National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-10-14
THE REVENUE LAWS.


There is a certain class of custom house
brokers in New York who are never salts
fed with the administration of the tariff
laws. This is quite natural. 1t is their
business to contTive methods of evasion of
duties. Just now these gentlemen are
soreIy exercised about the construction
placed upon the revenue laws by Congress
in the codifcation of those laws which
passed at the last session. They failed to
get the Committee on Revision of the Laws
to accept their views of what the acts in
force on the first of December, 1873, meant,
and they are consequently waging war
upon the Secretary of the Treasury for
carrying out the provisions of law as con-
strued in the revision. They claim that
Congress was imposed upon and acted
without due knowledge of the facts. This
is scarcely credible, but if true, Secretary
Bristow certainly had no agency in the
matter. He is sound lawyer and has
conformed his customs regulations in ODE
dience to the laws as he found them. His
duty as an administrative officer required
no less than this. But the fact is that
these men, having succeeded in obtaining
the repeal of the moieties, supposed that
they were in the future to have everything
their own way. They are now greatly
chagrined to find the Treasury Department
with q head determined to carry out the
laws in their letter and spirit, and who has
nerve also to complete that determination
regardless of their abuse.
The act of June %, 1874, known as
title 80 of the revision of laws" does not
effect any change in the rates of duties
which were by law properly imposed on
the first of December, 1873. Neither have
the decisions Of the Secretary altered the
law or increased the rates of duties levied.
The act Of June %, 1874, is a direct and
absolute statute repeating all former acts,
any portion of which have been transcribed
from the general statutes into this revision.
Only those portions Of the various laws
enacted for levying duties on imports since
March 9, 1861, which remained in force on
the first of December, 1878, were incorpo-
rated into the revision, the remainder hav-
ing DCGu Oullllcu GuLllClJ DCSauoO tllCg ud1
been repealed or superseded by subsequent
Legislation. In making this condensation
all surplusage was rejected, and Congress
was not governed in its action by any inter-
probation of the courts or ofthe Treasury. 1t
simply exercised its own prerogative as the
law-making power of constituting the laws
in force and in so doing correcting such
errors as had crept into practice in the as
sessment of duties In making some of
these corrections the Committee on Ways
and Means in the House severely censured
the former administration of the Treasury
Department for having improperly con-
ceded lower rates of duty than were au-
thorized by law and under which large
amounts of duties were refunded.
The act of June %, 1874, is clear and
concise upon these points, and it is against
the duties assessed under it that the present
war upon Secretary Bristow is being
waged. 1t has been found impossible to
force from him concessions in favor of i'm
porters which had previously been counted