Compensation of collectors of customs. In certain collection districts the compensation of collectors of customs is dependent, in a great measure, upon commissions, fees, and other emoluments, while in some districts a fixed salary is paid. Besides an appreciable saving in the cost of collecting the revenue, a less complex system of accounts, and other advantages to the Service would follow legislation providing for the payment of a fixed compensation to all officers of the customs. Chinese exclusion. In his report to me the Supervising Special Agent* states that during the past year 5,446 Chinese persons applied for admission to this country. Of this number, 1,521 were in transit to other countries, 415 were rejected, and 3,510 were admitted. Many difficulties have been encountered by officers charged with the enforcement of the Chinese exclusion laws, and with few exceptions their duties have been performed with promptness and in an efficient manner. In my opinion, the existing law should be so amended as to provide suitable penalties in cases where fraudulent affidavits are made before notaries public in the preparation of papers upon which claims are made for the admission to this country of Chinese persons alleged to be entitled to that right. In one instance a person was arrested for perjury and his discharge was ordered by the United States commissioner, on the ground that the laws relating to perjury do not extend to affidavits taken before notaries public. Lead-bearing ores. Under existing law, the sampling and assaying of imported ores are required at the ports of entry. The practice heretofore has been to transmit samples of all importations of ores to Government assayers, and upon their reports the entries have been liquidated. To furnish the necessary facilities at El Paso, Tex.; Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and Northport, Wash., an appropriation of $45,000 was made for the erection and equipment of suitable buildings as sampling works at those places. The appropriation referred to was the subject of consideration by this Department, and was deemed sufficient for the object in view. An investigation made since the appropriation was passed shows that the proviso that not less than one-fifth of any importation of ores imported at ports at which no facilities for sampling and assaying are provided be forwarded to ports where such facilities exist, will involve an outlay so great as to prevent a strict compliance with the law, ores being imported, in many instances, at places far distant from either of the ports of El Paso, Bonners Ferry, and Northport. In view of this fact, no action, beyond the preparation of plans and specifications for the erection of the necessary buildings at the ports named, and estimates *See Appendix, page 795. of the cost of such buildings, with their equipment, has been taken by my direction. It has been suggested that if paragraph 165 of the tariff act of 1894 was amended in such manner as to allow importations of lead-bearing ores to be forwarded from the ports of entry, under warehouse and transportation bond, to any properly equipped smelting establishment, a competent official could be stationed at each of such establishments to supervise, personally, the sampling of ores according to commercial methods, and the samples could be submitted then to a regularly appointed Government assayer, for the purpose of ascertaining the quantity of lead contained therein. In view of the fact that about 90 per cent of ores imported into this country are consigned to bonded smelting and refining works, this suggestion meets my approval, and I commend it to favorable consideration. This plan would certainly be less expensive than the transportation of one-fifth of each importation to one of the ports having the necessary facilities, as above set forth. Suggestion has also been made that the administrative difficulties inherent in the present law would disappear, provided all imported ores containing lead should be subject to the same duty, whether or not the lead or other substances in the ore, chiefly silver, constitute the greater value of the mass. Under the present law, whether the duty on imported ore containing lead shall be levied by applying the lead rate, three-fourths of one cent per pound, on the whole weight of the ore, or only on the weight of the lead contained in the mass of ore, depends upon whether the value of the lead is greater or less than that of the silver or other substances in the ore. This ascertainment is most difficult, involving, as stated above, costly sampling works and a large number of employees. The inducements held out to fraud, it would seem, are also many. The plan suggested, however, would not be equitable to all importers of ores containing lead, for the reason that the percentage of lead contents in imported ores varies largely, often ranging from 20 per cent to 60 per cent or over, according to the location of the mines, some ores being rich in lead and others containing only a comparatively small percentage of that metal. An unjust discrimination would be the result of the adoption of a plan providing for a uniform tariff on all imported ores without regard to their component ingredients. Insufficient appropriation. I earnestly urge upon the attention of the Congress the necessity of increasing the appropriation for the collection of the revenue from customs. The fund available for defraying the expenses of collecting the revenue from customs was created by the act of March 3, 1871, now section 3687, Revised Statutes, and consists of an annual appropriation of $5,500,000, in addition to such sums as may be received from fines, penalties, and forfeitures connected with the custsom, and from fees paid into the Treasury by customs officers, and from storage, cartage, drayage, labor, and services." Although the demands upon this appropriation have constantly increased with the growth of the country and the creation of new customs districts and ports, the appropriation at this time is smaller than it was in 1871. The entries of imported merchandise are almost three times as great now as they were in 1878, the first year for which this data has been officially compiled, while the total number of employees throughout the entire service has been increased less than 50 per cent. In 1871 the miscellaneous receipts which are credited to this appropriation amounted to over $1,000,000. Since then the receipts have been largely diminished by legislation affecting fines, penalties, and forfeitures, and the abolition of many fees. For the last fiscal year they amounted to only $605,034.53. These receipts are constantly decreasing, and it has been necessary for Congress to make a deficiency appropriation for this service for each year since 1883. While the deficiency appropriation for the last fiscal year-$1,150,000-was $380,000 larger than the deficiency for the fiscal year 1895$770,000-the revenue collected in 