T. D. 12063.

Men's, women's, and children's garments are not such articles as "are usually or ordinarily marked, stamped, branded, or labeled," but the packages, wrappers, cartons, or coverings containing such articles must be marked in accordance with law.

MARKING OF BOLTING CLOTHS.

ART. 457. The free list of the act approved on July 24, 1897, paragraph 498, contains the following provision:

Bolting cloths composed of silk, imported expressly for milling purposes, and so permanently marked as not to be available for any other use.

To secure compliance with the provisions of the above paragraph, the following regulation is hereby prescribed: Every piece of bolting cloth imported for milling purposes must be stamped with a mark 6 inches wide extending from selvage to selvage at intervals of not more than 4 inches, and bearing the words "Bolting cloth, expressly for milling purposes," in block letters 3 inches in height.

The stamping should be of a permanent character, but acids or chemicals likely to injure the cloth and render it in any way unfit for the purposes intended need not be used.

On the importation of bolting cloth not marked in the manner above indicated, importers will be allowed to so stamp the goods in public store under the supervision of customs officers, whereupon delivery will be permitted.

§ 5. IMPORTATIONS BY MAIL.

ART. 458. Customs officers will be detailed from time to time to examine packages received in the foreign mails, and duties on all dutiable articles authorized to be imported by foreign mails must be paid or secured as in other cases. Packages addressed to foreign ambassadors, ministers, or consular officers, bearing the seal of the foreign government, and indicating from a casual examination, without breaking the seal, that they contain only official documents, shall be immediately forwarded to the parties to whom addressed, but if they bear the appearance of containing merchandise of any character, information of their receipt should at once be sent to this Department. Care should be taken that in no instance shall the seals be broken or the packages in any manner disturbed, unless in the presence of and with the consent of the party to whom addressed.

ART. 459. Mail bags sealed at a foreign post-office may T. D., 2663. be delivered unopened to the postmaster, to be forwarded or disposed of by him as provided for in regulations of the Post-Office Department, care being taken that all articles unlawfully imported therein shall be examined by the customs officer nearest the place of delivery.

ART. 460. The sending by mail, under the Postal Union treaties, of letters or packets containing gold or silver bullion, precious stones, jewery, or precious articles, or any articles liable to customs duties, is prohibited, but under special postal and parcel-post conventions with Canada, Mexico, and certain other countries packages of merchandise may be passed through the mails under certain conditions, to be delivered to the addressees upon payment of the proper duties.

1890, sec. 4.

ART. 461. Upon importations of books, magazines, and Act June 10, other periodicals, published and imported in successive parts, numbers, or volumes, and entitled to be imported free of duty, but one declaration for the entire series will be required.

20 Stat., 359, 360: secs. 17 and

T. D. 17291,

Books which are admitted to the international mails, exchanged under the provisions of the Universal Postal Union 19, Convention, may, when subject to customs duty, be de- 20735. livered to addressees on payment of the duties accruing thereon.

approved by i

General.

T.D. 7911.9395,

11106, 11789,11936,

124, 12053,12083,

14417.

ART. 462. When letters, sealed packages, or packages Regulations the wrappers of which can not be removed without destroy- S. Post mastering them are received in the United States from a foreign country, and the postmaster of the exchange office at which they are received has reason to believe they contain articles liable to customs duties, he shall immediately notify the customs officer of the district in which his office is located, or the customs officer designated for the purpose of examining the mails arriving from foreign countries, of the receipt of such letters or packages and their several addresses; and if any letter or package of this character be addressed to a person residing within the delivery of his office, the postmaster shall also, at the time of its arrival, notify the addressee thereof that such letter or package has been received, and is believed to contain articles liable to customs duties, and that he must appear at the post-office at a time designated in said notice, not exceeding 20 days from the date of notice, and receive and open said letter or package in the presence of an officer of the customs.

ART. 463. Letters, all registered mail, and sealed pack

T. D. 18560, 21276.

ages, or packages the wrappers of which can not be removed without destroying them, which are supposed to contain articles liable to customs duties, and which are addressed to persons residing outside of the delivery of the United States exchange office where they were first received from abroad, shall be forwarded, without longer detention than 24 hours, to their respective destinations, and marked "Supposed liable to customs duties;" and upon their receipt at the offices of destination the postmasters thereof shall notify the nearest customs officer and the parties addressed in the manner and to the same effect as provided for in the preceding article. If a reply is not received from the customs officer within 20 days from the date of said notice, the package may be delivered to the addressee without regard to the stamp "Supposed liable to United States customs duties." But if the customs officer should request the postmaster to allow the package to be opened in his presence by the addressee, the postmaster will comply with said request, and immediately report the nature and probable value of the contents to the customs officer (retaining the package in his possession), whereupon the customs officer will inform the postmaster of the amount of the customs charges due upon said package, which amount the postmaster will collect upon the final delivery of the package and transmit, under official registration, to the customs 18246, officer. If, however, the customs officer shall deem it

inexpedient to determine, upon the postmaster's report, the customs charges upon any such package, it may be sent, at his request and under official registration, to the postmaster of the place at which the customs officer is located, in whose custody it may be examined and the duty rated up by the customs officer, after which it shall be returned to the postmaster at the office of destination for delivery to the addressee upon the payment of the duty thus assessed.

