Report of Mr. Fairchild, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury... LI A.-Customs Administration-The Morrison and Randall bills.......... THE COLLECTION OF DUTIES. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, December 13, 1886. SIR: My annual report made mention of my purpose to "prepare and submit to Congress a supplementary report on the collection of duties." In fulfilment of that purpose, I transmit herewith a report by Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Fairchild, to whose intelligence, fidelity, and zeal in this, as in other matters appertaining to this Department I am under personal as well as official obligation. He has had, since late in March, 1885, immediate supervision of the Bureau of the Commissioner of Customs, the Division of Customs, the Division of Special Agents, the Division of Mercantile Marine and Internal Revenue, and the Division of Revenue Marine, among which five separate organizations the collecting of duties on imports is distributed. I subjoin replies received from those subordinate bureaus and divisions concerned in the administration of the tariff law, as well as from the chief officers at the four large ports, in answer to specific inquiries. In my annual report for 1885, I was able to place before Congress opinions and suggestions from a larger number of local officers, but this year circumstances beyond my control prevented me from beginning needed inquiries earlier than the first days of October last, and have made it impracticable to pursue, as I wished, investigations into the collection districts along the great rivers and lakes, the Canadian and Mexican frontiers, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific coast. been able, however, to gather the opinions of the chief officers of the four ports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, at which, out of a total revenue from customs exceeding 190 millions during the last fiscal year, there were collected more than 20 millions at the first, more than 130 millions at the second, nearly 14 millions at the third, and more than 2 millions of dollars at the fourth port. The doings by customs officers at those ports may, therefore, be fairly accepted by Congress as exhibiting the general condition of the customs service throughout the country. In many of the suggestions, or opinions respecting the customs service, its present condition and needs, expressed in these replies, always excepting the report of Mr. Fairchild, I do not concur, but, in a matter of so much importance as the levy and collection of about 190 millions as taxes on imported merchandise out of a sum total of 310 millions of annual Federal taxation, I have deemed it due to Congress that all the suggestions made to me by Government officers, in response to my official inquiries, should be laid before the legislative branch of the Government without suppression, or modification of any. The problem of reforming our existing taxes on consumption, in that most defective branch of the same,- —a survival of the war,-which consists of the drag-net collection of multifarious duties on more than 4,000 different commodities, imported for consumption here, is so environed with conflicting theories, purposes, passions, interests, or partisan hopes, that I ought to fully and frankly exhibit to Congress, which has the power and responsibility of achieving all needed reform, everything in my possession which can illuminate the subject, or tend even remotely to show which of the existing evils can be fairly deemed capable of executive remedy, and which will require legislative treatment. I am not conscious of any desire to avoid such share of responsibility as belongs to the head of this Department for opinions, commitments, or acts bearing on the causes of existing evils, or the methods of reform, and if I shall to any one seem to unduly assert, or emphasize, my own opinions, I hope that Congress will kindly believe that my purpose was not contentious, or to lay down what is or should be the law, but only to clearly express such opinions as the head of this Department, charged with the supervision of both inland and port collection districts, entertains respecting "the improvement and management of the revenue.” In the communication of my views, and in my comments on the documents herewith subjoined, I shall follow the order of topics in my annual report for 1885. INVOICES. If any rates of duty are in the future to be ad valorem rates levied upon the foreign value of the merchandise, an invoice, precisely and absolutely true, is indispensable. If the merchandise has been obtained by purchase, there must be truthfulness in regard to description, quantity, price paid, the currency used in making payment, the date and place of the transaction. Those elements ought not to be, and are not, difficult of presentation, for they are only those which a prudent purchaser usually seeks, and obtains from the seller when payment is made. Why is not a transcript of such a bill of sale, which the buyer ordinarily receives, always |