In Haiti; in East St. Louis

In Haiti; in East St. Louis

Anti-occupationists in Haiti could smile wryly at the U. S. Government's discomfiture last week. For months rumors had seeped through the steaming black republic that crookedness was being investigated in the U. S.-controlled customs house at Port-au-Prince.

Three weeks ago the Brothers Zrike, rich Syrian-American merchants, were clapped into jail for participating in customs frauds. Their stores throughout the island were locked up under Government seal. But what, the opposition Press wanted to know, was to be done about their accomplices? Was there one law for Haitians, another for Yanquis? Last week U. S. prestige definitely fell when Collector of Customs David P. Johnson of Hyde Park, Mass., an efficient, frugal man who had been stationed in Haiti twelve years, confessed to cheating Haiti in return for bribes from the Brothers Zrike.

Two days later U. S. prestige recovered a bit when the State Department announced that "the fraud consisted in underweighing bales of merchandise consigned to the importers," ordered Minister Norman Armour to waive Collector Johnson's immunity as a treaty official, turn him over to the Haitian courts for trial.

East St. Louis, Ill., is St. Louis' Hoboken, a riveredge district thick with foundries, chemical plants, railroad yards. Many mules are sold there and, periodically, there is a scandal. Last week's scandal concerned Addison J. Throop, an elderly printer and collector of Indian relics who became chairman of the St. Clair County Board of Tax Review in 1928 "when Alfred E. Smith had a great following and I was elected by a fluke."

Through a "reputable professional man," the vigilant St. Louis Post-Dispatch got hold of a letter which indicated that Tax Reviewer Throop had taken bribes to scale down assessments for certain East St. Louis manufacturers. Docile Mr. Throop, while denying the authenticity of the letter, consented at once to accompany a reporter to Springfield, where he resigned his office and confessed all to the Attorney General. Only the case of the local Elks' Club, whose tax assessment was lowered from $5,000 to $200, was made public. Investigation of others was promptly instituted.

An unnamed lawyer was the man who first tempted him. Mr. Throop confessed. The lawyer offered a $5,000 bribe in behalf of a tax-burdened firm. "I refused even to touch it," said Mr. Throop. "After that he began to cultivate me. He was very nice and subsequently he took me out several times in a motorboat. Later I took $1,500 from him."

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