The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-18

I now allowed by law to any collector or survey
y or OF any district on our northern northeastern
and northwestern lakes and rivers. each colec
tor or surveyor aforesaid shall receive ANIMALS
, In full cOn pensation for these services, an
amount equal tn the entire compensation re.
ceived by such officer during the past year,,
| Under this provision, all custom-h0use fees
were abolished in the collection districts g u
braced by this act and il is now recommended
! that similar provisions be extended TO all the
collection districts
In view of the revenue derived from imports,
the amount of these fees is comparatively small.
being less than ss3OO000 per annum, while their
collection in small sums is a source Of great an.
noyancr to those who pay them. | would also
direct the attention of Congr, 81 to the numer-
Gus custom-house oaths and bonds. consular
certificates, and other requirements with which
our system Is bnrdened, rendering it ut once
| complicated and vexatious.
II The present rates of duties be applied to that
! amount, we should receive from customs, only
| 900, and the amount of revenue required
for the present and succeeding years would fall
short of the estimates for the current year, by a
| fraction over seven millions.
| 1t cannot be doubted that rate of duty higher
on many articles than that paid by the present
law, might be established without affecting in.
Jnriously the revenue The extraordinary influx
of foreign merchandise for the last year, and the
first quarter Of the present one must be regarded
as conclusive proof that an increase of duties, so
rs to advance the amount Of revenue seven mil
lions on the same amount of imports, is entirely
practicable.
That such increase will be found necessary to
the demands of the treasury, is believed to be
beyond doubt, unless Congress shall discontinue
many of the objects of expenditure which origi-
mated in our recent territorial acquisitions, and
this, in The opinion of the Department, would be
equally impolitic and unjust.
From the foregoing considerations, the De-
partrnent would submit the following modifica-
tons of our present revenue laws:
|. A change in the present ad valorem sys-
tenn, which should impose specific duties upon
all articles to which such duties may be safely
applied, with home valuations upon all such as
are necessarily subject to ad valorem rates.
Ii. If the principle Of specific duties shall not
be adopted, that the home valuation, instead of
the foreign, should then be applied to all i'm
ports subject to ad valorem duties.
i'll. II neither of the foregoing changes shall
be thought proper, then it is deemed highly ne
cessary that the present rates Of duties should
be increased on great variety of articles which
it will be found could bear such increase with
the most salutary effects upon both trade and
revenue.
Either of the two first notifications suggested
above would undoubtedly correct many Of the
inequalities of the present system, place all i'm
porters, whether purchasers or manufacturers,
on equal grounds in respect to valuations for
duty, guard the revenue against the fragrant
frauds which are so easily perpetrated under ex-
isting laws, ard insure stability and permanent
increase of the revenue They are therefore
earnestly recommended to the favorable consid-
Grafton of Congress.
In any system it is believed that experience
has settled the true policy to be pursued in sew
eral particulars which enter into our system Of
revenue laws. Among these are that all raw ma
teria should be admitted 1t moderate rate Of
uty, when assessed at all, that all non-enu-
merated articles should be assessed at higher
rates Of duty than the average of manufactured
articles, and that MI articles composed Of the
same material should pay in general the same
rates Of duty.
In order to insure uniformity in the business
Of the custom houses, and equality in the valun
tions under any system, I earnestly recommend
the creation Of corps of appraisers at large,
whose duty it shall be to visit the principal ports
of entry in the United States from time to time.
with pc wer to correct improper valuations and
prescribe rules for the local appraisers.
If we would promote foreign commerce, and
secure for our vessels their full share of the
freghting of our own products, and those of
other nations. we should be careful to remove
every impe iiment and extend every facility
which affects this intercourse.
The changes in our laws which have been
named, will be Of essential benefit to all who
are interested in the privileges granted by our
warehousing system; and If, in addition, we
should dispense with the oaths, bonds, and GER
ti6cates that appertain to entries Of merchandise
at the foreign cost or value, and adopt the value
in the United States, we shomld relieve the bust
ness of importing merchandise Of its greatest
embarrassment, and our own officers Of investi-
cations into the prices paid for goods, or the
value thereof in foreign countries, and likewise
avoid the frequent collisions between the APP
praisers and Importers which the requirements
Of our present system occasion.
A statement is herewith presented No. -,
showing the value of dutiable merchandise re-
exported from 1921 to 1850. The total value
Of such exports during that period was, $3Ol,-
O92,53l, being an average of s. O,0364l7 annu-
ally. From the lst December 1916 to 30th
June, 1850, the total value Of dutiable merchan
disc re-exported from bonded warehouses under
the act Of the 9th August, 1916, establishing Il
warehousing system, was $l2,474,765, being an
average of Ss3.49l.329 annually From which
it is apparent that the benefits anticipated from
the warehousing act Of 9th Of August, 1916,
have not been fully secured
The Mint
The table accompanying this report, marked
-, exhibits in detail the operations of the mint
at Philadelphia, and the different branches, from
the time they were respectively established down
to the 3Oth October, 1850.
The amount of coinage at the mint in Pha-
dephia, during the month just past, has ex-
ceeded four millions Of dollars and, if the ex-
periments now progressing under the authority
of Congress, for testing new process Of assay
ing, should equal the expectations which have
been formed respecting it, the capabilities of
that establishment will be extended to the coin
age of eight millions monthly; and, with the
branch mint at New Orleans, will be fully able
to furnish coin, without any reasonable delay,
for all the future probable receipts Of gold dust
and bullion.
In order, however, that the receivers of the
precious metals from abroad, and particularly at
NJ, rtin nf than or