who shall first give the information whereby any such fine may be imposed.]

Cashier.* Salary, Duties and Powers, Bond of, &c.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the cashier of internal duties, who shall hereafter be called cashier of internal revenue, and whose annual salary shall be twenty-five hundred dollars, shall perform such duties as may be assigned to his office by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, under the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury, and shall give a bond, with sufficient sureties, to be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, and by the Solicitor, that he will faithfully account for all the moneys or other articles of value belonging to the United States which may come into his hands, and perform all the duties enjoined upon his office, according to law and regulations, as aforesaid; which bond shall be deposited with the First Comptroller of the Treasury.

Collection Districts, and Appointment of Assessors and Collectors.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the second section of an act entitled "An act to provide internal revenue to support the government and to pay interest on the public debt, approved July one, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, shall remain and continue in full force; and the President is hereby authorized to alter the respective collection districts provided for in said section as the public interests may require.

Same Subject. Limitation of Districts.

(SEC. 2. Act of July 1, 1862.) And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of assessing, levying, and collecting the duties or taxes hereinafter prescribed by this act, the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to divide, respectively the States and Territories of the United States and the District of Columbia into convenient collection districts, and to nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint an assessor and a collector for each such district, who shall be residents within the same: Provided, That any of said States and Territories and the District of Columbia may, if the President shall deem it proper, be erected into and included in one district: Provided, That the number of Districts in any State shall not exceed the number of Representatives to which such State shall be entitled in the present Congress, except in such States as are entitled to an increased representation in the thirty-eighth Congress, in which States the number of districts shall not exceed the number of Representatives to which any such State may be so entitled: And provided further, That in the State of California the President may establish a number of districts, not exceeding the number of Senators and Representatives to which said State is entitled in the present Congress.

*See Section 65 of the Act of 1866, in which, it seems, the Cashier is not reained in the reorganization of the Internal Revenue Department.

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Division of Assessment Districts. Appointment of Assistants, * Vacancies, &c.*

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That each assessor shall divide his district into a convenient number of assessment districts, which may be changed as often as may be deemed necessary, subject to such regulations and limitations as may be imposed by the Commissioner of In

*ASSISTANT ASSESSORS.

As stated in a previous note in relation to the duties of the assessor, the duties of his assistant are co-extensive with the various provisions of the law in relation to the assessment, and will be to a great extent detailed in the text; but it may be useful to analyze generally the routine of his office, and the duties devolving upon him:

1. Before entering upon the performance of any official duty, his appointment and the limits of his assessment division are published in some newspaper printed in the district, and if one is printed in his division, it should properly appear in that.

2. He takes the prescribed oaths and causes them to be filed with the assessor and collector, to be duly transmitted to the department.

3. He makes a carefully prepared list of the names of every person in his division subject to license tax, or engaged in the manufacture of any taxed production or article; also of every state corporation liable to assessment, and of any and all persons liable to any duty, tax or assessment; and monthly, at least, to revise such list, that he may have continually before him an intimate knowledge of his division, with its shops, factories, storehouses and stores, railroads, banks, insurance offices, bridges, ferries, &c.

4. He should keep careful record of all persons who decease in his division, that he may at the proper time assess "legacies and successions," and in this behalf he should, as often as once a quarter, examine the records of the Surrogate's Courts and Courts of Probate of Wills, &c.; also the Registry of Deeds for the transfer of any estates which may be liable to the tax upon successions, upon "voluntary and other conveyances."

5. Provision should be made for keeping a room or office in his division, and a notification to the public of its location. In the present law it is provided that an allowance may be made for the rent of such office in such divisions as the commissioner may authorize. (Vide Section 22.).

6. He should devote his whole time to the duties of his office, to the exclusion of other employment, rendering his bills for his services promptly to the assessor on the first day of every month.

7. The proper performance of his important duties demands of him a familiar and thorough knowledge of the provisions of the statute, and the rulings and instructions of the department as communicated to him by the Assessor or otherwise.

8. On the first day of May annually he should be prepared to commence his annual assessment, and furnish every person in his division who may be liable to license duty or income assessment with the appropriate blanks, keeping careful lists of each blank or notice which he may issue, personally serving all notices which may be the ground of assessment on failure of due return of the person liable, that he may, if need be, verify such service.

9. On the first of every month he should supply manufacturers and others with the proper blanks, and insist upon a literal compliance with the provisions of the law in every respect, that he may be prepared on the fifteenth of the month, or at such other times as required to forward his monthly or other list to his principal.

