Sac. 2. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue the bonds required for the funding provided for in the preceding section; and until the bonds can be provided, he may issue certificates to answer the purpose. Such bonds aud certificates shall be receivable without interest, in payment of all Government dues payable in the year 1864, except export and import duties.

SEC. 3. That all Treasury notes of all denominations of one hundred dollars, not bearing interest, which shall not be presented for funding under the provisions of the first section of this act, shall, from and after the first day of pril, 1864, east of the Mississippi River, and the first day of July, 1864, west of the Mississippi, cease to be receivable in payment of public dues, and said notes, if not so presented at the time, shall, in addition to the tax of thirtythree and one-third cents imposed in the fourth section of this act, be subject to a tax of ten per cent. per month until so presented; which taxes shall attach to said notes wherever circulated, and shall be deducted from the face of said notes wherever presented for payment or for funding, and such notes shall not be exchangeable for the new issue of Treasury notes provided for in this act.

SEC. 4. That on all the said Treasury notes not funded or used in payment of taxes at the dates and places prescribed in the first section of this act, there shall be levied at said dates and places a tax of 33 cents for every dollar funded on the face of said notes. Said tax shall attach to said notes wherever circulated, and shall be collected by deducting the same at the Treasury, its depositories and by the collectors, and by all Government officers receiving the same, wherever presented for payment, or for funding, or in payment of Government dues, or for postage or in exchange for new notes as hereinafter provided, and said Treasury notes shall be fundable in bonds as provided in the first section of this act, until the first day of January, 1865, at the rate of sixty-six cents and two thirds on the dollar, and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury at any time between the first of April east and the first of July, 1864, west of the Mississippi river, and the first of January, 1865, to substitute and exchange new Treasury notes for same, at the rate of sixty-six and two thirds cents on the dollar: Provided, That notes of the denomination of $100 shall not be entitled to the privilege of said exchange: Provided, further, That on the right to fund all such Treasury notes which may remain outstanding on the first day of January, 1865, and which may not be exchanged for new Treasury notes, as herein provided, a tax of one hundred per cent is hereby imposed.

SEC. 5. That after the 1st day of April next, all authority beretofore given to the Secretary of the Treasury to issue Trasury notes shall be, and is hereby, revoked, provided the Secretary of the Treasury may after that time issue new Treasury notes in such forms as he may prescribe, payable two years after the ratification of a treaty of peace with the United States, said new issue to be receivable in payment of all public dues except export and import duties, and to be issued in exchange for old notes at the rate of $2 of the new issue for $3 of the old issues, whether said old notes be surrendered for exchange by the holders thereof or be received into the Treasury under the provisions of this act;

and the holders of the new notes or of the old notes, except those of the denomination of $100, after they are reduced to 60% cents on the dollar by the tax aforesaid, may convert them into call certificates bearing interest at the rate of four per cent per annum, and payable two years after a ratification of a treaty of peace with the United States, unless sooner converted into new notes.

SEC. 6. That to pay the expenses of the Government, not otherwise provided for, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to issue six per cent bonds to an amount not exceeding $500,000,000, the principal and interest whereof shall be free from taxation, and for the payment of the interest thereon, the entire net receipts of any export duty hereinafter laid on the value of all cotton, tobacco, and naval stores, which shall be exported from the Confederate States, and the net proceeds of the import duties now laid, or so much thereof as may be necessary to pay the interest are hereby specially pledged: Provided, That the duties now laid upon imports, and hereby pledged, shall hereafter be paid in specie or in sterling exchange, or in the coupons of said bonds.

SEC. 12. That any State holding Treasury notes received before the times herein fixed for taxing said notes shall be allowed until the 1st day of January, 1865, to fund the same in six per cent. bonds of the Confederate States, payable twenty years after date, and the interest payable semi-annually. But all Treasury notes received by any State after the time fixed for taxing the same, as aforesaid, shall be held to have been received, diminished by the amount of said tax. The discrimination between the notes subject to the tax and those not so subject shall be left to the good faith of

in each case be conclusive.

SEC. 13. That Treasury notes heretofore issued, bearing interest at the rate of seven dollars and thirty cents on the hundred dollars per annum, shall no longer be received in payment of public dues, but shall be deemed and considered bonds of the Confederate States, payable two years after the ratification of a treaty of peace with the United States, bearing the rate of interest specified on their face, payable the 1st of January in each and every year.

SPECULATIONS ON THE FUNDING.

