1061. Light money, at the rate of 50 cents per ton on foreign vessels, as established by the act of the 27th March, 1804, is still payable; the same not being repealed by the act of the 14th January, 1817: C's cir. 31st March, 1817; V. 1, p. 331. 1062. The rates of Light money levied on recorded vessels and others, not of the United States, remain at 50 cents per ton, to be accounted for in connection with the Abstracts of Tonnage duties: C's cir. 15th October, 1817; V. 1, p. 349. 1063. Tonnage duties and Light money, the rates of, as prescribed by the acts of the 14th January and 1st March, 1817, according to the character and privileges of the respective vessels entering any Collection district, are explained: C's cir. 15th October, 1817; V. 1, p. 349. (61.) Light money on foreign vessels at 50 cents per ton: -returns of, with Tonnage Abstracts: [Same subject.] (61.) The rates of Tonnage duties stated in the foregoing note, embodied from the circular of the 31st March, 1817, are somewhat variant from the details given by the above circular of the 15th October, 1817, though derived from the same authorities. On account of the greater minuteness of the latter, and on account of the rates of Light money being also included, whenever (though rarely) chargeable, the following abstract of them is given here—upon the former of which rates the remarks appended to the foregoing note are equally pertinent. For greater perspicuity and method, the order of arrangement is changed in the following communication; but the numerical order of the "circular's" arrangement is preserved, also, in brackets, viz : I. 1. [7.] "On Registered (American) vessels, entering from a foreign port or place, whose officers, and at least two-thirds of the crew, are citizens of the United States, or not subjects of any foreign power 2. [9.] "On Registered (American) vessels, entering in a District in one State from a District in another State, except an adjoining State on the sea coast, or on a navigable river or lake, having on board goods taken in one State to be delivered in another State, and of whose crew at least three-fourths are American Citizens, or not subject to any foreign power 3. [11.] 4. [6.] 5. [8.] "On Enrolled and Licensed (American) vessels, for the Coasting trade or Fisheries, (except as ex- "On Registered (American) vessels, entering from a foreign port or place, unless the Officers, and at "On Registered (American) vessels, on entering a District in one State from a District in another 6 cents per Ton. 6 cents. 6 cents. 50 cents. 50 cents. 6. [10.] II. 1. [3.] "On Enrolled and Licensed (American) vessels for the Coasting trade or Fisheries, [except as except- 50 cents. 2. [2.] 3. [1] "On Foreign vessels, which are not entitled to the benefits of the Convention with Great Britain, 6 cents. 50 cents. 4. [5.] "On Recorded vessels, [meaning vessels having American Certificates of Record] on their entry from 50 cents. 5. [4.] "On Recorded vessels, on their entry from a foreign port or place, to or with which American ves- 200 cents. 50 cents per ton 1064. Light money, at 50 cents per ton, on French vessels, is still chargeable on them, dollars Tonnage duty, notwithstanding the Tonnage duty of $18 dollars per ton imposed by the act of 15th May, 1820, on all French vessels entering ports of the United States after the 1st July, 1820: C's cir. 5th June, 1820; V. 2, p. 93. Light money, and 18 on French vessels. Vessels in ballast pay tonnage. Tonnage duties repealed as to American vessels, and conditionally as to foreign. What foreign ves 1065. Tonnage duty is decided to be the same, whether a vessel arrive in ballast or with a cargo: C's cir. 26th January, 1829; V. 3, p. 5. . 1066. Tonnage duties, on all vessels of the United States whose officers and two-thirds of the crew are American citizens, are repealed by act of 31st May, 1830, and likewise on certain foreign vessels, conditionally, from and after the 1st April, 1831: C's cir. 15th November, 1830; V. 3, p. 89. 1067. A list is transmitted to Collectors of those nations whose vessels are liable to pay sels still subject to dis- discriminating Tonnage and other duties, notwithstanding the aforesaid act of the 31st May, 1830: C's cir. 9th April, 1831; V. 3, p. 149. criminating tonnage. 