consignee. Such entry is made on a prescribed form. After a comparison of the same with the invoice and bill of lading, if found correct, the duties are estimated and indicated on the face of the entry, and, with the papers and a permit for the delivery of the goods on payment of duties, the same is transmitted to the naval officer of the port, if there is one, for revision, whose duty it is to check the entry, invoice, and permit, if he finds them correct. The papers are then returned to the collector's office, where the appropriate oath is administered, and the packages— one in ten-are designated to be sent to the appraiser's store for examination, which are marked on the entry, invoice, and permit. The amount of estimated duties having been registered in the naval office, as a check upon the collector, and deposited with the cashier, together with the custom-house fees, and the proper bond having been executed in cases where bond is required, the permit is signed by the collector, and then sent to the naval officer to be countersigned, when it is delivered to the importer.

391. This is the process substantially, in a simple form, of entry for consumption, which is varied under certain anomalous circumstances; such as the want of an invoice, owner's oath, &c. The importer can only receive his goods on payment of the duties estimated and of the fees. He may pay the same, and if dissatisfied he can, within the ten days limited by statute, file with the collector the written protest already described. Following this protest, if he demands a refund of duties, his next step is, within the given time, to appeal from the collector's decision to the Secretary of the Treasury. This appeal is ordinarily in the form of a simple letter, stating the importation, the name of the vessel, the particular entry, the decision appealed from; in other words, briefly the ground of his complaint, and such facts as will identify the entry. No particular

form is, however, necessary. This appeal is referred to the Customs Division, in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury. Before its consideration in that division, the collector of customs of the port at which the entry was made is called upon for a report, particularly as to whether a protest was filed within the proper time. Α copy of such protest is also called for, and information is requested of any facts from which the division can judge of the merits of the claim. As can be readily imagined, these appeals are multitudinous in number; for with each entry and protest an appeal must be made, in order to obtain the refund in the particular case, although the question at issue may be precisely the same in a large number of cases. The decision by the Secretary, however, of one appeal, may dispose of a score of cases, or more, involving one and the same class of merchandise. But the protest must be carefully scanned in each case; for the Secretary's authority to refund, as well as the importer's ability to maintain suit in court against the collector, is limited, under the statute, to the sufficiency of the protest. The question of the need and sufficiency of protests has been much dwelt upon in numerous decisions of the courts in these cases; and these and other decisions involving questions which have arisen in the consideration of the tariff acts now constitute, as far as they go, a sure rule for the guidance of Treasury officers, as well as of officers of customs. The number of appeals annually made to the Secretary of the Treasury in these cases is about five thousand.

392. Besides the duty with respect to appeals in customs cases, this division is charged with the examination and approval of bonds given by persons desiring to establish private warehouses, for the storage of imported goods on which the duties have not been paid. Applications for the establishment of such warehouses also receive consid

eration by this division. These warehouses, in accordance with the statute, are of several classes, by reason of the use for which they are employed. The safe-keeping of the goods, a compliance with the warehousing laws, and the proper transaction of the business within the purpose of the statute creating the warehouse system, are secured by a bond, the penalty of which, as well as the general form, is prescribed by regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury.

393. The Customs Division gives attention also to the system of bonded routes, and to the bonds required from common carriers to secure the safety and proper delivery of bonded goods intrusted to them for transportation. To this end, it has the designation of the common carriers who, under sufficient security and regulations designed to protect the revenue from fraud, are permitted to transport goods in bond from one district to another; from one port in the United States, through adjacent foreign dominions, to another port in the United States; and from the port of entry in the United States of goods destined on arrival for immediate transportation and exportation to Canada. It has also the charge of the enforcement of the regulations prescribed for carrying this system of transportation into effect. It is upon inquiry constantly as to whether the goods transported are all properly received at the port of destination, and is necessarily engaged frequently in investigating cases which may arise of alleged frauds or irreg ularities on the part of the designated carriers or their employees.

394. This division has consideration of cases involv ing errors in invoices and entries, refund and abatement of duties, drawback of customs duties on articles manufactured in the United States out of imported material; also consideration of all questions arising upon the construction of the customs laws, and the general regulations thereun

der, in regard to the entry, appraisal, and delivery of merchandise, and payment of duties thereon. It carries on correspondence, through the Department of State, with consular officers, in regard to dutiable values, invoices, &c., and has, indirectly, a supervision of appraisers in securing uniformity in the valuation of dutiable merchandise at the various ports. It has supervision also of the seal fisheries in Alaska, and of such other matters in that portion of our territory as devolve by law upon the Secretary of the Treas

ury.

395. This division is also charged with matters relat ing to the compromise, under the general powers given the Secretary of the Treasury by section 3469 of the Revised Statutes, of cases arising from the customs revenue laws.

It aids the Secretary in his general supervision of the numerous customs districts and the transactions of customs officers; of the organization of the clerical and official force at the custom-houses, the mode of transacting business therein, as to blanks and forms of books, reports, and returns to be used. In a word, it is through this division, to a large extent, that the immense interests of the country, in its sources of revenue from customs, receive control and guidance.

IV. DIVISION OF INTERNAL REVENUE AND NAVIGATION.

396. The Secretary of the Treasury relies upon this division of his office in all matters affecting the administration of the navigation laws, both for foreign and domestic commerce, including those relating to the security and protection of passengers and of seamen on both steam and sailing vessels. To this division are referred all questions regarding the registering and licensing of the different classes of vessels.

397. Vessels of the United States entitled to privileges and immunities as such. over foreign or undocumented vessels, and to carry the flag of the nation, are those only which have been duly registered, and continue to be wholly owned and commanded by citizens of the United States.

398. Vessels so entitled to registry or license are those of the following classes, wholly owned by citizens of the United States, viz.:

1. Those built within the United States, and which have not been sold to a foreign citizen or subject after being once documented.

2. Those captured in war to which the United States is a party, by a citizen or by citizens thereof, lawfully condemned as prize.

3. Those adjudged to be forfeited for a breach of the laws of the United States.

4. Those built in a foreign country, wrecked within the waters of the United States, purchased and repaired by cit izens of the United States, at a cost equal to three-fourths of the cost of the vessel when repaired.

Vessels of these several classes are prohibited a register by law, or the benefit thereof, if owned in whole or in part by a citizen of the United States who usually resides in a foreign country, during the continuance of such residence, unless such citizen is a consul of the United States, or an agent for or a partner of a mercantile house, consisting of United States citizens, carrying on trade within the United States.

Also if so owned by a naturalized citizen of the United States residing for more than a year in the country from which he originated, or for more than two years in any foreign country, unless he be a consul or other public agent of the United States; also if, having been recorded or registered as a vessel of the United States pursuant to law, the