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62D CONGRESS, 1st Session.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. No. 55.

REPORT

CERTAIN ESTIMATES FOR URGENT DEFICIENCIES.

JUNE 26, 1911.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. FITZGERALD, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 12109.]

The Committee on Appropriations, to whom was referred certain estimates for urgent deficiencies in appropriations, having considered the same, report herewith a bill making appropriations as follows: For contingent expenses, House of Representatives:

Miscellaneous items

For stationery

For furniture

For compensation of the clerk to the Speaker's table for preparing the digest of rules for the first session, Sixty-second Congress..... District of Columbia:

Authority is recommended increasing the amount to be expended for personal services out of the appropriation for enforcement of certain acts to prevent the spread of contagious diseases from $10,000 to $10,200.

Total....

$12, 850.00 1,000.00 16, 800.00

1,000.00

31, 650.00

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62D CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 1st Session.

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DUTY ON ANIMALS TEMPORARILY IN FOREIGN

COUNTRIES.

JULY 12, 1911.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. UNDERWOOD, from the Committee on Ways and Means, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 12312.]

The Committee on Ways and Means, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 12312) to amend paragraph 500 of the act approved August 5, 1909, entitled "An act to provide revenue, equalize duties, and encourage the industries of the United States, and for other purposes," having had the same under consideration, report it back to the House without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

Paragraph 500 of the act approved August 5, 1909, provides for the return free of duty of "articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States, not including animals." The phrase "not including animals" was introduced into the bill on the floor of the Senate and subsequent to the report of the bill from the Senate committee. It was not in the bill as it passed the House of Representatives. The language used was obviously intended to limit the conduct of cattle feeders and breeders along the border lines and was not intended to limit animals which are transported into Canada or Mexico for temporary purposes and returned after a short stay in the foreign country. To hold that such animals would be dutiable would in effect be to place a prohibition upon domestic-born animals, which was not placed on foreign-born animals, and which clearly was not contemplated by Congress at the time the law was passed.

The Secretary of the Treasury on June 16, 1911, wrote the following letter to the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, which fully explains the necessity for the passage of this bill:

TREASURY Department, Washington, D. C., June 16, 1911.

The CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS,

House of Representatives.

SIR: I invite your attention to the case of Bragg v. The United States, decided in the United States Court of Customs Appeals, May 1, 1911 (T. D. 31575), of which I inclose herewith a copy. This decision upset the practice of the department to admit domestic animals exported and returned free of duty, except as are expressly provided

for under paragraph 492 of the tariff act of August 5, 1909. I also invite your attention to a decision of the department of April 1, 1910 (T. D. 30481), a copy of which I inclose herewith, which indicates the reasons for the attitude of the department with respect to the meaning of the words "not including animals," as it appears in paragraph 500 of the tariff act of August 5, 1909.

In view of the decision of the court in the Bragg case, however, the department has felt constrained to alter its practice and to issue instructions for the collection of duty on all domestic animals taken abroad and returned, except those straying or driven across the boundary line, as provided by paragraph 492. These instructions went into effect on June 1, 1911.

While article 659 of the customs regulations of 1908 provided for the free entry of teams and vehicles of domestic origin returning from Canada or Mexico on the production of evidence establishing the fact of domestic origin, there is some doubt as to the propriety of continuing this provision in force even to accommodate express companies and merchants who make daily trips into Canada or Mexico at such places as Detroit, El Paso, etc. In any event, the result will be that domestic-bred saddle horses taken into Canada, Bermuda, or other near-by places, for pleasure, will be dutiable upon their return, and the same will be true of all other domestic pet animals taken out of the country. (See paragraphs 225–229, inclusive, of the tariff act of 1909.)

In view of these circumstances, I have the honor to suggest that paragraph 500 of the tariff act be amended by striking out in the second line thereof the words "not including animals," and by adding at the end thereof the following words:

"And provided further, That cattle, horses, sheep, and other domestic animals, straying across the boundary line into any foreign country, or driven across such boundary line by the owners, for temporary pasturage purposes only, together with their offspring, shall be dutiable, unless brought back to the United States within six months, under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph four hundred and ninety-two."

Respectfully,

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