1896 was $7,863, 134.22 in excess of the amount collected in 1895, and the cost of collecting a dollar was $0.0428, while in 1895 the cost of collecting a dollar was $0.0423. In 1895 the number of entries of imported merchandise was 822,886, and the average number of persons employed was 4,485, while in 1896 there were 847,203 entries, and the average number of persons employed was 5,085, an increase of 9 per cent in the number of entries, while the number of employees was increased but 5 per cent. During the years 1891 to 1894 the average number of entries was 725,868, and the average expense of collecting the revenue from customs was $6,788,326.72. Comparing these averages with the number of entries and cost of collection in 1896-$7,315,034.53-shows an increase during the year 1896 of 121,335 entries, or nearly 17 per cent, and an increase in expenses of $526,707.81, or less than 8 per cent. During the past year it was necessary to considerably increase the force at the port of New York to properly supervise the exportations of articles with benefit of drawback of the duties paid, and in order to facilitate the landing of passengers and their baggage at night. The collector of customs at New York advises me that this increase of the force at his port has materially assisted his office "in the transaction of its business in such manner as to confer great benefit upon the traveling public, has elicited expressions of public approval and satisfaction, and has enhanced the vigilance of officials, with corresponding benefit to the revenue." I am satisfied that a further sum could properly have been expended in increasing the compensation of deserving officers who are inadequately paid for the service required of them. The uncertainty in the amount available for defraying the expenses of collecting the revenue from customs causes serious embarrassment to the Service and hardship to the employees. I therefore earnestly recommend that the receipts which are credited to the fund for the collection of the revenue from customs be covered into the Treasury and that an annual appropriation of at least $7,500,000 be made for this service. A table is appended giving a detailed statement of the penal duties remitted by the Department from January 1, 1896, to November 12, 1896, under the provisions of sections 5292 and 5293 of the Revised Statutes as amended by sections 17, 18, and 19 of the act of June 22, 1874. These remissions amounted in the aggregate to $262,507.62. INTERNAL REVENUE. The receipts from the several objects of taxation under the internal revenue laws for the fiscal years ended June 30, 1895 and 1896, were as follows: The receipts from all sources of internal revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, were........ The receipts from the same sources for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1895, were....... The increase for the fiscal year just ended being......... The total cost of collection for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, was.. Decreased cost of collection for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, was.. $146, 830, 615. CG 143, 246, 077. 75 3,584, 537.91 4, 086, 292. 47 4, 127, 601. 16 41, 308. 69 The amounts above stated are the receipts actually collected during the fiscal years mentioned, but in many cases the money collected on the last day of June is not deposited until the 1st day of July, thus causing a discrepancy between the collections and deposits for that year. A detailed statement of the receipts and expenditures will be found in the report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.* The percentage cost of collection for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, was 2.78 per cent, as against 2.81 per cent for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1895. The total production of distilled spirits, exclusive of fruit brandies, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, was 86,588, 703 taxable gallons; * See Appendix, page 508. the total production for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1895, was 79,949,595 taxable gallons, showing an increase in production for the fiscal year just ended of 6,639,108 gallons. There was also produced during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, 1,219,190 gallons of apple brandy, 63,037 gallons of peach brandy, and 2,121,625 gallons of grape brandy, making a total production of 3,403,852 gallons from fruits during the year. A further comparison of the two fiscal years shows an increase of 986,946 gallons in the production of apple brandy, an increase of 58,379 gallons in the production of peach brandy, and an increase of 398,351 gallons of grape brandy for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, an aggregate increase of 1,443,676 gallons produced from fruits as compared with the previous fiscal year. The quantity of distilled spirits gauged for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, was 269,334,762 gallons; the quantity gauged for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1895, was 265,688,906 gallons, making an increase in the quantity gauged for the fiscal year just ended of 3,645,856 gallons. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, 6,187 distilleries of all kinds were operated; for the preceding fiscal year 2,429 distilleries of all kinds were operated, a comparison showing an increase of 3,758 in the number of distilleries operated for the fiscal year just ended. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, there were produced 35,859,250 barrels of beer*; the number of barrels produced during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1895, was 33,589,784, making an increased production for the fiscal year just ended of 2,269,466 barrels. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, the total receipts from the taxes on tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, snuff, etc., were $30,711,629.11. The receipts from the same sources for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1895, were $29,704,907.63, showing an increase of $1,006, 721.48 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896. ENGRAVING AND PRINTING. The operations of the Bureau having charge of this work have been exceedingly gratifying. The cost of the work has been materially reduced, as shown by the report of the Director of that Bureau. During the last three years its work has increased 74 per cent, while the expenditures have only increased 11.99 per cent. The saving to the Government on the work of the year now under consideration, on the basis of former cost, is $168,488.04. Out of the appropriations made for the expenses of the work during the year, $45,460.68 remains unexpended, to be covered back into the Treasury in accordance with law. These results could only have been accomplished by watchful care in the maragement of the Bureau. *Includes 35,152 barrels removed from breweries for export free of tax. |