5. Samples of paper and envelopes should invariably accompany requisitions. 6. Paper and envelopes upon which printing is required should be ordered six weeks in advance of actual needs, as that time is usually required for the necessary printing. 7. While each requisition should include a sufficient quantity of every article needed during the period specified in it, excessive quantities should not be ordered. 8. Typewriter ribbons, carbon paper, rubber bands, and other articles whose life and usefulness are affected by age, will be ordered sparingly. No more than three months' supply of such articles should be on hand at any time. 9. Steel erasers and other edged articles should be sharpened (not thrown away) when dulled, hones being supplied for this purpose. 10. Close economy in the use of stationery is enjoined upon officers, clerks, and employees of the Department. 11. Any defect or inferiority observed by officers and clerks in the use of inks, typewriter ribbons, carbon paper, or any other article of stationery furnished by the Department, should be reported promptly to the Chief of the Division of Stationery, Printing, and Blanks. F. A. VANDERLIP, Assistant Secretary. (21098.) Common carrier. Approving bond of St. Louis, Peoria and Northern Railway Company as a common carrier of appraised merchandise in bond. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, May 8, 1899. SIR: The bond, in duplicate, dated the 8th ultimo, of the St. Louis, Peoria and Northern Railway Company, as a common carrier for the transportation of appraised merchandise in bond, is hereby approved, and one copy thereof is inclosed, to be placed upon the files of your office. Under its bond, the company named is authorized to transport appraised merchandise in bond between any places in the United States which have been, or may be hereafter, designated by law as ports of entry or delivery, in suitable cars or vessels owned or controlled by said company and running over such connecting lines of railway or water routes as may be necessary to reach the port or ports of destination specified in the entry and manifest in each particular In every instance where other cars or vessels than those owned by said company are used they must be distinctly marked "St. Louis, Peoria and Northern Railway Company." case. O. L. SPAULDING, Acting Secretary. Respectfully, yours, (21099.) Silk mull and tinsel gauze. Silk mull and tinsel gauze, composed in chief value of silk weighing over one-third and under 1 ounces per square yard, in which the weight of the silk is under 20 per cent, held to be dutiable at the rate of 50 per cent ad valorem under paragraph 391, act of July 24, 1897, as manufactures of silk, or of which silk is the component material of chief value, not specially provided for. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, May 8, 1899. SIR: The Department is in receipt of a report of the United States attorney for the southern district of New York, in which he states that the appeal to the United States circuit court of appeals for the second circuit, in the case of the United States v. H. B. Claflin Co. (suit 2848), was decided adversely to the Government on March 1, last, the court affirming the decision of the United States circuit court below. The merchandise in suit consisted of silk mull and tinsel gauze, composed in chief value of silk, but in part of other material, weighing over one-third and under 1 ounces per square yard, and in which the weight of the silk was under 20 per cent. Duty was assessed thereon at $3.25 per pound under the latter part of paragraph 387 of the act of July 24, 1897. The importers protested, claiming the merchandise to be dutiable at the rate of 50 per cent ad valorem under paragraph 391 of the same act, as manufactures of silk, or of which silk is the component material of chief value, not specially provided for. The issue involved in this case was as to the construction to be given to paragraph 387 of the silk schedule of the act of July 24, 1897, and is fully discussed in the decision of the Board of General Appraisers (G. A. 4019), dated October 28, 1897. As will be observed by reference to said decision G. A. 4019, the Board of General Appraisers holds that paragraph 387 of the silk schedule of the act of July 24, 1897, may properly be construed as containing three separate and distinct subdivisions : First subdivision. Per pound. Fabrics weighing not less than 13 and not more than 8 ounces per square yard, and containing not more than 20 per cent in weight of silk, if in the gum.... $0.50 If dyed in the piece........ .60 If containing over 20 per cent and not over 30 per cent in weight of silk, if in the gum .65 If dyed in the piece....... .80 If containing more than 30 per cent and not more than 45 per cent in weight of silk, if in the gum..... .90 If dyed in the piece........ 1. 10 If containing not more than 30 per cent in weight of silk, dyed in the thread or yarn, if black (except selvages) .75 If other colors........ .90 If containing more than 30 and not more than 45 per cent in weight of silk, dyed in the thread or yarn, if black (selvages excepted)........ 1.10 Per pound. If other than black. $1.30 If containing more than 45 per cent in weight of silk, if dyed in the thread or yarn, and weighted in dyeing so as to exceed the weight of the raw silk, if black (selvages excepted)..... 1.50 If other than black........ 2.25 Same, if dyed in the thread or yarn, and weighted in dyeing so as not to exceed the weight of the raw silk... 3.00 If in the gum......... 2.50 If boiled off, or dyed in the piece, or printed........ 