paper should be made to conform, if possible, to the following regular sizes:

The above sizes of paper are not only commercial sizes, and therefore the most economical to use, but they are symmetrical in shape, and therefore the most convenient to handle and file.

Two months must be allowed for the printing of special blanks, three months for the preparation of special books requiring no printing, and four months for books requiring printing.

Special printing should not be requested except when absolutely necessary. The aim should be to lessen rather than increase the number of forms; to simplify rather than complicate the manner of doing business.

Articles of stationery must not be included in requisitions for blank forms, nor should blank forms be ordered in stationery requisitions.

Requisitions should be properly briefed (the name of chief officer, and not that of deputy or assistant, being given) before transmittal.

Letters of notification of transmission of forms should be signed, briefed, and promptly returned, as receipts, to the Department.

Officers who receive blank forms for which they have made no requisition, and for which they receive no letter of transmittal, should promptly notify the Department of the fact.

Suggestions are invited from customs officers as to changes in customs forms, including better titles and subheadings, reducing the size of paper in books and blanks and the number of leaves in books, the abolishing and consolidating of forms, and such other changes as may be thought desirable.

1 Cap and demy, or their multiples, adopted as standard sizes for blank forms, and should be used as far as practicable.

? Not suitable for record books.

§ 13. WAREHOUSE MERCHANDISE ACCOUNTS.

ART. 1830. The officer in charge of each warehouse will keep a correct account of receipts and deliveries of all goods received and delivered, specifying in detail the original and warehouse marks and numbers; description of packages and contents; date of receipt; by what vessel, or from what place, and the charges, if any; and whether warehoused or unclaimed; date of delivery; date of receipt, of permit; and to whom delivered. An index will be kept to this book, alphabetically arranged by the names of the vessels, and where from.

In this account the entry for receipts must be in detail, specifying each package; and when any part is withdrawn the entry of delivery should be opposite on the same line, so that the quantity of goods remaining in store can be seen by reference to the alphabetical index, and finding the name of the vessel by which imported.

Daily returns in the forms prescribed shall be made by the storekeeper to the collector of goods received at and delivered from warehouse.

These returns must be full and explicit and free from error, as they form the basis on which the collector's record of the goods is kept. The permits must accompany the storekeeper's return as evidence and vouchers for delivery.

Where the public store owned or occupied by the Government is also used for general storage of merchandise, the charges for storage must be collected by the cashier at the time the duties are paid on the packages withdrawn.

ART. 1831. Goods shall not be delivered from warehouse except on a permit signed by the collector and naval officer (if any), and indorsed by the clerk in charge of the general storage books at the custom-house, to show that he has entered it in his books, and the further indorsement of the cashier as evidence that the custom-house charges are paid. Permits for unclaimed goods in private bonded warehouses will not be acted on until all the charges on them due the warehouse proprietor have likewise been paid.

Duty-paid permits shall be presented to the storekeeper in charge of the warehouse in which the goods are stored as soon as practicable after their issue; and in case such presentation is delayed longer than thirty days from the date of the permit, such permit shall be considered as canceled.

ART. 1832. In the collector's office accounts are to be

kept with the several public stores and bonded warehouses of all goods received into and delivered therefrom, in books of same form as required for storekeepers, to be a check on the accounts of the same. The account will be debited with the goods received, as shown by the daily return of the officer in charge, and credited by the several permits as they issue from the collector's office. These permits will be treated as deliveries in this account, and the goods permitted marked off as delivered. When this is done the clerk will indorse the permit and state above his indorsement the charges to be collected by the cashier. When inventories are taken at the several warehouses their correctness is to be tested by these books, and not the books at the warehouse; and when certificates are required, for any purpose, that the property is in store the verification must come from these books and not the warehouse books, as any property remaining in store after presentation of permit will not for such purpose be considered in the custody of the collector.

Merchandise on which the duties have been paid shall be treated as being in store until after the return of the storekeeper is received, showing its actual delivery to the importers; and a record shall be kept of all actual deliveries and permits.

ART. 1833. To test the accuracy of returns made by the several storekeepers of the goods received by them, the inspector's return of goods sent from each vessel will be compared with the books kept in the collector's office, and, in the event of any disagreement, the discrepancies will be immediately investigated.

