Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1875-07-15
LATE TELEGRAMS.
WASHINGTON, July 12.

The Treasury Department recently
,,r..cntcd to the Attorney General
for his opinion two questions arising
under the Act of July IA, 1870, as re.
.uacted in the revised statutes and
under the Act Of March 8, 1875, pro-
vidipc for an increase of duties upon
certa;n classes of merchandise. The
first question was, whether damag'
received during voyage from a for
eipn mort to the port of first arrival
by merchandise entered for imme-
diate transportation to an interior
mort of destination, under the above
statutory provisions, is to be ascer-
tanned at the port of first arrival or at
the mort Of destination. Then, wheth-
or the ten days within which proof
of damage is required to be lodged
in the Custom-house is 70 be compu-
ted from the landing of the merchan-
disc at tho last port. After review
ing the law, the Acknowledgement
saws he is clearly of the opinion that
damage received during an ocean
voyage by goods entered for imme-
m
diatc transport, under Section 2,99o
Of revised statutes, should be ascer-
tanned at the port of final destination.
Section 2,Os7 prohibits any allow
ancc for damage on merchandise that
has entered, unless proof to ascertain
such damage be lodged in the Gus
tom-house of such port where such
merchandise has been landed within
ten DAYS after the landing of such
merchandise. Tho phrase, sport
where such merchandise has been
landed" is not by its terms exclu-
sively applicable to the port Of first
arrival, but may be applied to the
port Of destination, and in case OF
entered for immediate
transportation it must be understood
to signify port Of destination, since it
il Mt the Custom house OF that port
that proof is to be used. The words,
"after the landing of such merchant
disc" must be taken to mean after the
landing at the port of final destina-
ton. The Acknowledgement decides
that the computation of ten days is
all made from landing at the last port.
The next question submitted was
whether merchandise imported into
New York prior to the date Of the
Act of March 8, 1875, but which ar
rived at an interior port under imme-
diatc transportation bond, without
appraisement, after that date, is liza
Bile to the increase of duties therein
provided. The Attorney-General says
several verbal constructions OF the
statute would perhaps make mer-
chandise TINS liable, but the opera
tion of such constructions would be
to impose increased duty on one case
of goods which arrived in a particu-
lar ship at the port of New York and
exempt another case OF the same
goods by the same ship arriving at
the same date. This could not have
been the intent of Congress, thus to
between goods which
went into a public store in New York
and those which, arriving at the same
date, passed on to their port Of final
destination under immediate date OF
transportation bond. A construction
which would make such goods liable
to increased duty would be unequal
and severely oppressive. 1t is a sound
rule in the construction Of a statute
of the United States which imposes
tax or burden on a citizen, that
when there may be doubt about the
true construction to resolve the doubt
in favor Of the citizen on whom the
burden is imposed. The Attorney
General therefore decides that goods
are not liable to increased duty.
These conclusions having, after due
consideration, been adopted by the
Department, Collectors and other Off
GERS of customs arc instructed to gov
ern themselves accordingly.
BEAVER, Utah, July IL.
The trial of John d. Lee for con-
nection with the Mountain Meadow
massacre Of 1857, in Southern Utah,
at which one hundred and forty en-
migrants-men, women and child
ren-lrom Arkansas and Missouri
were murdered, will probably come
up on the 18th instant. There are
great many witnesses in town, twen-
ty Of whom have addressed a COM
munication to Marshall Maxwell
asking means Of subsistence, and an
examination in chambers, in order
that they might return home to at
tend to their crops. General Max
we'll answered that mileage and fees
was all that he could pay, and that
the District Attorney would take his