1068. Coasting and fishing vessels are decided to be not liable to Tonnage duties, provided three fourths of the crew, at least, be citizens of the United States. [It appears that this decision is made in reference to the 5th section of the act of the 1st March, 1817; while the act of the 31st May, 1830, interposes the fullest authority for the exemption from duty—the same being repealed, with conditions of a different ratio of their men being American citizens]: C's cir. 15th June, 1835; V. 3, p. 509. 1069. The form of a Quarterly Abstract of Tonnage duties arising in a quarter is transmitted, to be returned with the quarterly account current to the Treasury for settlement: S's cir. 2d October, 1789; V. 1, p. 7. 1070. An abstract of Tonnage duties, (another form of,) to accompany Collectors' quarterly returns, is transmitted: C's cir. 1st December, 1789; V. 1, p. 5. 1071. The aforesaid abstract is amended: C's cir. 27th April, 1791; V. 1, p. 19. 1072. The returns of duties on the tonnage of vessels, for the quarter ending the last of September instant, are requested to be made with all despatch: S's cir. 21st September, 1791; V. 1, p. 97. 1073. A new form of abstract of Tonnage duties accruing in a quarter is prescribed and transmitted to Collectors: C's cir. 15th October, 1817; V. 1, p. 349. 1074. The form of an abstract of Tonnage duty and Light money (62) collected in a quarter, is prescribed: C's folio cir. 31st July, 1821; p. 9. (62.) Tonnage duties and Light money used to be returned in separate abstracts, until 1804, when they were informally connected; and by the folio circular of 31st July, 1821, they are formally blended in one, without any manifest affinity between them. 1075. An account of money received for storage of goods, and of disbursements made on account of public stores, is to be returned quarterly, according to form transmitted: C's folio cir. 31st July, 1821; p. 11. 1076. An abstract of the storage of goods deposited in the public stores, showing all receipts for such storage, and the disbursements on account of said stores, (for store rent, storekeepers, cartage, labor, fuel, and stationery, with the vouchers,) is required by the Civil Appropriation act of the 3d March, 1841: C's cir. 28th October, 1841; V. 3, p. 906. 1077. An abstract of the proceeds of unclaimed merchandise sold is prescribed and transmitted, to be returned quarterly: C's folio cir. 31st July, 1821; p. 10. STORAGE-receipts and disbursements. [Same subject.] PROCEEDS OF UN CLAIMED GOODS. RECEIPTS FOR AP 1078. An abstract of moneys received for appraising of goods, (applicable to the salaries of public appraisers,) is required to be rendered to the Treasury quarterly: C's cir. 17th PRAISING OF GOODS. September, 1818; V. 1, p. 417. CLEARANCE MONEY, OR 1079. The form of an abstract of the Duties accruing on Passports and Clearances of PASSPORT AND vessels, (otherwise called fees,) is transmitted, to be returned quarterly to the Treasury: DUTIES. C's cir. 15th August, 1796; V. 1, p. 135. 1080. The aforesaid abstract of duties or fees received for Passports and Clearances of vessels is modified: C's folio cir. 31st July, 1821; p. 9. 1081. An abstract of Light money collected of foreign vessels after the 30th June, 1804, is to be returned quarterly to the Treasury, in connection with the abstract of Tonnage duties: C's cir. 30th June, 1804; V. 1, p. 349. 1082. The form of an abstract of Light money (and Tonnage duties-see No. 1074) collected in a quarter, is prescribed, to be returned quarterly: C's folio cir. 31st July, 1821; p. 9. [Same subject.] LIGHT MONEY and tonnage duties. [Same subject.] QUARTERLY RETURNS OF MARINE 1083. Minute instructions are given for executing "the act (concerning the collection of the Hospital tax) for the relief of sick and disabled seamen," &c., &c.: C's cir. 28th Oc- HOSPITAL TAX. tober, 1798; V. 1, p. 165. 1084. The quarterly returns of the moneys received and paid away, on account of Marine Hospitals, (63) are earnestly called to the attention of Collectors acting as Hospital agents: S's cir. 20th August, 1801; V. 1, p. 207. [Same subject.] (63.) For a full account of the official instructions on this subject, see Chapter 2, Section 3, "on the Marine Hospital System,” ante, Nos. 210 to 253. DISCRIMINATING DUTIES ON GOODS IMPORT SECTION 10. Of Discriminating Impost and Tonnage duties in particular; (64) that is, the discrimination between the duties imposed on goods imported in American vessels and on goods imported in Foreign vessels, and between the Tonnage of American vessels and the Tonnage of Foreign vessels, as they existed anterior and subsequent to the conditionally repealing act of 1815. 