The Richmond Examiner of the 11th of April, 1864, gives the following statistics of the rebel currency, from which it will be seen that a desperate attempt is making to retrieve the financial disasters of the South:

The depletion of the Confederate currency under the recent legislation is much greater than is generally supposed; and in this conuection it will be interesting to refer to well established figures. The entire issue of the old circulation we may take at $800,000,000. The number of one hundred dollar bills in circulation has been about $250,000,000. Of lesser denominations that will be funded, there are, at least, say $50,000,000. Deduct now the $300,000,000 funded, and we have $500,0 0,000. This, reduced by the discount of thirty-three and one-third per cent., will, in round nuu bers, leave us $30,000,000.

The tax levied for 1864 is estimated considerably above $100,000,000. There being only $330,000,000 funded in four per cents., it follows that $100,000,000 of currency must be used in addition to the above for the payment of taxes for 1864, which will still further reduce the circulating medium to $30,000,000. From the last named sum there must be substracted the amount required to pay the additional taxes imposed by the late Congress on the income tax of 1863, as well as some portion of the oid taxes that will not be paid on the first of April, 1864. The circulation would thus be reduced to $200,000,000, without reference to the manufacture and emission of more paper money.

But here comes up the important question of the new issue, which involves the vitality of the whole scheme. The first interpretation of the currency act was that it denied power to the Secretary of the Treasury to issue one dollar notes except in exchange for the present currency at the rate of two dollars of the new for three dollars of the old, which may remain unfunded on the first of April. Others construe the act to empower the Secretary of the Treasury to issue two dollars of the new issue for three dollars of the old, whether funded or unfunded-whether exchanged or paid in for taxes.

The latter construction is said to be favored by Mr. Memminger, namely, that he is authorized to issue new notes to the amount of two-thirds of the whole of the old issue. In other words, supposing the old notes in circulation amounted to $800,000,000 the first of April, the Secretary of the Treasury is empowered to issue two-thirds of this amount, that is, $533,333,333, affording a supply to the Treasury for about eight months, irrespective of the sum that may be raised by the sale of six per cent. bonds. [From the Richmond Sentinel.]

There is but little doubt that the funding, east and west

The

of the Mississippi, will amount to $300,000,000. total issue outstanding March 31 is thereby reduced say to $100,000,000, is in $100 notes. Excluding these, we have $185,000,000. Of this, a considerable portion, probably $385,000,000 left, of which the issues of $5 and under amount to $90,969,898 50. Suppose $85,000,000 of these are now in circulation, and we have for all others $200,000,000, which circulation at the present time, irrespective of the new issue, the tax of one third has reduced to $200,000,000. The total is therefore, largely less than $300,000,000, and of this a considerable amount is always to be found in the hands of the disbursing officers and depositaries.

amount of circulation lost or destroyed, and thereby gained We have not included in the above any estimates of the

to the Government. It is doubtless considerable.

destroyed (irrespective of the operations of the present curThe amount of currency which has been canceled and rency law) is nearly twenty per cent. of the whole issue. If this reduction be applied to the five dollar notes, the amount of these in circulation would appear to be $63,272,252.

[From The Examiner of the 21st March, 1864.] Only ten days now intervene before the currency remaining in circulation is taxed one-third, and, consequently, during the week commencing Monday, the holders of Treasury notes must decide whether they will keep them until the 1st of April and submit to the Government shave, fund the amount in four per cent. bonds, or exchange it for bonds or personal property. The necessity of coming to a conclusion is "sharpening the wits" of the people, though it is not improbable that some who esteem themselves

the common defence and to carry on the government of the Confederate States, which has passed both branches of Congress. It is substantially the bill proposed by the committee on conference:

1. The first section imposes a tax of eight per cent. upon the value of all naval stores, salt, wines and spirituous liquors, tobacco, manufactured or unmanufactured, cotton, wool, flour, sugar, molasses, syrup, rice, and other agricultural products, held or owned on the 1st day of July next, and not necessary for family consumption for the unexpired portion of the year 1863, and of the growth or production of any year preceding the year 1863; and a tax of one per cent. upon all moneys, bank notes or other currency on hand or on deposit on the 1st day of July next, and on the value of all credits on which the interest has not been paid, and not employed in a business, the income derived from which is taxed under the provisions of this act: Provided, That all moneys owned, held or deposited beyond the limits of the Confederate States shall be valued at the current rate of exchange in Confederate treasury notes. The tax to be assessed on the 1st day of July and collected on the 1st day of October next, or as soon thereafter as may be practicable.