3.00 Second subdivision. If weighing less than 1 ounces and more than one-third of an ounce per square yard 4.50 If weighing not more than one-third of an ounce per square yard....................... Provided, That in no case shall any of the foregoing fabrics in this paragraph pay a less rate of duty than 50 per centum ad valorem. This decision of the Board of General Appraisers is overruled by the United States circuit court of appeals for the second circuit in the following language: No reason is assigned for accepting this interpretation. If this was what the draftsman had in mind, he would have expressed his idea, with a better conception of English grammar, by breaking his overgrown sentence into three. But neither mere awkwardness of expression nor imperfect punctuation is of much weight in the construction of tariff acts. The importer contends that since various qualifications of the fabrics in question appear in the paragraph the logical way of reading it is to bring down each qualification until a new one of the same kind is specified. And in support of this contention [attention] is called to the circumstance that the Government concedes "that the specification as to weight mentioned at the beginning, namely between 13 and 8 ounces per square yard, affects all the paragraph until a new weight per square yard is mentioned, and that this in turn affects succeeding clauses until the third and lowest weight per square yard is mentioned." It is also "concededly true that the first percentage in weight of silk, namely, under 20 per cent, affects each succeeding clause until a new percentage in silk is mentioned, and that in turn until a new one is specified, and so on down to the point in dispute." The importer contends, with much force, that the "same system prevails throughout the paragraph," and submits a paraphrase or tabulation as follows: Provided, That none of the foregoing shall pay less than 50 per cent ad valorem. Manifestly, the paragraph is susceptible of this construction, and we are inclined to accept it as the true one. It harmonizes better with all earlier tariff acts in making the percentage of silk in the article an important factor in determining the duty on all fabrics of the kind covered by the paragraph, instead of making the mere weight of the article per square yard of mixed goods the controlling criterion. It will be observed also that before we proceed very far in the paragraph the percentage of silk changes from "under 20 per cent" to between "20 per cent and 30 per cent," and so on, and nowhere subsequently in the paragraph is there any return in words to a percentage "under 20 per cent." Therefore, when the first-named characteristic (as to weight) is carried forward to the first part of the paragraph, it is coupled with a constantly changing percentage of silk, and when the weight changes it must either carry forward with it the last-named percentage as the importers construe the paragraph, or else must part company with such last-named percentage as the Board of Appraisers construe it. The difficulty with this latter construction, however, is that, in dropping the percentage, we drop the silk, and we have the result indicated in the paraphrase adopted by the Board, viz, that the second subdivision provides for "fabrics, weighing less than 1 ounces and more than one-third of an ounce per square yard," but does not indicate of what materials such fabrics are composed. And the third subdivision indicates a like result. Of the two suggested interpretations, therefore, we are inclined to accept the one presented by the importer. The decision of the circuit court is affirmed. The Attorney-General advises this Department that no further proceedings will be directed in this case. You are, therefore, hereby authorized to forward to the Department the usual certified statement for refund of the duties exacted in excess in settlement thereof. O. L. SPAULDING, Respectfully, yours, COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, New York, N. Y. Acting Secretary. (21100.) Schedule B.-Classification of commodities for returns of domestic exports. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, May 9, 1899. To collectors of customs and others: 1. Beginning with the first day of July, 1899, the following schedule will govern the classification of commodities, the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States exported to foreign countries, in the monthly statements rendered by collectors of customs to the Bureau of Statistics of this Department. All prior schedules on this subject are superseded by this one. 2. Attention is called to the provisions of law and customs regulations controlling the preparation of the statistical returns under this schedule. LAW AS TO EXPORTS IN VESSELS. 3. Before a clearance shall be granted for any vessel bound to a foreign place, the collector shall require the owners, shippers, or consignors of the cargo to deliver to the collector manifests of the cargo, or the parts thereof shipped by them respectively, which manifests shall specify the kinds and quantities of articles shipped by them respectively, and the value of the total quantity of each kind of articles; and state that such manifest contains a full, just, and true account of all articles laden on board of such vessel by the owners, shippers, or consignors, respectively, and that the values of such articles are truly stated, according to their actual cost or the values which they truly bear at the port and time of exportation. And the collector shall also require the master of the ves sel, and the owners, shippers, and consignors of the cargo to state in writing, to the collector, the foreign place or country in which such cargo is truly intended to be landed. The manifests and statements hereby required shall be verified by the oath of the person by whom they are respectively made and subscribed. (Rev. Stat., 337.) 4. The master or person having the charge or command of any vessel bound to a foreign port, shall deliver to the collector of the district from which such vessel is about to depart, a manifest of all the cargo on board the same, and the value thereof, by him subscribed, and shall swear to the truth thereof; whereupon the collector shall grant a clearance for such vessel and her cargo, but without specifying the particulars thereof in the clearance, unless required by the master or other person having the charge or command of such vessel so to do. If any vessel bound to a foreign port departs on her voyage to such foreign port without delivering such manifest and obtaining a clearance as hereby required, the master or other person having the charge or command of such vessel |