praisement less than one package of every invoice, and one package at least out of every ten packages of merchandise, and a greater number should he, or the appraiser, or any assistant appraiser, deem it necessary. When the Secretary of the Treasury, however, from the character and description of the merchandise, may be of the opinion that the examination of a less proportion of packages will amply protect the revenue, he may, by special regulation, direct a less number of packages to be examined.

SEC. 2940. The Secretary of the Treasury may, on the nomination of the appraiser, appoint such number of examiners at the port of New York as the Secretary may in writing determine to be necessary, to aid each of the assistant appraisers in the examination, inspection, and appraisement of merchandise. No person shall be appointed such examiner who is not, at the time of his appointment, practically and thoroughly acquainted with the character, quality, and value of the article in the examination and appraisement of which he is to be employed; nor shall any such examiner enter upon the discharge of his duties, as such, until he shall have taken and subscribed an oath faithfully and diligently to discharge such duties.

SEC. 2941. No appraiser, assistant appraiser, examiner, clerk, verifier, sampler, messenger, or other person employed in the departments of appraisal at the port of New York, or any of them, shall engage or be employed in any commercial or mercantile business, or act as agent for any person engaged in such business, during the term of his appointment.

SEC. 2942. All provisions relating to the duties of appraisers, or to any proceedings consequent or dependent upon the action of such appraisers and not inconsistent with the provisions relating to the appraiser and assistant appraisers at the port of New York, shall be construed to apply to them.

SEC. 2943. One of the assistant appraisers at the port of New York shall be detailed by the appraiser for the supervision of the department for the examination of merchandise damaged on the voyage of importation, and as far as practicable to make examinations and appraisals of such or any other merchandise as the appraiser may direct, and in all cases truly to report to him the extent of such damage, or the true value of the merchandise appraised, as the case may be, according to law; such report to be subject to revision, correction, and approval by the appraiser, and to be transmitted to the collector in the same manner as other appraisals.

SEC. 2944. If at any time, from an increase of importation, or from any other cause, there shall be found upon the floors of the public stores in the city of New York an accumulation of merchandise awaiting appraisement, the appraiser shall, under regulations established by the Secretary of the Treasury, direct the assistant appraisers, and others associated with them in this branch of the

public business, to devote time beyond the usual business hours, in each day, during daylight, to their respective duties, so that the business of appraisement may be faithfully and more promptly dispatched.

SEC. 2945. Any merchant who shall be chosen by the collector to make any appraisement required under any act respecting imports and tonnage, and who shall, after due notice of such choice has been given to him in writing, decline or neglect to assist at such appraisement, shall be subject to a penalty of not more than fifty dollars, and to the costs of prosecution therefor.

SEC. 2946. When merchandise is entered at ports where there are no appraisers, the mode hereinbefore prescribed of ascertaining the foreign value thereof shall be carefully observed by the revenue officers to whom is committed the estimating and collection of duties.

SEC. 2947. The Secretary of the Treasury shall have authority to direct the appraisers for any collection district to attend in any other collection-district for the purpose of appraising any merchandise imported therein.

SEC. 2948. No portion of the additional duties provided by this Title shall be deemed a fine, penalty, or forfeiture, for the purpose of being distributed to any officer of the customs; but the whole amount thereof, when received, shall be paid directly into the Treasury.

SEC. 2949. The Secretary of the Treasury from time to time shall establish such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the laws of the United States, to secure a just, faithful, and impartial appraisal of all merchandise imported into the United States, and just and proper entries of such actual market-value or wholesale price thereof, and of the square yards, parcels, or other quantities, as the case may require, and of such actual market-value or wholesale price of each of them. The Secretary of the Treasury shall report all such rules and regulations, with the reasons therefor, to the then next session of Congress.

SEC. 2950. The certificate of any one of the appraisers of the dutiable value of any imported merchandise required to be appraised, shall be deemed to be the appraisement of such merchandise required by law to be made by such appraisers. Where merchandise shall be entered at ports where there are no appraisers, the certificate of the revenue officer to whom is committed the estimating and collection of duties of the dutiable value of any merchandise required to be appraised, shall be deemed and taken to be the appraisement of such merchandise required by law to be made by such officer.

SEC. 2951. Wherever the word "ton" is used in this chapter, in reference to weight, it shall be construed as meaning twenty hundred-weight, each hundred-weight being one hundred and twelve pounds avoirdupois.

See 1870, s. s. 599.

SEC. 2952. The words "value" and "valued," used in this chapter, shall be construed as meaning the true market value of merchandise in the principal markets of the country from whence exported at the date of exportation.

SEC. 2953. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the leasing or hiring of such buildings or accommodations as may be required for the use of the United States appraisers for the due examination and appraisal of imported merchandise at the ports where such officers are provided by law, nor to prohibit the leasing or hiring by collectors of the customs, for short periods, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, of such stores as may be required for custom-house purposes at any of the smaller revenue ports of the United States.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

THE BOND AND WAREHOUSE SYSTEM.

