The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1857-02-04

] the old law or the addition OF one has been felt
spts amounting as before stated 70 more than four han
/ dred in number, have been passed from time to hme
rather provide for special and pressing eIigency
than 10 form orderly systematic and simple code read
| lily Ineligible, and of easy application.
These successive enactments whatever changes they
have made in previous laws baye rarely repealed them In
terms IL has been rather the practice Of Congress 10 leave
them operate repeal by Implication, Of such provis-
ions Of previous laws might be found rpugnant 10 or
inconsistent Herewith The result has BEEN that large
number Of laws bearing the subject matter still
remain statuebooks and compiler venture
dispense with them he dare not trust his Judgment to
decide what provisions in force and what not Whether
these laws making different provisions and imposing d
erent penalties in the 10 be construed As in
consistent merely auxiliary cumulative has been
vexed question with the legal profession and Judicial tn
bunas This embarrassment perplexes the importer, who
looks the law for direction the lawyer whose counsel
asked the customs ofcsl who 10 execute the law and
above all, the Secretary Of the Treasury, whose duty
10 is to eXpound it. guide to bis subordinaes and
whose construction has the force Of law until reversed by
the Judicial iribnnas Even the of the last resort
our highest judicial tribunal has believed felt
than embarrassed in deciding what provisions in our
laws siii found nnrePeaed in terms stat
ute-books in force. If tribunal distinguished
for legal learning and acumen whose express province
interpret the laws approaches the consideration Of
this subject with 80 much didence and under such
what be expected of the hundreds Of
tom house officials who daily compelled TO enforce the
law and who rarely fitted by their previous education
and pursuits for the difficult task of deciding such nice and
doubtful points of legal construction What also must
be the condition Of the merchant Importer who has
right TO demand OF his that the law he s
quired 10 obey should be Ineligible the mind
should be rule to guide not riddle which he is to solve
| at his peril
This uncertainty and compexity of the laws oblges the
importer to resort 10 Others supposed TO be well versed in
the system and forms transact his business at
the custom house Hence meet the necessity of the
large class of agents brokers have grown up at
principal ports who attend liberal compensatons to
the importers business at the custom house This operates
tax On the consumer because il is an expense which
| in the end must be paid by the goods
4
of tho customs if otherwise qualified changed they
constantly become but very npfscty acquainted
with the details Of extensive and complex of
laws They have but little time for dehberaton without
impeding the operations Of trade and nfctng serious in
jury the importer Acting under such pressure they
liable err when the law is clear but If it be
complex obscue the become grave aud frequent
and them the legal claims of the importer for
redress for which If they have acted in good faith, the
government bound to indemnify them. This operates
heavy drain the treasury and impas the public
fdence in officers whose action is often pronounced
| roneous oppressive by judicial tribunals
This state of the law imposes the Secretary of the
Treasury weighty responsibility and difcult duty in
addition those with which he is otherwise charged He
made by law the authority decide in the FIRST instance
the meaning of the acts His decision is concu
sve and binding The officers Of the Numerous
calls daily made upon him for his construction Of the
and collection laws Often important and doubt
full and always requiring TO be promptly resolved these
questions of legal construction demand thorough nvest
CATION; careful comparison of statutes refer
Judicial decisions the exercise of discriminating
and well balanced Judgment, and exposition precise
in possession Of rule the force and extent of which be
cannot misunderstood fail correctly apply The diff
cult and delicate labor thus thrown the department is
This condition of laws and necessity
of revision and snpihcaon may be in another
spect The Secretary of The Treasury has the power 70
mitigate remit fines penalties and foritures incurred
for violations of the laws in not
by fraud wilfu negligence the laws could be readily
understood remssions would be They now, and
have been for years. quite frequent and necessarily and
Of course, have tendency TO impair for law
and its binding force which often suspended meet
exceptional cases. The legal maxim that knowledge OF
the law always TO be presumed has lost much of its sig
nihcancy regard to enactmens whose provis
ions are so and their arrangements confused
that ahet awy have in cases. but little
fdence in their ability rightly them Hence
when the remitting Of the department is involved
such presumption of knowledge OF the law doubtful
and difficult TO be understood render his neglect of
i its provisions indicative OF q fraudulent intent
Since the registering and ceasng of 1872 and 1913
and the general collection act of T99laws still in force
were enacted the condition Of the country and
has so changed as to require careful revision and amend
ent of the code il to the present and inter-
ests of navigation and trade At the date of those laws
our foreign insignificant measured by its
past development and present magnitude and
i traed at few prominent ports cur Atlantic coast
carried by sailing crafts; and coasing trade
confined TO our Atlantic ports and up few navigable
bays and rivers TO the sparse settlements OF the interior
Since then have established active commercial inter
course with nearly every of the known world civil
zed or barbarous Oar interior and coasing trade has
II
coasts OF the United States and penerates the continent
in every direction from TO ocean, not only by
sailing craft upon navigabe rivers and canals, but
by vessels propelled by steam In all the varieties
of its application and from point to point, land
/ by railway, increased in activity and diversified in
operations thousand-fod The United States yield
TO Great Britain alone the superiority in and
navigation, and is destined unless checked by
toward event in the future her and take her
position the greatest maritime and commercial power
the globe. In lIe3 when present coasting law
enaeted the shorene of the United States including
islands, and other Irregularities but 1856 miles in
extent With the additions Of Florida Louisiana Texas
northern lakes hardly known then media Of commerce
to and taking into aIo the of shore
lines Of rivers and bays in The Territories since added to
the Union, upon which active is carried
the comparative condition Of the country then and
will be clearly seen.
Since earliest existing laws enacted an
immense foreign and interior Mississippi
its butares and the lakes has been developed with
wonderful rapdtya thing only existing, in fact
when present system established but
existing conception anticipation in the mind
of any then living In l80o-one year after the gem
eral collection law in force passed. and seven
after the date of present coastng lawbe only
crafts upon great lakes boats and Indian
and the only trade barter in the rudest form Vow that
commerce be represented three hundred and
fifty millions of dollars per annum in value and the tom
mage hundred and twenty thousand TONS The
acquisition of louisiana Florida, Texas, and Ca fornia
opening up rnde through tbs great valley Of the
Mississippi and its tributaries the Mexican gulf
the Pacific Of the United States extended and quick
ened BY the rapid OF the country and esve
opment Of the various has brought within the
control Of the federal government commerce for the
proper regulation Of which earlier laws though framed
aAt,.sr.