In my own case, each Treasury agent declared the other "could not" do
the things which had been done. In consequence of the inharmony of
the "regulations," the most careful shipper would frequently find his
goods under seizure, from which they could generally be released
on payment of liberal fees and fines. I do not know there was any
collusion between the officials, but I could not rid myself of the
impression there was something rotten in Denmark. The invariable
result of these little quarrels was the plundering of the shippers.
The officials never suffered. Like the opposite sides of a pair of
shears, though cutting against each other, they only injured whatever
was between them.

Not a hundredth part of the official dishonesty at New Orleans and
other points along the Mississippi will ever be known. Enough has
been made public to condemn the whole system of permits and Treasury
restrictions. The Government took a wise course when it abolished,
soon after the suppression of the Rebellion, a large number of the
Treasury Agencies in the South. As they were managed during the last
two years of the war, these agencies proved little else than schools
of dishonesty. There may have been some honest men in those offices,
but they contrived to conceal their honesty.

To show the variety of charges which attach to a shipment of cotton,
I append the sellers' account for the three bales about which Mrs. B.
and myself had our little dispute. These bales were not sold with the
balance of our shipment. The cotton of which they were composed was of
very inferior quality.

_Account Sales of Three Bales of Cotton for Knox & Colburn._
By PARSLEY & WILLIAMS.
______________________________________________________________________
Mark, | 3 bales. || | || |
"K. C."| Weight, } 1,349 @..............|| $0 | 60 || $809 | 40
| 533--406--410 } || | || |
| Auctioneers' commission, 1 pr. ct.....|| 8 | 09 || |
| Sampling .............................|| | 30 || |
| Weighing .............................|| | 50 || |
| Watching..............................|| | 50 || |
| Tarpaulins ...........................|| | 50 || |
| Freight, $10 pr. bale ................|| 30 | 00 || |
| Insurance, $2.50 pr. bale ............|| 7 | 50 || |
| 4 c. pr. lb. (tax) on 1,3