In the preparation of the annual (May) list, the greatest care and diligence are required of the assistant. Many persons, of course, pay no taxes of any kind during the year, and are not liable to any; but the assistant cannot know

ternal Revenue, within each of which the assessor, whenever there shall be a vacancy, shall appoint, with the approval of said Commissioner, one or more assistant assessors, who shall be a resident of such assessment district; and in case of a vacancy occurring in the office of assessor by reason of death or any other cause, the assistant assessor of the assessment district in which the assessor resided at the time of the vacancy

this fact intuitively; and it becomes necessary, and is made obligatory by the terms of the law, that his annual visitation should extend to every part of his subdivision, which would seem to extend to every household, shop, store, factory, mill, warehouse, or other place of business in such subdivision. If he finds the occupants absent, he leaves a notice addressed to him requiring a sworn list or return, within ten days. Upon such notice, or refusal, or neglect to make the return within the time required, he is subject to be summoned before the assessor of the district, and to severe penalties for failure to obey the summons, or for a false or fraudulent return.

The assistant assessor is also vested with authority to enter upon premises where property is situate, not owned or possessed by, or under the care of any person within his division, and take such view thereof as may be necessary to make lists of the same, and assess the tax due, which list being subscribed by him, is deemed a sufficient list for all legal purposes.

It is also further provided, that a person having taxable property in another district than that where he resides, may make a return to the assistant assessor in the district where he actually has his home or place of business. This list is transmitted to the assistant of the district where the property is situate for examination and approval, or alteration, modification or additions; and then returned to the assistant from whom it was received, who proceeds to make the assessment, upon the return, in all respects as if the list had been taken by himself. This provision is for the convenience of the tax-payer, enabling him to pay his tax at his place of residence.

It is apparent, that practically the assistant has personally to perform much labor premised by the law, to be performed by the person liable to the tax. Very many persons, unfamiliar with business, and totally unfamiliar or ignorant of the law, are wholly unable to make out a proper return or list, however willing and desirous they may be to conform to every requirement; and are unable to procure the services of others, more competent for this purpose; many are uncertain or doubtful as to their liability to assessment, and seek a personal interview with the assistant, that he may "explain matters," and if a return is necessary, get the latter to make out the list or return. Some (they are, we are happy to say, but few,) seek to evade taxation, and it becomes necessary to "ferret them out," and procure from them such list or return, as will enable the assistant to determine the tax to be imposed. A faithful and diligent assistant will find all his time fully occupied in the performance of the duties imposed upon him by the law, and those thrown upon him by the forgetfulness, the negligence or the dishonesty of tax-payers. The experience of all principal assessors is uniform, that the aggregate of the assessments of his district, is materially increased or lessened, in the proportion that his assistants are faithful and industrious, or on the other hand lacking in energy, firmness and zeal. (Special assistants are appointed to have charge of distilleries, who receive the same pay as other assistants.)

The accounts of assessors for expenses and commissions are rendered quarterly, on the first days of January, April, July and October, embodied in Form 82, to be sent by the assessor to the Commissioner, immediately after the close of each quarter. When the account is audited, the amount found due is paid to the assessor, either by a draft on the Treasury or by an order on the collector or disbursing agent. (Circular 22, revised. October, 1865. Appendix, Series 2, No. 2.)

The monthly pay of the assessor and his expenses for clerical service, ia

occurring shall act as assessor until an appointment filling the vacancy shall be made.

Collectors' Bonds. Renewal of Same.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That before any collector shall enter upon the duties of his office, he shall execute a bond for such

included in the collector's monthly estimate or Form 54. There is allowed for his clerk hire each month, one twelfth of the annual allowance, theretofore fixed by the 1st Comptroller, and the Secretary of the Treasury. (Circular 22, Revised. Appendix, Series 2, No.)

As to the duty of the assessor in relation to false or fraudulent returns, see Special Circular No. 12 of January 9, 1865. (Int. Rev. Rec., Vol. I., p. 19.) All assessors in the several districts, at the close of each month, should transmit severally to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the Commissioner, statements showing the true amounts of the assessments, certified by them to the collectors of the several districts for collection. (Treasury Regulations of June 20, 1865. II. Int. Rev. Rec. 4. Series 2, No. 2.

For full detail of respective and distinctive duties of assessors, collectors and revenue agents, see Circulars and Rulings of Department of June 20, 1865, and Aug. 24, 1865. (II. Int. Rev. Rec., pp. 84-146. Series 2, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4.) Judge Smalley of the United States Circuit Court has rendered a decision at Buffalo, that a United States assessor has no right to review any assessment made by him, and which has been transmitted to the collector and paid; and that the assessor has no authority under the law to require any man to appear for examination in regard to such returns, nor to compel him to submit his books for examination, and that the assessors' proceedings in all such cases are a nullity, and without color of law. See review of the extent and effect of this decision. (III. Int. Rev. Rec., pp. 134–150.)