Nothing herein shall authorize customs officers to seize any letter or sealed package while in the custody of a postmaster, nor until after its delivery to the addressee. And no letter or sealed package shall be detained at the office of delivery longer than may be necessary for the appearance of a customs officer and of the addressee.

ART. 464. Unsealed packages received in the mails from foreign countries (except registered articles, which are to be treated as if sealed), which contain articles liable to custom duties, shall be delivered by the postmaster at

the exchange office of receipt to the officer of the customs for the collection of the duties chargeable thereon, with notice of such delivery to the person addressed. Books received from countries or colonies of the Universal Postal Union, unsealed packages of merchandise received in mails from Mexico, and all packages received by "parcel post" which are found to be dutiable shall, when addressed to post-offices other than the exchange office of receipt, be promptly transmitted by mail to the addressees, charged with the duties levied thereon, respectively, which amounts postmasters at the offices of destination will collect from the addressees on delivery, and remit by first registered mail thereafter to the collector of the customs district in which the exchange post-office of receipt is situated. In case of the refusal or neglect of the addressees to apply at the post-office of destination within 30 days from date of receipt at said office, and pay the duties and charges thereon, the postmaster will specially return the articles under official registration, marked to show why they were not delivered to the collector of the district. But in the case of packages received by "parcel post" which appear to be undeliverable, the postmaster shall at the expiration of 30 days report the facts to the Superintendent of Foreign Mails, Post-Office Department, and will hold the packages subject to further orders. Postmasters are instructed to collect duties on books and packages forwarded to their offices for delivery and to remit the same to collectors in officially registered letters. All sealed packages, other than letters in their usual and ordinary form, forwarded to the United States in the mails from Mexico and Canada, contrary to the provisions of the postal convention between the two countries, shall be immediately returned from the United States exchange offices of receipt to the Mexican or Canadian exchange offices from which they were dispatched.

ART. 465. Postmasters are expected to extend to customs officers, specially designated for that duty, such facilities as may be necessary to enable them to examine mail matter arriving in the mails from foreign countries, in order to protect the customs revenue.

ART. 466. Books admitted to the International Mail Exchange are dutiable when imported if bound in stiff covers, or if they consist of such as are usually so bound; but books and printed matter addressed to the chief of a foreign embassy or mission in the United States and imported through the mails may be forwarded without detention or collection of duties.

T. D. 20735.

T. D. 12053, 12058.

T. D. 20969.

T. D. 18551.

Other printed matter so imported is liable to duty, except periodicals in pamphlet form and newspapers; the expres sion "printed matter" being defined by the statute as including the production upon paper by any process, except that of handwriting, of any words, letters, characters, figures, or images, or of any combination thereof, not having the character of an actual and personal correspondence.

ART. 467. All printed matter imported through the mails may be released upon payment of a fine equal to the duties.

Any articles seized as illegal importations through the mails may be released and the fine remitted, provided such articles shall be remailed to the foreign sender at the expense of the addressee and in the presence of the customs officer.

Collectors will report such releases weekly to the Department for approval.

ART. 468. Dutiable printed matter addressed beyond the delivery of the exchange post-office, and seized from the mails as illegally imported merchandise, may be released and forwarded to the delivery post-office with a statement showing the amount of the fine imposed, which shall be equivalent to the duty, to be collected by the postmaster and remitted in the following manner, as provided in the regulations issued by the Post-Office Department on August 20, 1891, viz: "Postmasters are instructed to collect the customs duties on such books and packages forwarded to their offices for delivery to addressees and promptly remit the sum so collected by them to collectors of customs in registered letters, using penalty envelopes and omitting the registration fee," etc.

The form of statement and entry (Cat. Nos. 635 and 636) should be used, the words "and entry of books" in the heading being changed to "and entry of printed matter," and the word "duty" in the statement being changed to "fine."

Whenever the dutiable value upon printed matter found in the mails does not amount to one dollar in any one case, the duty may be remitted as not worth the cost of collection, and such matter may be permitted to go forward in the mail.

ART. 469. Article 26 of the Regulations of the Universal Postal Union Convention of 1897 prescribes that articles of every kind which have become undeliverable from whatever cause must be returned as soon as possible after the ex