1085. The Secretary of the Treasury prescribes a method of estimating the 10 per cent. ED IN AMERICAN AND abatement required by the 5th section of the Tariff act of September, 1789, to be deducted FOREIGN VESSELS: -forms of quarterly abstracts, and of returns for settlement: [Same subject.] from the duties on goods imported in American vessels, as a discrimination made by said act in favor of American navigation against the like importations made in Foreign vessels: S's cir. 30th November, 1789; V. 1, p. 29. 1086. The form of a Quarterly Account Current of duties received, and moneys paid away by Collectors during a quarter, together with forms of Quarterly Abstracts of said duties, and vouchers of said payments, to accompany and sustain said Quarterly Accounts Current, are transmitted to Collectors, (along with other forms of accounts,) to be observed by them in making their quarterly returns for settlement at the Treasury: C's cir. 1st December, 1789; V. 1, pp. 1 to 10. 1087. Among the aforesaid forms, the abstract of duties on imports is required to show the discrimination of 10 per cent. deducted from the duties on the goods imported in American vessels, according to the 5th section of the Tariff of September, 1789: C's cir. 1st December, 1789; V. 1, p. 4. (64.) Though these subjects of Discriminating Duties have, in general, been already embraced under the sections on Impost and Tonnage duties, yet as they have, by the conditional repealing act of 3d March, 1815, been made a special subject of Treaty reciprocity stipulations, separate and apart from the main subjects of Impost and Tonnage duties, it has been deemed proper to give them a particular notice in a separate concluding section to this chapter. It will be perceived that the subject of Discriminating Duties has but seldom been specially noticed in circular instructions, until the conditional repeal thereof by the act just mentioned; but that, in consequence of that act, there has been a great increase of official instructions and clerical labor in the Customs and in the Treasury Department, to conform to all the contingencies respecting the Discriminating Duties repealed or still chargeable on the merchandise and tonnage of particular nations, and the refunding thereof in certain cases when collected contrary to reciprocal equalization, as may be seen in the sequel of this section. Anterior to the said repealing act, the chief notices that were taken of Discriminating Duties, though embodied in the sections on Impost and Tonnage duties, are again repeated above, except the detailed rates of tonnage on American and Foreign vessels, as given in notes on Nos. 1060 and 1063, in the section on Tonnage, &c., and not repeated; but, by referring to those notes, the Tonnage duties on most Foreign vessels will be perceived to run from 50 to 200 cents per ton, at each entry into American ports; while the American tonnage was generally but 6 cents per ton a year; the excess of which, on Foreign vessels, was of course a discriminating tonnage duty; and at one time the duty on French tonnage amounted to $18 a ton. All of which disparity, between American and foreign or alien tonnage duties, indicate that there must have been a very strong and sudden motive to abolish such discriminating duties. The discriminating impost duties, in the first instance, under the act of 1789, consisted of 10 per cent. discount or abatement of duties on goods imported in American vessels; but this was early substituted or superseded by the mere form of adding the 10 per cent. to the (ad valorem and specific) duties on the merchandise imported in Foreign vessels over and above the same duties on the same description of goods imported in American vessels. It may not be out of place to remark, in conclusion, that, in estimating the ad valorem duties, the 20 per cent. which is required to be added, in all cases, to the appraised value of goods imported from and beyond the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, and the 10 per