APPEALS TO ASSESSOR.

WITNESSES AT APPEALS.-"The Proviso to Section 19 provides for the rates at which witnesses should be paid when attending the appeals of assessors, and although this is a special provision relating to such cases, yet as the general practice of paying witnesses is universal, there seems to be no violence done in construing Section 19 as applicable to the case of witnesses when summoned under Section 14."

Any expenses of this character will have to be paid by the collector as disbursing agent under the regulations of June 27, 1865." (Ruling of Commissioners July 26, 1865, Int. Rev. Rec. Vol. II. p. 101, Circular No. 4, Revised in Appendix.)

The bills of assistant assessors are paid by the collectors as disbursing agents, and embrace the per-diem, and the three dollars per hundred persons assessed, and nothing else. If any other items are included in the bills the collectors as disbursing agents are directed to strike out such items and pay the balance only. All claims of assistant assessors other than the persons assessed and the per diem are sent to the assessor, and if correct, included in his quarterly account. They are not allowed for services performed on Sundays, unless employed in the superintendence of a distillery in operation on that day. In making charges for persons assessed in any list, each person assessed will be counted but once, although his name may be entered several times on the list. (Circular 22, Revised. No. 4 Revised, Appendix Series 2, No. 2.)

The assistant assessor soon becomes familiar with all the manufacturing establishments, workshops, &c., of his subdivision, with the average amount of their monthly productions, capacity, number of hands employed, state of market, &c.; enabling him with great certainty to estimate the duty. It is also his province, frequently to make personal examination of the different

amount as shall be prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, with not less than five sureties to be approved by the Solicitor of the Treasury, conditioned that said collector shall faithfully perform the duties of his office according to law, and shall justly and faithfully account for and pay over to the United States, in compliance with the order or regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury, all public moneys which may come into his

shops and establishments, and in case of suspected inaccuracies or fraud, to examine in detail the books of the concern. If with courteous and gentlemanly bearing, he performs his duty in the premises (and one destitute of these qualities is not a fit officer) his visits and examinations at the mills and shops of honest tax-payers will never be looked upon with displeasure, or treated in a hostile spirit. There is no more loyal or respectable class in the world than the artisans, artificers and manufacturers of the United States; and so far as the experience of the writer extends, in a district largely engaged in these pursuits, no class seems to be more ready or willing to do their full share to support the burthens of the law. But there are doubtless exceptions; and the utmost energy, industry and firmness are demanded of the assistant assessor, that the dishonest manufacturer may not escape his scrutiny, and the share he should take, equally with others, in the support of the government, be by him fully assumed.

The most important duty of the assistant assessor in preparing and returning his annual list, is of course the income tax. We do not propose in this connection to discuss the requirements of the law in relation to this very important matter of incomes. The rates of tax, the regulations and instructions and decisions pertaining thereto will be hereafter fully considered. But as pertaining to the general duties of an assistant assessor in the matter, we would merely state in this place, that it is his duty to require all persons of lawful age, and all guardians, trustees, executors and administrators of all persons deceased, to make a return of the amount of their income or of the persons whom they represent, in such form as may be prescribed by the commissioner, stating the source from which such income is derived; and in case of refusal, the assistant makes an assessment and adds to the amount the prescribed penalties, as provided in other cases of neglect or refusal to make lists or returns. He also has authority to increase the amount of the list or return of any party making such return, if he is satisfied that the same is understated. In ascertaining the amount he should assess upon delinquents, he has the right to refer to any list of assessment or collection taken under the laws of the respective States, or to any other records or documents, and to the written list, schedule or return required to be delivered to him, if such has been made out; and by any other lawful ways and means to gain the fullest information in the matter, which may aid him in ascertaining and verifying the facts. After his assessment of the income of any individual is made, the assessor, dissatisfied with the return, has, as before stated, plenary power to send for persons, books and papers, and examine witnesses in the matter of false or understated returns.

So much in relation to the official duty of an assistant assessor, in connection with the annual list and returns. When complete, he arranges the same, and divides them into two general lists in alphabetical order; the first exhibiting the name of the residents of his assessment division liable to duty, tax or license, and the object for which they are liable, with the amount of the duty or tax payable; and the second exhibiting also in alphabetical order the names of non-residents, with similar statement of enumeration, assessments and values, with the duty or tax due. These general annual lists he returns to the assessor, within thirty days after the term fixed by the act for the completion of this part of the work. (See Instructions, Series 2, No. 1. See Appendix.)

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