No agreement for a contingent fee in respect to recovery or refund under protest shall be lawful. Compliance with this provision shall be a condition precedent to the validity of the protest and to any refund thereunder, and a violation of this provision shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding $500, or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. 66 Upon such payment of duties, protest, and deposit of protest fee, the collector shall transmit the invoice and all the papers and exhibits connected therewith to the board of nine general appraisers, for due assignment and determination as provided by law; such determination shall be final and conclusive upon all persons interested therein, and the record shall be transmitted to the proper collector or person acting as such, who shall liquidate the entry accordingly, except in cases where an appeal shall be filed in the United States Court of Customs Appeals within the time and in the manner provided for by law. "O. That the general appraisers, or any of them, are hereby authorized to administer oaths, and said general appraisers, the boards of general appraisers, the local appraisers, or the collectors, as the case may be, may cite to appear before them, and examine upon oath any owner, importer, agent, consignee, or other person touching any matter or thing which they, or either of them, may deem material respecting any imported merchandise then under consideration or previously imported within one year, in ascertaining the classification or dutiable value thereof or the rate or amount of duty; and they, or either of them, may require the production of any letters, accounts, contracts, or invoices relating to said merchandise, and may require such testimony to be reduced to writing, and when so taken it shall be filed and preserved for use or reference until the final decision of the collector, appraiser, or said board of appraisers shall be made respecting the valuation or classification of said merchandise, as the case may be; and such evidence shall be given consideration in all subsequent proceedings relating to such merchandise. "P. That if any person so cited to appear shall neglect or refuse to attend, or shall decline to answer, or shall refuse to answer in writing any interrogatories, and subscribe his name to his deposition, or to produce such papers when so required by a general appraiser, or a board of general appraisers, or a local appraiser, or a collector, he shall be liable to a penalty of not less than $20 nor more than $500; and if such person be the owner, importer, or consignee, the appraisement which the Board of General Appraisers or local appraiser, or collector where there is no appraiser, may make of the merchandise shall be final and conclusive; and any person who shall willfully and corruptly swear falsely on an examination before any general appraiser, or Board of General Appraisers, or local appraiser or collector, shall be deemed guilty of perjury; and if he is the owner, importer, or consignee, the merchandise shall be forfeited, or the value thereof may be recovered from him. "Q. That all decisions of the general appraisers and of the boards of general appraisers, respecting values and rates of duty shall be preserved and filed, and shall be open to inspection under proper regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. All decisions of the general appraisers shall be reported forthwith to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the Board of General Appraisers on duty at the port of New York, and the report to the board shall be accompanied, whenever practicable, by samples of the merchandise in question, and it shall be the duty of the said board, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, to cause an abstract to be made and published of such decisions of the appraisers as they or he may deem important, to be published either in full, or if full publication shall not be requested by the Secretary or by the board, then by an abstract containing a general description of the merchandise in question, a statement of the facts upon which the decision is based, and of the value and rate of duty fixed in each case, with reference, whenever practicable, by number or other designation, to samples deposited in the place of samples at New York, and such abstracts shall be issued from time to time, at least once in each week, for the information of customs officers and the public. "R. That whenever imported merchandise is subject to an ad valorem rate of duty, or to a duty based upon or regulated in any manner by the value thereof, the duty shall be assessed upon the actual market value or wholesale price thereof, at the time of exportation to the United States, in the principal markets of the country from whence exported; that such actual market value shall be held to be the price at which such merchandise is freely offered for sale to all purchasers in said markets, in the usual wholesale quantities, and the price which the seller, shipper, or owner would have received, and was willing to receive, for such merchandise when sold in the ordinary course of trade in the usual wholesale quantities, including the value of all cartons, cases, crates, boxes, sacks, casks, barrels, hogsheads, bottles, jars, demijohns, carboys, and other containers or coverings, whether holding liquids or solids, and all other costs, charges, and expenses incident to placing the merchandise in condition, packed ready for shipment to the United States, and if there be used for covering or holding imported merchandise, whether dutiable or free, any unusual article or form designed for use otherwise than in the bona fide transportation of such merchandise to the United States, additional duty shall be levied and collected upon such material or article at the rate to which the same would be subjected if separately imported. That the words "value," or actual market value, or "wholesale price," whenever used in this Act, or in any law relating to the appraisement of imported merchandise, shall be construed to be the actual market value or wholesale price of such, or similar merchandise comparable in value therewith, as defined in this Act. 66 "S. Any merchandise deposited in any public or private bonded warehouse may be withdrawn for consumption within three years from the date of original importation, on payment of the duties and charges to which it may be subject by law at the time of such withdrawal: Provided, That nothing herein shall affect or impair existing provisions of law in regard to the disposal of perishable or explosive articles. "T. That in all suits or informations brought, where any seizure has been made pursuant to any Act providing for or regulating the collection of duties on imports or tonnage, if the property is claimed by any person, the burden of proof shall lie upon such claimant, and in all actions or proceedings for the recovery of the value of merchandise imported contrary to any Act providing for or regulating the collection of duties on imports or tonnage, the burden of proof shall be upon the defendant: Provided, That probable cause is shown for such prosecution, to be judged of by the court. "U. That if any person, persons, corporations, or other bodies, selling, shipping, consigning, or manufacturing merchandise exported to the United States, shall fail or refuse to submit to the inspection of a duly accredited investigating officer of the United States, when so requested to do, any or all of his books, records, or accounts pertaining to the value or classification of such merchandise, then the Secretary of the Treasury, in his discretion, is authorized while such failure or refusal continues to levy an additional duty of 15 per centum ad valorem on all such merchandise when imported into the United States: Provided, however, That such additional duties shall not be imposed in case the laws of the country of exportation provide for the administration, by its