at a place where no collection district was established, it shall be lawful for him or them, or any party having an interest therein, to affix the proper stamp thereto, or, if the original be lost, to a copy thereof. But no right acquired in good faith before the stamping of such instrument, or copy thereof, as herein provided, if such record be required by law, shall in any manner be affected by such stamping as aforesaid.

SEC. 14. That hereafter no instrument, paper, or document required by law to be stamped, which has been signed or issued without being duly stamped, or with a deficient stamp, nor any copy thereof, shall be recorded or admitted, or used as evidence in any court until a legal stamp or stamps, denoting the amount of tax, shall have been affixed thereto, as prescribed by law: Provided, That any bond, debenture, certificate of stock, or certificate of indebtedness issued in any foreign country shall pay the same tax as is required by law on similar instruments when issued, sold, or transferred in the United States; and the party to whom the same is issued, or by whom it is sold or transferred, shall, before selling or transferring the same, affix thereon the stamp or stamps indicating the tax required.

SEC. 15. That it shall not be lawful to record or register any instrument, paper, or document required by law to be stamped unless a stamp or stamps of the proper amount shall have been affixed and canceled in the manner prescribed by law; and the record, registry, or transfer of any such instruments upon which the proper stamp or stamps aforesaid shall not have been affixed and canceled as aforesaid shall not be used in evidence.

SEC. 16. That no instrument, paper, or document required by law to be stamped shall be deemed or held invalid and of no effect for the want of a particular kind or description of stamp designated for and denoting the tax charged on any such instrument, paper, or document, provided a legal documentary stamp or stamps denoting a tax of equal amount shall have been duly affixed and used thereon.

SEC. 17. That all bonds, debentures, or certificates of indebtedness issued by the officers of the United States Government, or by the officers of any State, county, town, municipal corporation, or other corporation exercising the taxing power, shall be, and hereby are, exempt from the stamp taxes required by this Act: Provided, That it is the intent hereby to exempt from the stamp taxes imposed by this Act such State, county, town, or other municipal corporations in the exercise only of functions strictly belonging to them in their ordinary governmental, taxing, or municipal capacity: Provided further, That stock and bonds issued by cooperative building and loan associations whose capital stock does not exceed ten thousand dollars, and building and loan associations or companies that make loans only to their shareholders, shall be exempt from the tax herein provided.

SEC. 18. That on and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, no telegraph company or its agent or employee shall transmit to any person any dispatch or message without an adhesive stamp, denoting the tax imposed by this Act, being affixed to a copy thereof, or having the same stamped thereupon, and in default thereof shall incur a penalty of ten dollars: Provided, That only one stamp shall be required on each dispatch or message, whether sent through one or more companies: Provided, That the messages or dispatches of the officers and employees of any telegraph or telephone company concerning the affairs and service of the company, and like messages or dispatches of the officials and employees of railroad companies sent over the wires on their respective railroads shall be exempt from this

requirement: Provided further, That messages of officers and employees of the Government on official business shall be exempt from the taxes herein imposed upon telegraphic and telephonic messages.

SEC. 19. That all the provisions of this Act relating to dies, stamps, adhesive stamps, and stamp taxes shall extend to and include (except where manifestly inapplicable) all the articles or objects enumerated in Schedule B, subject to stamp taxes, and apply to the provisions in relation thereto.

SEC. 20. That on and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, any person, firm, company, or corporation that shall make, prepare, and sell, or remove for consumption or sale, drugs, medicines, preparations, compositions, articles, or things, including perfumery and cosmetics, upon which a tax is imposed by this Act, as provided for in Schedule B, without affixing thereto an adhesive stamp or label denoting the tax before mentioned shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That no stamp tax shall be imposed upon any uncompounded medicinal drug or chemical, nor upon any medicine sold to or for the use of any person which may be mixed or compounded for said person according to the written recipe or prescription of any practicing physician or surgeon, or which may be put up or compounded for said person by a druggist or pharmacist selling at retail only. The stamp taxes provided for in Schedule B of this Act shall apply to all medicinal articles compounded by any formula, published or unpublished, which are put up in style or manner similar to that of patent, trade-mark, or proprietary medicine in general, or which are advertised on the package or otherwise as remedies or specifics for any ailment, or as having any special claim to merit, or to any peculiar advantage in mode of preparation, quality, use, or effect.

SEC. 21. That any manufacturer or maker of any of the articles for sale mentioned in Schedule B, after the same shall have been so made, and the particulars herein before required as to stamps have been complied with, or any other person who shall take off, remove, or detach, or cause, or permit, or suffer to be taken off, or removed or detached, any stamp, or who shall use any stamp, or any wrapper or cover to which any stamp is affixed, to cover any other article or commodity than that originally contained in such wrapper or cover, with such stamp when first used, with the intent to evade the stamp duties, shall for every such article, respectively, in respect of which any such offense shall be committed, be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both, at the discretion of the court, and every such article or commodity as aforesaid shall also be forfeited.

SEC. 22. That any maker or manufacturer of any of the articles or commodities mentioned in Schedule B, as aforesaid, or any other person who shall sell, send out, remove, or deliver any article or commodity, manufactured as aforesaid, before the tax thereon shall have been fully paid by affixing thereon the proper stamp, as in this Act provided, or who shall hide or conceal, or cause to be hidden or concealed, or who shall remove or convey away, or deposit, or cause to be removed or conveyed away from or deposited in any place, any such article or commodity, to evade the tax chargeable thereon, or any part thereof, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not

more than six months, or both, at the discretion of the court, together with the forfeiture of any such article or commodity: Provided, That articles upon which stamp taxes are required by this Act may, when intended for exportation, be manufactured and sold or removed without having stamps affixed thereto, and without being charged with tax as aforesaid; and every manufacturer or maker of any article as aforesaid, intended for exportation, shall give such bonds and be subject to such rules and regulations to protect the revenue against fraud as may be from time to time prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury.

SEC. 23. That every manufacturer or maker of any of the articles or commodities provided for in Schedule B, or his foreman, agent, or superintendent shall at the end of each and every month make, sign, and file with the collector of internal revenue for the district in which he resides a declaration in writing that no such article or commodity has, during such preceding month or time when the last declaration was made, been removed, or carried, or sent, or caused or suffered or known to have been removed, carried, or sent from the premises of such manufacturer or maker other than such as have been duly taken account of and charged with the stamp tax, on pain of such manufacturer or maker forfeiting for every refusal or neglect to make such declaration one hundred dollars; and if any such manufacturer or maker, or his foreman, agent, or superintendent, shall make any false or untrue declaration, such manufacturer or maker, or foreman, agent, or superintendent making the same shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall pay a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both, at the discretion of the

court.

SEC. 24. That the stamp taxes prescribed in this Act on the articles provided for in Schedule B shall attach to all such articles and things. sold or removed for sale on and after the said first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. Every person, except as otherwise provided in this Act, who offers or exposes for sale any article or thing provided for in said Schedule B, whether the article so offered or exposed is of foreign manufacture and imported or of domestic manufacture, shall be deemed the manufacturer thereof, and shall be subject to all the taxes, liabilities, and penalties imposed by law for the sale of articles without the use of the proper stamp denoting the tax paid thereon; and all such articles of foreign manufacture shall, in addition to the import duty imposed on the same, be subject to the stamp tax prescribed in this Act: Provided further, That internal revenue stamps required by existing law on imported merchandise shall be affixed thereto and canceled at the expense of the owner or importer before the withdrawal of such merchandise for consumption, and the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the affixing and canceling of such stamps, not inconsistent herewith.

SEC. 25. That the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall cause to be prepared for the payment of the taxes prescribed in this Act suitable stamps denoting the tax on the document, article, or thing to which the same may be affixed, and he is authorized to prescribe such method for the cancellation of said stamps, as substitute for or in addition to the method provided in this Act, as he may deem expedient. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, is authorized to procure any of the stamps provided for in this Act by contract whenever such stamps can not be speedily prepared by

the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; but this authority shall expire on the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine. That the adhesive stamps used in the payment of the tax levied in Schedules A and B of this Act shall be furnished for sale by the several collectors of internal-revenue, who shall sell and deliver them at their face value to all persons applying for the same, except officers or employees of the internal revenue service: Provided, That such collectors may sell and deliver such stamps in quantities of not less than one hundred dollars of face value, with a discount of one per centum, except as otherwise provided in this Act. And he may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, make all needful rules and regulations for the proper enforcement of this Act.

SCHEDULE A.

STAMP TAXES.

Bonds, debentures, or certificates of indebtedness issued after the first day of July, anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, by any association, company, or corporation, on each hundred dollars of face value or fraction thereof, five cents, and on each original issue, whether on organization or reorganization, of certificates of stock by any such association, company, or corporation, on each hundred dollars of face value or fraction thereof, five cents, and on all sales, or agreements to sell, or memoranda of sales or deliveries or transfers of shares or certificates of stock in any association, company, or corporation, whether made upon or shown by the books of the association, company, or corporation, or by any assignment in blank, or by any delivery, or by any paper or agreement or memorandum or other evidence of transfer or sale whether entitling the holder in any manner to the benefit of such stock, or to secure the future payment of money or for the future transfer of any stock, on each hundred dollars of face value or fraction thereof, two cents: Provided, That in case of sale where the evidence of transfer is shown only by the books of the company the stamp shall be placed upon such books; and where the change of ownership is by transfer certificate the stamp shall be placed upon the certificate; and in cases of an agreement to sell or where the transfer is by delivery of the certificate assigned in blank there shall be made and delivered by the seller to the buyer a bill or memorandum of such sale, to which the stamp shall be affixed; and every bill or memorandum of sale or agreement to seil before mentioned shall show the date thereof, the name of the seller, the amount of the sale, and the matter or thing to which it refers. And any person or persons liable to pay the tax as herein provided, or anyone who acts in the matter as agent or broker for such person or persons, who shall make any such sale, or who shall in pursuance of any such sale deliver any such stock, or evidence of the sale of any such stock or bill or memorandum thereof, as herein required, without having the proper stamps affixed thereto, with intent to evade the foregoing provisions shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both, at the discretion of the court.

Upon each sale, agreement of sale, or agreement to sell, any products or merchandise at any exchange, or board of trade, or other similar place, either for present or future delivery, for each one hundred dollars in value of said sale or agreement of sale or agreement to sell, one cent,

and for each additional one hundred dollars or fractional part thereof in excess of one hundred dollars, one cent: Provided, That on every sale or agreement of sale or agreement to sell as aforesaid there shall be made and delivered by the seller to the buyer a bill, memorandum, agreement, or other evidence of such sale, agreement of sale, or agreement to sell, to which there shall be affixed a lawful stamp or stamps in value equal to the amount of the tax on such sale. And every such bill, memorandum, or other evidence of sale or agreement to sell shall show the date thereof, the name of the seller, the amount of the sale, and the matter or thing to which it refers; and any person or persons liable to pay the tax as herein provided, or anyone who acts in the matter as agent or broker for such person or persons, who shall make any such sale or agreement of sale, or agreement to sell, or who shall, in pursuance of any such sale, agreement of sale, or agreement to sell, deliver any such products or merchandise without a bill, memorandum, or other evidence thereof as herein required, or who shall deliver such bill, memorandum, or other evidence of sale, or agreement to sell, without having the proper stamps affixed thereto, with intent to evade the foregoing provisions, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both, at the discretion of the court.

Bank check, draft, or certificate of deposit not drawing interest, or order for the payment of any sum of money, drawn upon or issued by any bank, trust company, or any person or persons, companies, or corporations at sight or on demand, two cents.

Bill of exchange (inland), draft, certificate of deposit drawing interest, or order for the payment of any sum of money, otherwise than at sight or on demand, or any promissory note except bank notes issued for circulation, and for each renewal of the same, for a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, two cents; and for each additional one hundred dollars or fractional part thereof in excess of one hundred dollars, two cents. And from and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety eight, the provisions of this paragraph shall apply as well to original domestic money orders issued by the Government of the United States, and the price of such money orders shall be increased by a sum equal to the value of the stamps herein provided for.

Bill of exchange (foreign) or letter of credit (including orders by telegraph or otherwise for the payment of money issued by express or other companies or any person or persons), drawn in but payable out of the United States, if drawn singly or otherwise than in a set of three or more, according to the custom of merchants and bankers, shall pay for a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, four cents, and for each one hundred dollars or fractional part thereof in excess of one hundred dollars, four cents.

If drawn in sets of two or more: For every bill of each set, where the sum made payable shall not exceed one hundred dollars, or the equivalent thereof, in any foreign currency in which such bill may be expressed, according to the standard of value fixed by the United States, two cents; and for each one hundred dollars or fractional part thereof in excess of one hundred dollars, two cents.

Bills of lading or receipt (other than charter party) for any goods, merchandise, or effects, to be exported from a port or place in the United States to any foreign port or place, ten cents.

EXPRESS AND FREIGHT: It shall be the duty of every railroad or steamboat company, carrier, express company, or corporation or person