[This chapter comprises sections 2954 to 3008 R. S. Sections 2954 to 2961 provide for the use of leased and private warehouses, and that "all imports deposited in any public or private warehouse shall be at the sole and exclusive risk and expense of the owner or importer" (2961).]

* *

SEC. 2962. Any merchandise subject to duty, with the exception of perishable articles, also gunpowder, and other explosive substances, except fire-crackers, which shall have been duly entered and bonded for warehousing, in conformity with existing laws, may be deposited, at the option of the owner, importer, consignee, or agent, at his expense and risk, in any public warehouse owned or leased by the United States, or in the private warehouse of the importer, the same being used exclusively for the storage of warehoused merchandise of his own importation or to his consignment, or in a private warehouse used by the owner, occupant, or lessee, as a general warehouse for the storage of warehoused merchandise; such place of storage to be desiguated on the warehouse-entry at the time of entering such merchandise at the custom-house.

1. Personal effects of foreign travelers arriving at one port may be exempted from duty or bonding if intended to accompany the traveler out of the country from another port, provided they are of small value and are corded and sealed by the customs officers, and transported in bonded cars. 1875, s. s. 2491.

2. Grain in bond is not allowed to remain in vessels through the winter; such constructive storage is unauthorized except the vessels be frozen in or detained by stress of weather; if on arrival no immediate disposition is practicable the vessel must be put in charge of customs officers at the expense of the goods. 1875, s. s. 2067.

3. Safety matches cannot be stored in warehouses. 1884, s. s. 6283.

4. Privileges of the warehouse system extend to goods imported under § 2500; s. s. 5829 modified. 1886, s. s. 7435.

5. Though, under this section, explosives cannot be placed in bonded warehouse, yet there is no objection to the transportation of metallic cartridges through the United States for exportation. 1888, s. s. 8692.

6. The Madison Square Garden (in N. Y.) cannot be made a bonded warehouse so as to allow a hippodrome and its paraphernalia to be entered under bond, for performance there. 1889, s. 3. 9723.

SEC. 2963. When merchandise, imported into the United States, has not been entered in pursuance of the provisions of any act regulating imports and tonnage, the same shall be deposited in the public warehouse, and shall there remain, at the expense and risk of the owner, until such invoice is produced. Nothing herein contained shall be understood to prohibit the sale of such quantities of merchandise so stored as may be necessary to discharge the duties thereon, and all intervening charges, at the time or times when such duties shall become due and payable.

SEC. 2964. In all cases of failure or neglect to pay the duties within the period allowed by law to the importer to make entry thereof, or whenever the owner, importer, or consignee shall make entry for warehousing the same, in writing, in such form and supported by such proof as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, the merchandise shall be taken possession of by the collector, and deposited in the public stores, or in other stores to be agreed on by the collector or chief revenue officer of the port, and the importer, owner, or consignee, such stores to be secured under the joint locks of the inspector and importer, there to be kept, with due and reasonable care, at the charge and risk of the owner, importer, consignee, or agent, and subject at all times to their order, upon payment of the proper duties and expenses, to be ascertained on due entry thereof for warehousing, and to be secured by a bond of the owner, importer, or consignee, with surety to the satisfaction of the collector, in double the amount of the duties, and in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe.

Sureties on a warehouse bond are liable for any part of the unpaid duties up to the amount of the bond, although through negligence of the customs officers the goods are delivered without the exaction of the full amount of duties; the obligors are not mere sureties with the goods as primary security for the duties. Minturn v. U. S., 106 U. S. 437.

SEC. 2965. Unclaimed merchandise required by existing laws to be taken possession of by collectors of the customs may be stored in any public warehouse owned or leased by the United States, or in any private bonded warehouse authorized by this Title, and all charges for storage, labor, and other expenses accruing on any such merchandise, not to exceed in any case the regular rates for such objects at the port in question, must be paid before delivery of the goods on due entry thereof by the claimant or owner; or if sold as unclaimed goods, to realize the import duties, the charges shall be paid by the collector out of the proceeds of the sale thereof before paying such proceeds into the Treasury as required by existing laws.

SEC. 2966. When merchandise shall be imported into any port of the United States from any foreign country in vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam, and it shall appear by the bills of lading that the merchandise so imported is to be delivered immediately after the entry of the vessel, the collector of such port may take possession of such merchandise and deposit the same in bonded warehouse; and when it does not appear by the bills of lading that the merchandise so imported is to be immediately delivered, the collector of the customs may take possession of the same, and deposit it in bonded warehouse, at the request of the owner, master, or consignee of the vessel, on three days' notice to such collector after the entry of the vessel.

[2967 and 2968 contain special provisions as to the ports of Louisville, Jeffersonville and Albany.]

SEC. 2969. All merchandise of which the collector shall take possession under the provisions relating to the time for the discharge