George F. Thomson to Senator Robert M. T. Hunter, January 28, 1852

NEW YORK [CITY], January 28, 1852.

DEAR SIR: It is exceedingly satisfactory to the commercial interests of this city that you have called in the above resolution¹ for information in ref[erence] to the expenses of the Gov[ernmen]t Ware Houses. If the great inconveniences and unnecessary expenses to our merchants could also be reached by resolution it would throw much further light upon the subject. But what I desire to suggest is that you will also call for the number and expense of the private Bonded Ware Houses (exclusive of cellars for liquors). This would seem to be necessary in order to arrive at a correct understanding of the whole system and it is information our collector can readily firnish. It will be found that while their private Bonded stores are Bonding quite as much property as the Government stores  more convenient to the merchant, they are [at] no expense whatever to the Treasury, in fact the Government derive unjustly, a small revenue from them for the collector hires his officers to attend them for $800 p[e]r an[num] and collects from the owner of each store $1095.00 p[e]r an[num] leaving a profit on each store to the Government which is paid monthly by each owner of a store $295. p[e]r an[num]. There are in this city 12 or 15 of these private Bonded stores (exclusive of cellars which I do not include). There are other private stores owned by merchants used for Bonding their own goods exclusively in what I think it will be found are not placed upon the same footing as those stores in ref[erence] to which the owners make the Bonding of goods a regular and legitimate business. I mean in ref[erence] to the amount paid for the use of the officer. It is difficult to understand why a merchant who uses a store for this purpose exclusively for himself should pay any less for the Gov[ernmen]t officer than he who uses his store for accommodation of many merchants. The Bonding system is one of immense benefit to our merchants and commerce generally but it requires a thorough overhauling and placed on a more liberal footing excluding as much as possible all Government interference and making it as far as possible a private interest, subject alone to such simple regulations as will insure safety and security. The convenience and safety of the private stores are universally acknowledged and preferred by our merchants. Suits are constantly brought against the Government for goods lost from the Government stores, but none so far have ever been lost from the private stores to my knowledge.

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¹ The resolution referred to as having been offered by Hunter requested the Secretary of the Treasury to inform the Senate of the number of public warehouses then used by the Government, their location, period of lease, the terms of the leases, and the amount expended upon them for labor and other purposes.

SOURCE: Charles Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 135-6