make all needful examinations to determine whether the right to abandon accrues, or whether by reason of total destruction there is a nonimportation in whole or in part. All merchandise abandoned to the Government by the importers shall be delivered by the importers thereof at such place within the port of arrival as the chief officer of customs may direct, and on the failure of the importers to comply with the direction of the collector or the chief officer of customs, as the case may be, the abandoned merchandise shall be disposed of by the customs authorities under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, at the expense of such importers. Where imported fruit or perishable goods have been condemned at the port of original entry within ten days after landing, by health officers or other legally constituted authorities, the importers or their agents shall, within twenty-four hours after such condemnation, lodge with the collector, or the person acting as collector, of said port, notice thereof in writing, together with an invoice description and the quantity of the articles condemned, their location, and the name of the vessel in which imported. Upon receipt of said notice the collector, or person acting as collector, shall at once cause an investigation and a report to be made in writing by at least two customs officers touching the identity and quantity of fruit or perishable goods condemned, and unless proof to ascertain the shortage or nonimportation of fruit or perishable goods shall have been lodged as herein required, or if the importer or his agent fails to notify the collector of such condemnation proceedings as herein provided, proof of such shortage or nonimportation shall not be deemed established and no allowance shall be made in the liquidation of duties chargeable thereon.

"Y. That whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury that, in any case of unascertained or estimated duties, or payments made upon appeal, more money has been paid to or deposited with a collector of customs than, as has been ascertained by final liquidation thereof, the law required to be paid or

deposited, the Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the Treasurer to refund and pay the same out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. The necessary moneys therefor are hereby appropriated, and this appropriation shall be deemed a permanent indefinite appropriation; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to correct manifest clerical errors in any entry or liquidation for or against the United States, at any time within one year of the date of such entry, but not afterwards: Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall, in his annual report to Congress, give a detailed statement. of the various sums of money refunded under the provisions of this Act or of any other Act of Congress relating to the revenue, together with copies of the rulings under which repayments were made.

"Z. That from and after the taking effect of this Act, no collector or other officer of the customs shall be in any way liable to any owner, importer, consignee, or agent of any merchandise, or any other person, for or on account of any rulings or decisions as to the classification of said merchandise or the duties charged thereon, or the collection of any dues, charges, or duties on or on account of said merchandise, or any other matter or thing as to which said owner, importer, consignee, or agent of such merchandise might, under this Act, be entitled to appeal from the decision of said collector or other officer, or from any board of appraisers.

"AA. That any person who shall give, or offer to give, or promise to give, any money or thing of value, directly or indirectly, to any officer or employee of the United States in consideration of or for any act or omission contrary to law in connection with or pertaining to the importation, appraisement, entry, examination, or inspection of goods, wares, or merchandise, including herein any baggage or of the liquidation of the entry thereof, or shall by threats or demands or promises of any character attempt to improperly influence or control any such officer or employee of the United States as to the performance of his official duties shall, on conviction thereof, be fined

not exceeding $2,000, or be imprisoned at hard labor not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court; and evidence of such giving, or offering, or promising to give, satisfactory to the court in which such trial is had, shall be regarded as prima facie evidence that such giving or offering or promising was contrary to law, and shall put upon the accused the burden of proving that such act was innocent and not done with an unlawful intention.

"BB. That any officer or employee of the United States who shall, excepting for lawful duties or fees, solicit, demand, exact, or receive from any person, directly or indirectly, any money or thing of value in connection with or pertaining to the importation, appraisement, entry, examination, or inspection of goods, wares, or merchandise, including herein any baggage or liquidation of the entry thereof, on conviction thereof shall be fined not exceeding $5,000, or be imprisoned at hard labor not more than two years, or both, in the discretion of the court; and evidence of such soliciting, demanding, exacting, or receiving, satisfactory to the court in which such trial is had, shall be regarded as prima facie evidence that such soliciting, demanding, exacting, or receiving was contrary to law, and shall put upon the accused the burden of proving that such act was innocent and not with an unlawful intention.

"CC. That any baggage or personal effects arriving in the United States in transit to any foreign country may be delivered by the parties having it in charge to the collector of the proper district, to be by him retained, without the payment or exaction of any import duty, or to be forwarded by such collector to the collector of the port of departure and to be delivered to such parties on their departure for their foreign destination, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe."

Section IV.

A. That for the purpose of readjusting the present duties on importations into the United States and at the same time to encourage the export trade of this country, the

President of the United States is authorized and empowered to negotiate trade agreements with foreign nations wherein mutual concessions are made looking toward freer trade relations and further reciprocal expansion of trade and commerce: Provided, however, That said trade agreements before becoming operative shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States for ratification or rejection. B. That nothing in this Act contained shall be so construed as to abrogate or in any manner impair or affect the provisions of the treaty of commercial reciprocity concluded between the United States and the Republic of Cuba on the eleventh day of December, nineteen hundred and two, or the provisions of the Act of Congress heretofore passed for the execution of the same except as to the proviso of article eight of said treaty, which proviso is hereby abrogated and repealed.

C. That there shall be levied, collected, and paid upon all articles coming into the United States from the Philippine Islands the rates of duty which are required to be levied, collected, and paid upon like articles imported from foreign countries: Provided, That all articles, the growth or product of or manufactured in the Philippine Islands from materials the growth or product of the Philippine Islands or of the United States, or of both, or which do not contain foreign materials to the value of more than 20 per centum of their total value, upon which no drawback of customs duties has been allowed therein, coming into the United States from the Philippine Islands shall hereafter be admitted free of duty: Provided, however, That in consideration of the exemptions aforesaid, all articles, the growth, product, or manufacture of the United States, upon which no drawback of customs duties has been allowed therein, shall be admitted to the Philippine Islands from the United States free of duty: And provided further, That the free admission, herein provided, of such articles, the growth, product, or manufacture of the United States, into the Philippine Islands, or of the growth, product, or manufacture, as hereinbefore defined, of the Philippine Islands into the United States, shall be conditioned upon the direct

shipment thereof, under a through bill of lading, from the country of origin to the country of destination: Provided, That direct shipment shall include shipments in bond through foreign territory contiguous to the United States: Provided, however, That if such articles become unpacked while en route by accident, wreck, or other casualty, or so damaged as to necessitate their repacking, the same shall be admitted free of duty upon satisfactory proof that the unpacking occurred through accident or necessity and that the merchandise involved is the identical merchandise originally shipped from the United States or the Philippine Islands, as the case may be, and that its condition has not been changed except for such damage as may have been sustained: And provided, That there shall be levied, collected, and paid, in the United States, upon articles, goods, wares, or merchandise coming into the United States from the Philippine Islands, a tax equal to the internal-revenue tax imposed in the United States upon the like articles, goods, wares, or merchandise of domestic manufacture; such tax to be paid by internal-revenue stamp or stamps, to be provided by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and to be affixed in such manner and under such regulations as he, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall prescribe; and such articles, goods, wares, or merchandise, shipped from said islands to the United States, shall be exempt from the payment of any tax imposed by the internal-revenue laws of the Philippine Islands: And provided further, That there shall be levied, collected, and paid in the Philippine Islands, upon articles, goods, wares, or merchandise going into the Philippine Islands from the United States, a tax equal to the internal-revenue tax imposed in the Philippine Islands upon the like articles, goods, wares, or merchandise of Philippine Islands manufacture; such tax to be paid by internal-revenue stamps or otherwise, as provided by the laws in the Philippine Islands; and such articles, goods, wares, or merchandise going into the Philippine Islands from the United States shall be exempt from the payment of any tax imposed by the internal-revenue laws