In the large ports separate books of account will be kept for warehoused and for unclaimed goods.

When unclaimed goods are claimed and entered for warehouse, the usual permit must be altered in its address to "storekeeper," and, on its presentation to the bookkeeper, the unclaimed-goods account will be credited and the warehouse account debited, and the account thus transferred from one set of books to the other.

When such goods are claimed and entered for consumption, the permit for their delivery must be indorsed by the bookkeeper, with the charges to be collected, and by the cashier that the charges are paid, before delivery of the goods.

ART. 1834. When a warehouse entry has been completed, and bond given, it will be copied, in all its details, into a book kept in debit and credit form, known as the

warehouse ledger; the copy of the entry to form the debit side; to be credited with the withdrawals, stating in the margin of remarks whether for export, transportation, or consumption; giving the number of the warehouse bond as a reference to the original transaction, and for exports and transportation entries, giving also their bond numbers.

The warehouse bonds will be numbered progressively, from one upward, the series beginning on the first day of July and running through periods of three years each,1 and the number of the bond appear on all subsequent withdrawals. The export and transportation bonds will be numbered in the same manner, and the several entries passed for these purposes indorsed with the warehouse bond number and the export or transportation bond number.

To secure the correctness of this book, no permit will be issued for a withdrawal of any kind until the same is credited on this account, opposite the entry in the debit side; and a space will be left between each copy of an entry on the debit side, to enter, on the opposite, the several credits.

Books will be kept for rewarehouse entries in the same

manner.

When an entry is adjusted and the dutiable value fully ascertained, the debit side should be altered in quantity and value, not by erasure, but by drawing a line through the figures, and stating the new quantities and duties in red ink.

ART. 1835. A daily register will be kept of all entries received by mail from other ports for rewarehousing in the district, and the entries must be recorded in this book as they are received by each day's mail.

In the column headed "Remarks," it will be stated whether the goods are rebonded or duty paid.

The certificate to cancel the transportation bond must be issued on the delivery of the merchandise to the chief officer of the customs at the port of destination.

Daily registers shall also be kept at the larger ports1. Of all entries for warehouse and transportation in the United States.

2. Of all withdrawals for transportation in the United States.

.

The first series having begun on the 1st day of July, 1881, the next series commenced July 1, 1884, and so on.

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3. Of all warehouse transportation and export entries to the Dominion of Canada.

4. Of all withdrawals for export to the Dominion of Canada.

5. Of all withdrawals for export to Mexico.

6. Of all entries for warehouse for immediate export to foreign countries.

7. Of all withdrawals for export to foreign countries. ART. 1836. An account shall be kept of the withdrawals on account of each warehouse bond, on the back of the bond itself, stating the several withdrawals for consumption, transportation, and export, their date and the amount of duty.

The statement of balances due on bonds returned by the collector will be verified from the accounts kept, as above required, on the backs of the bonds.

ART. 1837. A general register shall be kept of all bonds taken, in which the particulars of each bond will be fully stated.

If the bond is past due, it will be noted in the column for remarks whether it has been reported to the district attorney for prosecution or extended by order of the Secretary of the Treasury. Under the head "How canceled" will be stated whether canceled by withdrawing the goods within the time allowed by law for warehouse bonds, or by certificate for transportation, or export bonds, or by paying the amount due, according to the character of the bond. The amount of duty chargeable on each bond will be indorsed thereon, as soon as the entry of merchandise it represents is adjusted and the duty ascertained.

At the large ports separate books will be kept of warehouse, rewarehouse, transportation, and export bonds. At the smaller, they can be combined in one.

All bonds remaining unsettled twenty days after date of maturity will be reported to the United States district attorney for collection, from whom receipts will be taken in triplicate, one copy to be furnished to the Auditor for the Treasury Department, one copy to the Solicitor of the Treasury, and the third to be filed in the office of the collector.

All bonds shall be examined at the close of each month, and a report of their condition made to the Secretary of the Treasury; and a like examination will be made by the naval officer, who will certify as to the correctness of the collector's report.

ART. 1838. When transportation or export bonds are