dishonest persons that dishonesty la dangerous." "Where have you found the greatest frauds? Among to porters ot foreign good tn butk. or among pa seen gars who I try to am aggie tn small objects ef great "XV. I anight amy, perhaps, that varoe.

such aa Jewels and lace? ha vent totaled those things up. Largs Importers have attempted, doubt-lass, to cheat the Government out of a greater sum in' aggregate, than little am as glare have; but numerically there nave been of oourae mors little smugglers caught" Men No Worts Than Women. "Of the two sexes which Is oftener discovered la efforts to defraud the Oov eminent tn this way?" "There are more men than women erragglere caught beoauae there are more men than women travelers; but think the sexes even up tn honesty. Then, too, the cases are not rax In which man take the blame for sins which we feel sure ware really commit ted by their wives or their female relative. It's good chivalry, of course, and therefore good American, but tt both er us a little now and than." Which do yon blame most for past frauds tn th custom tho people who have perpetrated them, or th efflotals who have let them perpetrate them?" cant anewer that, put Just la that way.

But 111 say thlst In th eld day whan this efflee was a political power and occupied by politicians, the daya before the great change la our ethical standards as a Nation bad begun to come about' looked up quickly at him. Has there." asked, "been a great change tn our National ethical standards? Oh. certainly; undoubtedly," eald ho, We are improving at a rate astonish ing ts every one who studies tbraaXty, snermoaaryw "WeXt, tn the eld day teal change began, the Nation's revenues, ta thts ef th doubtless, elsewhere, followed the line of least Resistance. Officials, large and amaJl. were unwilling to.

atir up trouble for themselves by Incurring the displeasure of people of Importance and of Influence, who might be busy at Irregular practice a. This was true of departmental heads as well as their subordlnatea. A man or woman ef social, financial, or political Importance or Influence was often, probably, given pref-erenoe on the dock. Smuggling was winked at But think this now ha changed, all along the Una. Xt oertalnly has changed here." Exposuree Are Oood Signs.

Wood row Wilton told ma, recently" ventured. that the continual expos-urea ef dlahoneaty. which are in these day filling th pubUo mind, are algna that are getting better, not getting worse; signs that the dishonesty which has existed tn the past la no longer being tolerated. Tou mean that Is true down her? "Precisely," said th earn eat young Collector, swinging his long logs Into a naeiea er new Dosltion. wuuam Mn can ao things with hi legs which most men, even truly great men, would find quits Impossible.

Wall, what we are after here. Is honest admlnlatratlon of the office, and when the people realise this thoroughly believe they wfll atop trying to defraud the Government There will, always, doubtleas, be the smuggler who Is willing to take chance. Just as there will always be the burglar who I willing to take chances. But he will be the little smuggler tn the future, not the big one, aa he haa been. Smuggling certainly will cease to be a National commercial habit A large proportion of the smuggling, wholesale and retail, has been done by men and women without desperately criminal tendencies they have done It Jutt because they thought tt safe and easy, and natural." Then Is the average eonsdsnoe less likely to protest against robbery ot the Oovernmsnt than auraxnst robbery of an Individual?" asked.

"WelL government ts an rm personal thing. It may very well be, and I have no doubt Is true, that some of thoae who have from time to time endeavored to defraud the Government by smuggling are. In their personal affairs, almoat atrlotly honest Tou note say almost' Subordinates Lik to be Honest. But. for the present we muat content ourselves with working a reform here In the service, and think this haa really been accomplished.

The whole rank and file Is trying to help, and that la a big thing. have found, beyond a doubt that they would rather work quit honestly than work dishonestly. When the habit was to acoept tips and tip war brlbea. mlanamed a good many of them did tt Jutt because It waa a habit The individual In-spector did not really raalce ao much out of It And now that tt haa been entirely stopped the men are pleaeed. know that they are pleaaed, and that la a good elgn.

"No man In an administrative office can accomplish much unleaa all hla eub ordlnatea are In real aympathy with his best purposes and co-operate heartily In working out results. Many of the men here under me have been here many years, were here In the days of the old practices, and they are. thor oughly believe, delighted by the rules which now are rigidly enforced. Xt Is my aim to conduct this office upon strictly business principles and make tt a model for other public offices to pattern after. If can.

