The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-05-02

were legal in form, and he believed he wou /
/ not be led to sign anything that was not in &C
cordapce with Jaw
Having his attention called to the provision
OF law, referring to the compromise and settle
ment OF cases growing out of customs revenue
| Mr.. Boutwell, said the construction mt upo.
| mat provision when he went into the Treasur,
department was, that it also applied to inter
nal revenue cases. He regarded it as a general
power to he exercised by the Secretary of the
| treasury and as applying 70 all the branches of
the derartment. The Secretary was of course
subject to the restrictions of the law, authorz.
Gu 10 go out and make collections
III his honest discretion, it was not thought
necessary to consult the Commissioner of In.
Iefnal Revenue, but he considered it to he his
DUTY TO advise with the Solicitor of the Treas
ury before commencing such, as to the proner
course to be pursued. Although the seerat re
was not bound by the advice Of the Solicitor y
was simply impossible for The Secretary to ait
~ ,,,s once and advise clients what to do. He
must reiy on the good faith of his assistants
ana subordinates 10 office.
ne Was sure the Sanborn bps,yass uos NAVE,
.ne''Tr OK consultation between him and So
rotary hicnardson. Having been Informed that
oanoofn conveyed the impressiOn IN the Com'
tilse INA. ne and Boutwell, were on terms of
n ,n..naoy, MI boutwell, said he never had any
pe'sonai relations with Sanboin at ali.
Ehs Geueva Award Bill.
The House Judiciary Committee to-day
asieeu " an Important amendment to the &C.
ueVaaward Dill to the effect that payment viii
be made to mutual insurance companies sor Al;
losses sustained by the vessels for whose depre-
cations we made claim against Great Britain.
provided that no member OF a mutual insurance
company shall recover for any war premiums
PAID to such company for risks In other words
sucn companies will be paid for all losses aud
cut Off from war pensions Che amendment
further provides that they shall distribute
money SO paid them among their members who
contributed to pay the loss,
The Steel Interest.
Inc commit ee representing the steel manu-
fact1rers of the United States, appeared before
me Committee of Ways and Means this after
noou opposing the request made By the COM
mittee on behalf of the importers and a num-
yer OF steel consumers. favoring lower duties.
aud who at the time advocated a change in the
mode OF iayingssueh duties, Tnese gentlemen
ask that no change in the present law be made
and in support OF their position presented the
following statement:
Prior to 1868 the business of making steel in
the United States was practically undemou-
strated but since that period, especially that
portion OF it since the enactment of the exist
ing tariff law, 1t has grown to large proper
tons, There are "a establishments located in
nine States, which employ directly and ipdi.
rectly thousands OF men and represent MANY
millions OF invested capital. The aggregate
products of these Establishments for 1879 was
1900, OF which over $4,000 were of medium
and low grades, and ZOO of the best cast steel.
fhe total importation of steel for the last fiscal
-. -. 90 -4nn-s- al nv ~ o., raa, ot S,.,;-
Jodi :" - az A.pS..s. ~ VAC bureau OI StatlS-
tics, q, 0G0 TONS of which 2l00 were of the
highest grade The gentlemen opposed the
measure asked for by their opponents for the
reason that it would unduly advance the dnty
on the lowest grades of steel so extensively
used in the manufacture of all descriptions Of
agricultural implements, while the importation
OF that grade far ex eeds the quantity of the
higher grades. They further say that the pro-
posed reduction of duty on best cast steel will
seriously interfere with that branch of their
manufacture 1t is also alleged that the repre-
sentatiJes on behalf of those consumers of
steel are small minority of the grand total of
steel consumers in the country. They carry
with them memorial for presentation to Con-
gress aud signed by over 800 steel consumers
and dealers opposing the movement in the liz
terest of foreign steel importing business.
This committee do not embra e or represent
the manufacturers of rails, that being a dis
tnct branch of the business.
The Finy.Four Million.
The Comptroller of the Currency to-day
transmitted to the Committee ON Banking and
Currency statement exhibiting the amount of
circulation issued of the 1854, 900. 600 authorized
by the act OF July 18th, 1870 OF the amount
unssued 81 ,197 800 has been assigned to banks
already organized aud $3,073,500 to banks in
process OF organization. Total S4,271,320
This amount has been assigned by eighty-six.
different applicants in twenty different States,
amounts averaging alb nut $4,000 to each APP
pcant The following shows the applications
and assignments: