foreign destination, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe. "SEC. 29. That sections twenty-six hundred and eight, twenty-eight hundred and thirty-eight, twenty-eight hundred and thirty-nine, twenty-eight hundred and forty-one, twenty-eight hundred and fortythree, twenty-eight hundred and forty-five, twenty-eight hundred and fifty-three, twenty-eight hundred and fifty-four, twenty-eight hundred and fifty-six, twenty-eight hundred and fifty-eight, twenty-eight hundred and sixty, twenty-nine hundred, and twenty-nine hundred and two, twenty-nine hundred and five, twenty-nine hundred and seven, twenty-nine hundred and eight, twenty-nine hundred and nine, twentynine hundred and twenty-two, twenty-nine hundred and twentythree, twenty-nine hundred and twenty-four, twenty-nine hundred and twenty-seven, twenty-nine hundred and twenty-nine, twenty-nine hundred and thirty, twenty-nine hundred and thirty-one, twenty-nine hundred and thirty-two, twenty-nine hundred and forty-three, twenty-nine hundred and forty-five, twenty-nine hundred and fifty-two, three thousand and eleven, three thousand and twelve, three thousand and twelve and one-half, three thousand and thirteen, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, be, and the same are hereby repealed, and sections nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, and sixteen of an act entitled "An act to amend the customs-revenue laws and to repeal moieties," approved June twenty-second, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and sections seven, eight, and nine of the act entitled "An act to reduce internal-revenue taxation, and for other purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed, but the repeal of existing laws or modifications thereof embraced in this act shall not affect any act done, or any right accruing or accrued, or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil cause before the said repeal or modifications; but all rights and liabilities under said laws shall continue and may be enforced in the same manner as if said repeal or modifications had not been made. Any offenses committed, and all penalties or forfeitures or liabilities incurred prior to the passage of this act under any statute embraced in or changed, modified, or repealed by this act may be prosecuted and punished in the same manner and with the same effect as if this act had not been passed. All acts of limitation, whether applicable to civil causes and proceedings or to the prosecution of offenses or for the recovery of penalties or forfeitures embraced in or modified, changed, or repealed by this act, shall not be affected thereby; and all suits, proceedings, or prosecutions, whether civil or criminal, for causes arising or acts done or committed prior to the passage of this act, may be commenced and prosecuted within the same time and with the same effect as if this act had not been passed: And provided further, That nothing in this act shall be construed to repeal the provisions of section three thousand and fifty-eight of the Revised Statutes as amended by the act approved February twenty-third, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, in respect to the abandonment of merchandise to underwriters or the salvors of property, and the ascertainment of duties thereon. "SEC. 30. That this act shall take effect on the first day of August, eighteen hundred and ninety, except so much of section twelve as provides for the appointment of nine general appraisers, which shall take effect immediately." Approved, June 10, 1890. STATEMENT OF JOSEPH J. COUCH. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. What is your name? Mr. COUCH. Joseph J. Couch. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. What is your position? Mr. COUCH. I am chief clerk of customs and special deputy collector. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. How long have you occupied the position which you now hold? Mr. COUCH: Since March, 1890. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. In the position which you occupy is it your duty to familiarize yourself with all the details of the operation of the custom-house? Mr. COUCH. Yes, sir; in a general way. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. When goods are imported here what becomes of them? How are they treated? Mr. COUCH. Do you wish me to start with the treatment of the goods from the beginning? Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. Yes; not in too much detail, but so as to give us a general idea of the disposition of the goods from the time they are brought to this port until the duties are collected. Mr. COUCH. Upon the arrival of an importing vessel the boarding officer goes aboard and receives from the captain of the vessel a manifest of his cargo, in duplicate. He certifies to that manifest as being produced to him, leaves one copy with the captain to make entry by, and retains the other copy for the use of the naval office. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. Who does? Mr. COUCH. The boarding officer. At the same time there are placed on board the vessel officers known as inspectors, who take charge of the vessel and cargo under instructions to allow nothing to be landed except upon permits or orders of the collector, countersigned by the naval officer. The captain appears at the custom-house and makes entry of his vessel with declaration of her voyage, lodges the manifest, and pays his tonnage duty. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. What does the manifest contain? Mr. COUCH. It contains, by marks and numbers, a description of packages, the consignors and consignees of the merchandise which constitutes the cargo of the vessel. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. The manifest and the invoice are two separate things? Mr. COUCH. Entirely; on different lines. The manifest certifies to the collector all the merchandise that is contained in the vessel. That constitutes the entry of the vessel. At the same time the importers of the merchandise contained in the vessel present their bills of lading, invoices, and written entry to make entry of their merchandise. That we designate as the entry of merchandise. At the time they present that entry they make one of the three declarations required in the customs administrative act. Sometimes two are required, but one of the three always. The entry is required to be made in accordance with the invoice presented, as to marks, numbers, and description of the goods, and is separated or classified according to the importer's understanding of the tariff schedules. Do I make that point clear? What I mean is this: Here is a general invoice in which there are various descriptions of goods. The importer in making his entry separates those goods according to the classification of the tariff schedules as he understands them. After the importer has made the required declaration upon his entry, the entry, with accompanying papers, is lodged with the entry clerks, whose business it is to examine all the papers presented, see that proper entry has been made and by the proper parties, as indicated by the papers. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. Has the entry clerk any power to revise the classification which has been made by the importer? Mr. COUCH. Yes, sir. The entry clerk then proceeds to make a preliminary estimate of the duties as shown by the specifications of the invoice and accompanying papers. When he has completed his work upon the papers they are sent to the naval office, where a like examination and estimation are made, and if found to agree with the collector's action the naval officer or his entry clerk checks the action of the collector on the collector's copy and returns the papers. Under the present organization of the office the collector's entry clerk is made an acting deputy collector, in which capacity he designates the packages to be sent to the appraiser's stores for examination and appraisement. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. How many entry clerks are there? Mr. COUCH. The number varies from 13 to 15 to 17. I do not know just how many there are now; 15, I think. Mr. GEORGE R. BIDWELL (collector of the port of New York). There is the whole foundation and safeguard of the collection of customs in the designation of the packages that go to the appraiser's stores. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. Does an importer know to which entry clerk in the division his goods will go, so that there can be any collusion between an importer and a particular entry clerk? Mr. COUCH. No, sir. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. How is that obviated? Mr. COUCH. The entry clerks are separated from the public. The papers are put in and receive their official numbers as they come in. They then go to a distributing clerk, who distributes them to the different desks in the room. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. Could the distributing clerk in any way be in collusion with the importer? Mr. COUCH. Inasmuch as the distributing clerk is sometimes a messenger and sometimes the chief clerk-anyone who happens to be on duty at the moment-I do not think it would be practicable. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. It is a purely formal proceeding? Mr. COUCH. It is a formal distribution. I can illustrate it by a single instance which came up recently in the matter of an importation of handkerchiefs, which is now pending in the appraiser's department, I believe. It was stated in an investigation that the matter of false packing had been going on for some time, and it was supposed that it was through collusion in the collector's office. In consequence of that statement an investigation was made of the entries which had been made by the concern under suspicion, running back for a year. It was found that the designation of packages to the public stores had been made by every entry clerk in the division, so that if there was collusion in the matter of designating packages, it must have included the entire circle. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. room for collusion? Practically, you think there is no Mr. COUCH. I think not; that is, I think it is reduced to a minimum. I do not know of any administrative plan you can adopt which, if you have dishonest administrators, might not be got around. The designation to which I refer is made at the same time that he passes the entry. If the naval officer, under his examination, deems it desirable to have other packages sent for examination, he certifies that fact, and such other packages as he designates are added. Senator JONES, of Arkansas. Are the additional packages selected by the entry clerk? Mr. COUCH. In the naval office. Senator JONES, of Arkansas. Does the naval office select them or does the entry clerk? Mr. COUCH. After the collector has, through his office, made his designation, if the naval officer desires any other packages than those designated, he indicates them and they are added. Senator JONES, of Arkansas. Does he indicate the particular package? Mr. COUCH. Yes, sir. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. In practice is that often done? Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. It might be done? Mr. COUCH. It is occasionally done, but it is not a frequent occurrence. The entry, on return from the naval office, is then ready to go to the cashier, if it is an import entry, and is returned to the importer to give him an opportunity to examine his papers and permits, to see if any error has been committed, so that he may call attention to any error he discovers in the work of the office. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. It might be revised right at that stage, if there was error? Mr. COUCH. Yes, sir. There is where it would be revised. If he discovers no error he takes the papers to the cashier with his money and pays the estimated duties, receiving a permit for the delivery of his goods, with the exception of the designated packages to the public stores. The cashier retains the collector's copy of the entry and the invoice-but I should say that before the cashier receives any money the papers have to be presented to the cashier of the naval office and charged against the collector there. The invoices and entries are then separated. The entries are sent to the liquidating division to await the returns of the appraiser or examining officers, as the case may be. The invoices are forwarded to the appraiser to meet the goods which are ordered to his place for examination. The permit which has been given to the importer is taken by him to the place where the vessel is discharging. It is addressed to the inspector in charge of that cargo. The inspector receives the permit and releases to the importer all the goods described in the permit except those designated in the margin for examination by the appraiser. Of those so designated he retains custody, and he has them sent by the regular bonded carts to the appraiser's stores and receives a receipt therefor. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. In getting the permit, does the importer give bond? Mr. COUCH. The importer gives, on a consumption permit, what is known as the ten-day bond, that is, a bond by which he binds himself to produce on the call of the collector any or all of the cases deliv ered to him under permit at any time within ten days after the appraiser has made his return to the collector upon the invoice. Senator JONES, of Arkansas. Such a bond is given in what cases? Mr. COUCH. In cases of consumption goods-that is, where delivery is made right from the vessel to the importer. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. Have you one of those blank bonds? Mr. COUCH. They are in books, outside. They are all bound in books. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. I wish you would present a copy to be inserted in the record. Mr. COUCH. I will do so. The bond referred to is as follows: [Art. 281, Customs Regulations of 1892.-N. Y. Cat. No. 694 B.] BOND OF IMPORTER ON DELIVERY TO HIM OF PACKAGES NOT DESIGNATED FOR EXAMINATION. Know all men by these presents, That we, cipal, and and as prin as sureties, are held and firmly bound unto the United States of America in the sum of dollars; for the payment of which, well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, jointly and severally, by these presents. Witness our hands and seals this eight hundred and ninety whereof day of one thousand Whereas the above-bounden principal hath this day entered at the port of New York certain goods, wares, and merchandise, imported in the is master, lately arrived from and described in consumption entry dated and numbered and in the invoice accompanying the same; and whereas said principal has requested the delivery to him of all packages described in said entry and invoice which shall not be designated for inspection and appraisal: Now, therefore, the condition of this obligation is such, that if the above-bounden principal shall redeliver the said goods to the order of the collector, provided he shall require the same at any time within ten days after the packages or quantities so as aforesaid sent to the public store or designated for appraisement shall have been appraised and reported to the collector, and also if in the meantime none of the said packages to be delivered as aforesaid shall have been opened without the consent of the collector or surveyor, given in writing, and then in the presence of one of the inspectors of customs, then this obligation to be void; otherwise, to remain in full force and virtue. Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of— [SEAL.] SEAL. SEAL. The above form of bond may be presented by the importer, duly executed at the time of making entry, and should be either printed on the back of the entry or firmly attached thereto. Senator PLATT, of Connecticut. Upon his giving the bond he takes all the packages that are not sent to the appraiser's stores? Mr. COUCH. Yes, sir. |