That ought to be the aim of every man who holds a plaoe like thla And I have had the full oo-operatlon of subordinates, since Succeeded ta convincing them that myself Intend to do my duty and ex eeuts the law as I nave round It en the statute books, and make the member of the public bow to It regardless of their wealth or poverty, high or low station, made It dear to them that the only way by which they could se cure preferment would be by dotng like wise. They quickly learned that I was In full confidence of the Xresldent and Secretary ot the Treasury, that they were giving me free rein, and that tne honest man would be protected tn his lob. no raattsx who he might offend. They quickly lssrned that where they did good service they would be rewaraea and-not punlahed for it no matter how Important In whatever way. might be the person who ehould suffer through their honesty.

And ws are making headway now against the smuggling habit because subordinate all fully understand that the merit system In the service win be absolutely followed, that promotions, assignments, trana-fen. win be made upon their records, and not because of political or other favoritism. That they cannot posalbly offend by bringing an Important man or woman with a puU to Justice. Every man win be compelled to do the work ef that place which he occupies. was.

In effect, the order whlob went forth, 'and those who have no work to do or shirk win have to leave the srvlce, Their Impulses Are Honest. 8moe that was fully understood my Too, their Impulse vere h'-neat. They didn't really with to lie mixed up with rronked work. At long thern there were dnubtLa thoo who In the paat had been mired up with It, hut they were glad to know th It muat cease, it waa a real rllef to br aaaured that tn the future Vty muat not be crooked. It took a weight from off their mlnda.

1 had talked with those In the high placea. down In Washington, and raid them what I planned. ssH thoy. 'that's what we want We'll back Well, that settled tt. "What -have tried to do haa been ta put the twrvton on a really permanent merit baala.

It haa been pleasant work and very much worth while. can be don with any enterprise, governmental or comrr.ercial. The little chaps' don't want to cheat. They're glad to be comrellnd to atop." What he did not ay was that earnest efforta h.id beon made, from time to time, to get him to abandon hie new method. A man ff high position told me that the.

nomination for the Governorship of New Tork Btate was offered Loeb, because there were Important men who wished to clear the Cuatom House of him. much move than because there were Important men who wished tn see Mm at the head of thlnga tn Albany. But the offer did not tempt htm. He had etarted In to weed out graft In cuatoma. end he wlahed to stick to It till ho had done It A curious thing la, also, that not long after he had entered on hla campaign ot Custom House reform, suggestions of Important potts In private business all accompanied by high salaries, began to reach him.

Those, also, he declined. He was after smugglers, big and little. ana waa getting; them from time to time, lie liked It and he kept It up. regardless. I spoke to him of this.

Well." he replied, I thought It waa my duty to atlck by the proposition till I'd cleaned It np." Smuggling and the Public Conscience. And you found the public conscience In a queer state regarding smuggling? Everyone." he answered, seemed to feel entitled to do a fair amount of smuggling. Apparently folka thought It part of the high privilege of cltlxen-ahlp. ot only did Incoming pat-aengera fall notably to declare purchases they had made abroad, but atewarda and pursers and the petty officers of steamahlpa had become regular carriers of goods from Europe to this country. They could almost always get them to the ahore without detection.

They did it as a matter ef course. Dressmakers snd milliners there were by dosena who brought; ashore as personal baggage things, which they bad bought cuatomers. Sleeper trunks war common. A alee per trunk 1 on which come, apparently, quits Independent of a passenger. After It has, been taken from the veste! hold tt ts left unguarded on the dock until there come a chance to smuggle tt off.

This wit very eertoua form of sraugsUng. Tir sleeper' trunks were aelped alnce have been tn office, containing good appraised at $32100. The United Statee District Attorney decided that the Government had lost $1,000,000 it" nually from 'sleeper' trunks alona.1 That shows what we were up against "Well, we've practically 'stopped It The men upon the docks are not afraid1 these days of people of political or dal prominence: tip no longer per-i" form wonders, snd every one but those who wish to cheat the Government are happier because of it Tou couldn't offer one of my men to-day a theatre ticket or a cigar with any safety. Try it and see the most minute examination of your baggage you have ever heard about Their hands no longer are held out They understand they were put Into their places for tbs purpose of protecting the Government of the United States from fraud and that acceptance of a tip would be quite Inconsistent with that purpose. Three' hundred men have been dismissed for practices which were Improper.

I be lieve that most of them would have been glad to be honest they were vie' time of a system, of a habit of graft- grabbing, i Didn't Know Their Politic. "Did you know the potttle of an wtzocn you removed? th Coatlnaod em FetlewlntT Faere-h 7m I A..