and some of the most representative industrial and commercial organizations in the countries which were allied against Germany. REFERENCES BENTLEY, C. H. Foreign Trade and the Tariff. Proceedings of the Fourth National Foreign Trade Convention, 1917. Pp. 75-83. CHALMERS, H. What Europe's Tariffs Mean to Us. The Nation's Business. March, 1923. Pp. 50-52. CHALMERS, H. Tariff Tinkering by Treaty. The Nation's Business. COSTIGAN, E. P. Economic Alliances, Commercial Treaties and Tariff Commercial Policy in War Time and After. DIETZEL, H. Retaliatory Duties. FISK, G. M. International Commercial Policies. Chaps. XI and XII. FRIEDMAN, E. M. (Editor). International Commerce and Reconstruction. FOREIGN TARIFFS DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE. Tariff Information, 1921. Foreign Tariff Legislation. GRUNZEL, J. Economic Protectionism. GREGORY, T. E. G. Tariffs: A Study in Method. JOHNSON, E. R., AND OTHERS. History of Domestic and Foreign Commerce of the United States. Vol. II, Chap. XXX. LAUGHLIN, J. L., and WILLIS, H. P. Reciprocity. STRAIGHT, W. The Foreign Trade Aspect of the Tariff. Proceedings of the Fourth National Foreign Trade Convention, 1917. Pp. 62-75. TAUSSIG, F. W. Free Trade, the Tariff and Reciprocity. UNITED STATES TARIFF COMMISSION. Reciprocity and Commercial Treaties. WALLACE, B. B. Post-War Tariff Changes and Tendencies. Annals of the Amer. Acad. of Pol. and Soc. Science. March, 1921. Pp. 175–185. CHAPTER IX CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION. BONDED WAREHOUSES, DRAWBACKS AND FREE ZONES Functions and Powers of Customs Officers. One of the main functions of customs officers is the securing of lawful revenue from importation of foreign merchandise. In the discharge of this function they appraise and levy duties on goods which enter the United States and they work for the suppression and prevention of smuggling, undervaluation and other frauds. The duties of customs officers include also the documentation of American vessels, the exclusion of foreign vessels from coastwise traffic, the collection and deposit of duties, fees and penalties accruing under the customs and navigation laws, and the compilation of returns of the commerce, navigation and immigration of the United States. The law confers upon customs officers powers of search, seizure and arrest; they may stop vessels, coming from foreign ports, board them and search them, using force, if necessary; they may also enter any premises other than dwelling houses at any time of night or day. In case of foreign vessels protected by treaty, notice of an intended search must be given to the proper consul, and in case of dwelling places searches are allowed only in the day time; search warrants must be obtained from the justice of the peace or from other courts having jurisdiction. Any person interfering with customs officers in the discharge of their duty or offering them bribes to influence their acts is liable to severe penalties. All seized property must be transferred into the custody of the collector and APPOINTMENTS TO AND REMOVALS FROM SERVICE 133 proceedings must be instituted against such property. In case of perishable commodities a summary sale is usually directed pending the outcome of the suit. Appointments to and Removals from Service.-Appointments to the principal positions in the custom house service are made by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. When an appointment is made, a notice of it is sent by the Secretary of the Treasury; this notice is accompanied by forms for bond and oath. Subordinate officers, such as deputy collectors, inspectors, weighers, clerks, are nominated by the principal customs officers, who send the names of the candidates for approval to the Secretary of the Treasury. Selections are made from among those who pass successfully a civil service examination and who can produce proof of good conduct and are in a fit physical condition. The age limit, except for those discharged from military or naval service, is from twenty-one to fifty-five years. Only one member of the same family is eligible. The principal officers are expected to keep a record of the work of subordinates and recommend them for promotion in accordance with zeal and efficiency displayed in the discharge of duties. In case of misconduct or other delinquency of a subordinate officer, written charges are filed against him and he is given an opportunity to defend himself. Both the charges and the defense are forwarded to the Secretary of the Treasury who decides whether the officer should or should not be removed. In case of minor offenses an officer may be suspended for thirty days without pay. The principal officers may be removed from service only by the President. Classification of Customs Officers: Secretary of Treasury. -The chief customs officer is the Secretary of the Treasury. In him is vested the administration of the tariff and the supervision over the collection of duties. The Secretary of the Treasury prescribes forms of entries, oaths, bonds, and other papers, as well as rules and regulations necessary for the proper execution of the customs laws. All customs officers must carry out his instruction, and in case of any difficulty arising regarding the true construction or meaning of any part of the revenue acts his decision is conclusive and binding. The actual work of administering the customs laws is vested in the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, who is the head of the Division of Customs in the Treasury Department. Collectors. The collector has charge of his customs district. He receives the reports, manifests, and entries of all ships and of all the goods imported in them, grants all permits for the unlading and delivery of merchandise, estimates the amount of duties payable and receives all moneys paid for such duties; he provides, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, storehouses for the safe keeping of goods subject to appraisal, etc. Every collector may be authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury to employ deputy collectors to assist him in his work. Comptrollers of Customs. In some of the larger customs districts, where the extent of business makes the daily accounting to the Treasury Department impracticable, comptrollers of customs, known before the passage of the Tariff of 1922 as naval officers, have been provided; they act concurrently with the collector in the est nation of duties and in the signing of permits. Comptrollers of customs receive copies of all manifests and entries and keep a separate record of all transactions. This permits them to certify to the correctness of the collector's abstracts of duties and of his accounts of receipts, bonds and expenditures. Appraisers. Appraisers examine and appraise all imported merchandise which is designated for that purpose by the collector; the work is often done by assistant appraisers whose reports the appraisers, before submitting them to the collector, revise and correct. For a proper discharge of their duties, appraisers must have a thorough knowledge of the nature, qualities, grades, uses and textures of the various articles which pass through the custom house as well as an extensive acquaintance with market values of UNITED STATES BOARD OF GENERAL APPRAISERS 135 goods in foreign countries, with freight and insurance rates, and with many details of tariff classification and administration. Appraisers' decisions as to the nature of the goods, in accordance with the tariff nomenclature, are made the basis of assessment of duty. As the progress of invention and the improvements in industrial arts and sciences throw numerous new articles on the market almost daily, the difficulty of the task confronting the appraisers may be easily understood. Their opinions are necessarily often based on mere conjectures; in case of doubt as to the nature or quality of goods, they submit samples with their findings to collectors or to the Board of General Appraisers for advice. In order to secure uniform valuations and the charging of equal duties on identical merchandise in all the customs districts of the country, reports and samples of such merchandise as can be safely mailed are forwarded regularly to the Board of General Appraisers. All samples, except those of perishable goods, are filed with proper notations in each customs district. United States Board of General Appraisers.-The Board of General Appraisers was created by the Customs Administration Act of 1890. It consists of nine men, and is subdivided into three sub-boards having three general appraisers in each. General appraisers consider appeals from decisions of local appraisers and collectors of customs regarding classifications of imported goods or their foreign value. They are located at New York, but when occasion demands, they hold sessions at other chief ports of the United States. Examiners. Local appraisers are assisted by examiners to whom they assign the work of comparing the articles contained in the shipment with the description of these articles in the invoice. Many of these examiners are experts in one or another class of merchandise. The report of the appraiser to the collector is usually based on the examiner's findings; it specifies the exact nature of each article examined and indicates the rate of duty applicable to it. |