New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-10-08
sentember "a. ISe6.

- September 20, 1866. 4
se isn tnEh aecnllorh Secretary of the Treasury:
SIT am in receipt of your letter OF thg 27th
requesting my opinion On the follavsing ,7inf
WAeEher the laws imposing q tax on cotton and
lGoylang fer its collection SO restrict tIe eSecn
I'VE aatlollty as TO forbid the arranging Vi the
cotton States into single cotton district for the
purpose of collecting The tax on cotton. having
reference to the cotton tax only, and without
necessarily involving any change Of districts
MED ls may Pc most convenient for the collection
am clearly Of the opinion that such a eonsol;
S@aqa e hlle cotton growing States as is desired
~ ss.a ~ the egong inquiry into single
coiiecIlon alsEIet. for the purpose Of leyyng and
celiecNng the duties imposed bY the internal reye-
nus avs upon cotton, cannot lawfully be effected
HE exastlng provisions Of these laws.
the acs OF june 3d. 1864 seefion y n aifa, IA ~
districts as the public interests NAV re-
9llEe, enables him only to modify from time to
NV sas, ~ may nereqalred, existing ngementsof
ing ana collection Of all the duties and taxes nge
seElned and imposed by the acts Of Congress relat
1ng TO internal revenue.
By the original act of july IL 1852 the vpresi
dent was empowered to divide resnactivalt, fba
States and territories of the United States and the
IlslIlot oh Gotumbia, into convenient collection
e.ssIiets, Soon after the passage of this act,
question srose as to tie authorty Of the President
70 after The arrangement of collection districts
made and established-by him n pursuanoe of
sais provision Of law that question was carefully
predecessor. Attorney General
pssees, Who gave his opinion, that the President
When ne made the original division of the States
INTO collection DISTRICTS exhausted his power ID
Ehe premises.
This was held On The general 1rincinla tl,.+
where an act OF Congress establishing d general
system confers on the President the authority to
w specIhe act for the purpose of perfecting the
AasaIs oE which the system shall be carried into
efiect, the act Of the President, when performed
according to the statute, has al The validity ana
aathorIty ct the statute itself tU. 8. Opinion,
This view OF the law having been adopted by
E me treasury department., Congress was apnlied
70 Tnr additional legislation comforting the nifhnr
635sy Wlleh was not contained in the original act
h TIC seventh section OF the act of June 80 1854
vas accordingly enacted to remedy the I,articnjar
1862. 4 - r' = 800 80 n
It j. too clear to admit Of donbt that the collec
aoIl o.stflcts within the meaning of the act are
Ilose districts respectively in which the Internal
antles and taxes imposed by Law upon all the sub
yse1s q taxation, are collected in the manner and
Ply tue othceTs aesignatedn the statnte The dis /
tract cannot be established or arranged with refer
ence 20 the duties imposed particular subjects:
mat u Is.n not the plan upon Which the internal
revenue laws proceed.
vi ssleh an arrangement as is proposed in the me-
morals Which you have submitted to me, could
no1. pc carried into effect with the machinery es-
sahlished by existing law for the collection Of in
IeTnai dnteH The President has no power to a1-
point special collector for the tax ifanosed IN
lne particular article of cotton nor could he 4
deslgnate any one Of the district collectors as the
odaeef ao should prqeeed throughout the entire
cotton territory and collect the tax on that article
wherever found.
We mischief OF the present system, complained
o. ny me Chambers Of Commerce of Mobile and
sA Few Orleans, can only be remedied by Congress,
ING not Of July ID, 1866. to which reference is
made By the memorials contains allsthe eScep- /
sonal provisions as to the tax on cotton which I
Congress deemed to be necessary, and those pro-
VISIONS instead Of giving authority To make the
additional exception now requested, seem to me
wholly consistent with it. 1 have the honor to
s1ss et9sf HENRY SFAEBaRY,
~. IVA Z y AnRanrc Gem !