The daily critic., 1890-10-23
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
wAsnnorog. D c, oITonrn 23 ls01.
is THE TARIFF ACT INVALID

Senator JouN r. MDpHERsoN. who
had charge Of the Democratic side Of
the tariff debate I'm The senate, has
written a letter to a memlerof a promi.
uent importing house Ia New York TO
the effect that there was omitted from
the Tariff bill, as signed by the presi-
dent, portion Of section 30 as Il had
finally passed Congress. The senator
gives It as his opinion that this omis.
sion invalidales and renders nugatory
the entire act
The section referred 10 is printed in
the copy given out as the bin signed by
Tie President as follows
SE,r rtoV 3O-That on and after the 1st
day of January, i-gl, the internal taxes ou
smoking and manufactured tobacco shall
ne six cents per pound, and on suuG six
cents per pound.
Il should have read according TO the
agreement reached in conference. as
follows
l4lW Section 3O-That ON an original
aud uubrokcn factory packages OF smoking
aul manufactured tnl3ccn and smut, held
by manufacturers OF dealers at the time
the reduction herein provided Tor shall 90
into effect, upon which th' tax has been
paid, there shall be allowed drawback or
rebate Of the fun amount ut the reduction,
hut the saue shall not apply in amy case
where the claim has not been presented
within sixty DAYS following The date OF
reductions, and such rebate 90 manuiac-
tufers may Doe paid iu stamps at the re-
utCcd rate. and uu claim shall be allowed
DRAWBACKS paid fora less amount than i5.
OF internal Revenue. with the approval OF
TIE Secretary uf the treasury 90 adopt such
rules aud ruluHiiuu. Hul t1 prrs.riHe aud
furnish such blanks and t5rms a- NAV be
necessary tu carry tais .cgiiun into effect.
or the payment coz tls rebates provided
fDr 10 This section here 81. hereby aupr1pri-
atgd any money ig thC Treasury uJt other
rlru appropriated
1hnr Is, ihis lnurr portion wns, u Is
slcred. in tn bin "a, it pissed the tw,
Houses, but was NOT in The enrolled bin
which The President signed
Does thls omission inva.ilale the
law
Senator CARLISLE answers 10 the af.
imaiive. He says
II the journals of the two Houses show
thar This section was pant OF the confer
euue report Is agreed %. my opinion is
that the omission Co include % iu tle biil
signed by the President would iuyalilate
The law.
The contrary view Is held by other
lawyers and authorities, and Is stated
10 essence as follows.
II such an omission could inyalldats a
statute, tten the omission Of a comma or
any punctuation mars 10 ana enrolled bin
which was tn the eugrossel h'll acted upon
ly 10th Houses ut Congress would also To-
validate the whole law.
A somewhat similar case arose uader
the Tariff act Of ls12 A comma was
substituted for a hyphen, this slmple
error involving hundreds Of thousands
of dollars. The Supreme Court decilel
that the law as IL was enrolled and
signed by the President was the only
evidence the court could have Of the
intent Of Congress.
The error 10 the MCkISLEY ret was
made by the confeTrees. and Is attribu-
table TO the haste In which the bill was
rushed through during the closing days
Of The session. Everybody was tired;
every body was in hurry everybody
wanted 10 go home. The wonder is
not that this error occurred. but that the
bin vas not literally sown with errors.
Wnen Secretary WISDOM was asked
what be thought of ILe p9iat raised he
said he question, So far as il related 20
him, as one Of questioning The consh-
tu,i0nalily Of law This he did not
think an executive officer had any
Tigh d a.. I- VA, lhe duty. he con
tended, Of an eX-cuive officer 20 en-
fJl,e he law aai lrt the courts pass
ur.r ils clH,liru,.laLily, If tu4l De-
tu-s lantd
AlHutbgr iHe matter Is very intar-
esliug one, and affords an opportunity
Of securing an authoritative decision OF
a vexed question. II should be carried
10 the Supreme Court for settlement.
ORA ABLE sT8EgTge c0ufemD0r4rv