cent. added to the value of goods imported from elsewhere, to form the aggregate value on which the rates of ad valorem duties are to be levied, are not discriminating additions, because these per centages are added to the value of the goods subject to ad valorem duties, whether imported in American or Foreign bottoms. It may also be here noted that the mode of estimating the ad valorem duties on merchandise imported, whether in American or Foreign vessels, is always stated at the foot of the first page of the Alphabetical Tariff Tables usually issued for each new Tariff act; and, at the same time, sundry decisions on ad valorem and specific rates of duty on particular articles left dubious by the law, are also given in the form of note on the different articles, as they occur in the alphabetical order of the Tables. 1088. The forms of two abstracts of duties, one for the duties arising on goods imported in American vessels, and the other for the duties arising on goods imported in Foreign ves. sels, (having reference to the 10 per cent. now added to the former rates, as the discrimination between the American and Foreign navigation,) are transmitted, as more convenient than the forms heretofore used: C's cir. 4th August, 1792; V. 1, p. 31. 1089. A new form of the quarterly abstract of duties payable under the Tariff of the 7th June, 1804, is prescribed (but the form not being preserved, and no description given of it in the circular, we are left to presume that the customary distinction between the duties on goods imported in American and in Foreign vessels is made in said form): C's cir. 8th August, 1794; V. 1, p. 111. 1090. Two new forms of abstracts of duties are transmitted to Collectors, one for the duties on goods imported in American vessels, and one for the duties on goods imported in Foreign vessels, corresponding with the rates demandable on said goods, according to the new Tariff, from the 30th of June, 1804: C's cir. 16th May, 1804; V. 1, p. 225. 1091. All discriminating duties between American and Foreign Tonnage, and between merchandise imported in American and Foreign vessels, are repealed by act of 3d March, 1815, to go into effect by proclamation from the President, in each instance, whenever the reciprocal action of any foreign Government shall authorize it in regard to their vessels, &c.: C's cir. 22d March, 1815; V. 1, p. 279. 1092. The Secretary of the Treasury informs Collectors, &c., that he "postpones addressing them, generally, upon the subject of the CONVENTION to regulate the commerce between the United States and Great Britain, until Congress shall decide upon the bill which is now under consideration for carrying the Convention into effect. But (says he) it is proper to call your attention to the consideration, that the equalization of duties on goods, wares, and merchandise, imported into the United States in British vessels, only applies to such articles as are of the growth, produce, and manufacture of His Britannic Majesty's Territories in Europe; and, consequently, articles of any other origin so imported are liable to the additional duty of ten per cent. (discriminating duty) imposed on goods imported in vessels not of the United States," &c.: S's cir. 16th January, 1816; V. 2, p. 62. 1093. The President of the United States being satisfied that the discriminating or countervailing duties of Great Britain, so far as they affect the commerce of the United States, have been repealed, directs that the reciprocal repeal of our duties of the same character shall take effect and be enforced from the 22d of December last, the date of the former repeal: S's cir. 3d February, 1816; V. 2, p. 63. [Same subject.] [Same subject.] [Same subject.] DISCRIMINATING DU TIES REPEALED-as to those nations that may reciprocate it : AS TO GREAT BRITAIN under reciprocity [Same subject.] to be refunded: 1094. The President having approved the act for carrying into effect the Convention certain alien duties with Great Britain for abolishing Discriminating Duties, Port charges, Light money, &c., certain instructions are given to Collectors for executing the same, from and after the 22d of December, 1815, (the date of the Convention,) and to refund any duties or other charges received or collected contrary to that Convention: S's cir. 16th March, 1816; V. 2, p. 65. |