duly authorized officers, of oaths to invoices, or statements of cost, before certification by consuls, and for punishment for false swearing under said oaths, whenever consuls are directed by the Secretary of State, under section twenty-eight hundred and sixty-two of the Revised Statutes, to require such oaths before certification of the invoices. “V. That if any person, persons, corporations, or other bodies, engaged in the importation of merchandise into the United States or engaged in dealing with such imported merchandise, shall fail or refuse to submit to the inspection of a duly accredited investigating officer of the United States, upon request so to do from the chief officer of customs at the port where such merchandise is entered, any or all of his books, records, or accounts pertaining to the value or classification of any such imported merchandise, then the Secretary of the Treasury, in his discretion, is authorized while such failure or refusal continues, to assess additional duty of 15 per centum on all merchandise consigned to or imported by, or shipped, or intended for delivery, to such person, persons, corporations, or other bodies so failing or refusing. "W. That where merchandise purchased or manufactured in different consular districts in the same country is assembled for shipment and embraced in a single invoice and consulated at the shipping point, such invoice shall have attached thereto the original bills or invoices or statements in the nature of such, showing the prices actually paid, contracted to be paid, fixed, or determined, and in connection with each such pur chase or consignment the invoice shall state all charges and expenses as provided in paragraph R of this section. "X. No allowance shall be made in the estimation and liquidation of duties for shortage or nonimportation caused by decay, destruction, or injury to fruit or other perishable articles imported into the United States whereby their commercial value has been destroyed, unless under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Proof to ascertain such destruction or nonimportation shall be lodged with the collector of customs of the port where such merchandise has been landed, or the person acting as such, within ten days after the landing of such merchandise. The provisions hereof shall apply whether or not the merchandise has been entered, and whether or not the duties have been paid or secured to be paid, and whether or not a permit of delivery has been granted to the owner or consignee. Nor shall any allowance be made for damage, but the importers may within ten days after entry abandon to the United States all or any portion of goods, wares, or merchandise of every description included in any invoice and be relieved from the payment of duties on the portion so abandoned: Provided, That the portion so abandoned shall amount to 10 per centum or more of the total value or quantity of the invoice. The right of abandonment herein provided for may be exercised whether the goods, wares, or merchandise have been damaged or not, or whether or not the same have any commercial value: Provided further, That section twenty-eight hundred and ninety-nine of the Revised Statutes, relating to the return of packages unopened for appraisement, shall in no wise prohibit the right of importers to make all needful examinations to determine whether the right to abandon accrues, or whether by reason of total destruction there is a nonimportation in whole or in part. All merchandise abandoned to the Government by the importers shall be delivered by the importers thereof at such place within the port of arrival as the chief officer of customs may direct, and on the failure of the importers to comply with the direction of the collector or the chief officer of customs, as the case may be, the abandoned merchandise shall be disposed of by the customs authorities under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, at the expense of such importers. Where imported fruit or perishable goods have been condemned at the port of original entry within ten days after landing, by health officers or other legally constituted authorities, the importers or their agents shall, within twenty-four hours after such condemnation, lodge with the collector, or the person acting as collector, of said port, notice thereof in writing, together with an invoice description and the quantity of the articles condemned, their location, and the name of the vessel in which imported. Upon receipt of said notice the collector, or person acting as collector, shall at once cause an investigation and a report to be made in writing by at least two customs officers touching the identity and quantity of fruit or perishable goods condemned, and unless proof to ascertain the shortage or nonimportation of fruit or perishable goods shall have been lodged as herein required, or if the importer or his agent fails to notify the collector of such condemnation proceedings as herein provided, proof of such shortage or nonimportation shall not be deemed established and no allowance shall be made in the liquidation of duties chargeable thereon. "Y. That whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury that, in any case of unascertained or estimated duties, or payments made upon appeal, more money has been paid to or deposited with a collector of customs than, as has been ascertained by final liquidation thereof, the law required to be paid or deposited, the Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the Treasurer to refund and pay the same out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. The necessary moneys therefor are hereby appropriated, and this appropriation shall be deemed a permanent indefinite appropriation; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to correct manifest clerical errors in any entry or liquidation for or against the United States, at any time within one year of the date of such entry, but not afterwards: Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall, in his annual report to Congress, give a detailed statement of the various sums of money refunded under the provisions of this Act or of any other Act of Congress relating to the revenue, together with copies of the rulings under which repayments were made. "Z. That, from and after the taking effect of this Act, no collector or other officer of the customs shall be in any way liable to any owner, importer, consignee, or agent of any merchandise, or any other person, for or on account of any rulings or decisions as to the classification of said merchandise or the duties charged thereon, or the collection of any dues, charges, or duties on or on account of said merchandise, or any other matter or thing as to which said owner, importer, consignee, or agent of such merchandise might, under this Act, be entitled to appeal from the decision of said collector or other officer, or from any board of appraisers. "AA. That any person who shall give, or offer to give, or promise to give, any money or thing of value, directly or indirectly, to any officer or employee of the United States in consideration of or for any act or omission contrary to law in connection with or pertaining to the importation, appraisement, entry, examination, or inspection of goods, wares, or merchandise, including herein any baggage or of the liquidation of the entry thereof, or shall by threats or demands or promises of any character attempt to improperly influence or control any such officer or employee of the United States as to the performance of his official duties shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not exceeding $2,000, or be imprisoned at hard labor not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court; and evidence of such giving, or offering, or promising to give, satisfactory to the court in which such trial is had, shall be regarded as prima facie evidence that such giving or offering or promising was contrary to law, and shall put |