2. Every person engaged, or intending to engage, in any business named in the fifth section, shall, within sixty days after the passage of the act, or at the time of beginning business, and on the 1st of January in each year thereafter, register with the district collector a true account of the name and residence of each person, firm, or corporation engaged or interested in the business, with a statement of the time for which, and the place and manner in which the same is to be conducted, &c. At the time of the registry there shall be paid the specific tax for the year ending on the next 31st of December, and such other tax as may be due upon sales or receipts in such business.

3. Any person failing to make such registry and pay such tax, shall, in addition to all other taxes upon his business imposed by the act, pay double the amount of the specific tax on such business, and a like sum for every thirty days of such failure.

4. Requires a separate registry and tax for each business mentioned in the fifth section, and for each place of conducting the same; but no tax for mere storage of goods at a place other than the registered place of business. A new registry required upon every change in the place of conducting a registered business, upon the death of any person conducting the same, or upon the transfer of the business to another, but no additional tax.

5. Imposing the following taxes for the year ending 31st of December, 1863, and for each year thereafter: Bankers shall pay $500.

Auctioneers, retail dealers, tobacconists, pedlers, cattle brokers, apothecaries, photographers, and confectioners, $50, and two and a half per centum on the gross amount of sales made.

Wholesale dealers in liquors, $200, and five per centum on gross amount of sales. Retail dealers in liquors, $100, and ten per centum on gross amount of sales.

between $5,000 and $10,000, twelve and a half per cent.; over $10,000, fifteen per cent., subject to the following de ductions: On incomes derived from rents of real estate, manufacturing, and mining establishments, &c., a sum sufficient for necessary annnal repairs; on incomes from any mining or manufacturing business, the rent, (if rented,) cost of labor actually hired, and raw material; on incomes from navigating enterprizes, the hire of the vessel, or allowance for wear and tear of the same, not exceeding ten per cent.; on incomes derived from the sale of merchandise or any other property, the prime cost, cost of transportation, salaries of clerks, and rent of buildings; on incomes from any other occupation, the salaries of clerks, rent, cost of labor, material, &c.; and in case of mutual insurance companies, the amount of losses paid by them during the year. Incomes derived from other sources are subject to no deductions whatever.

All joint stock companies and corporations shall pay one tenth of the dividend and reserved fund annually. If the annual earnings shall give a profit of more than ten and less than twenty per cent. on capital stock, one eighth to be paid; if more than twenty per cent, one sixth. The tax to be collected on the 1st of January next, and of each year thereafter. 9. Relates to estimates and deductions, investigations, referees, &c. 10. A tax of ten per cent. on all profits in 1862 by the purchase and sale of flour, corn, bacon, pork, oats, hay, rice, salt, iron or the manufactures of iron, sugar, molasses made of cane, butter, woolen cloths, shoes, boots, blankets, and cotton cloths. Does not apply to regular retail business.

11. Each farmer, after reserving for his own use fifty bushels sweet and fifty bushels Irish potatoes, one hundred bushels corn or fifty bushels wheat produced this year, shall pay and deliver to the Confederate Government one tenth of the grain, potatoes, forage, sugar, molasses, cotton, wool, and tobacco produced. After reserving twenty bushels peas or beans he shall deliver one tenth thereof.

12. Every farmer, planter, or grazier, one tenth of the hogs slaughtered by him, in cured bacon, at the rate of sixty pounds of bacon to one hundred pounds of pork; one per cent. upon the value of all neat cattle, horses, mules, not used in cultivation, and asses, to be paid by the owners of the same; beeves sold to be taxed as income.

13. Gives in detail the duties of post quartermasters under the act.

14. Relates to the duties of assessors and collectors. 15. Makes trustees, guardians, &c., responsible for taxes due from estates, &c., under their control.

16. Exempts the income and moneys of hospitals, asylums, churches, schools, and colleges from taxation under the act.

17. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to make all rules and regulations necessary to the operation of the

act.

18. Provides that the act shall be in force for two years from the expiration of the present year, unless sooner re

Pawnbrokers, money and exchange brokers, $200. Distillers, $200, and twenty per centum. Brewers, $100, and two and a half per centum.

Hotels, inns, taverns, and eating-honses, first class, $500; second class, $300; third class, $200; fourth class, $100; fifth class, $30. Every house where food or refreshments are

sold, and every boarding house where there shall be six boarders or more, shall be deemed an eating house under

this act.

Commercial brokers or commission merchants, $200, and two and a half per centum.

Theatres, $500, and five per centum on all receipts. Each circus, $100, and $10 for each exhibition. Jugglers and other persons exhibiting shows, $50.

Bowling alleys and billiard rooms, $40 for each alley or table registered.

Livery stable keepers, lawyers, physicians, surgeons, and dentists, $50.

Butchers and bakers, $50, and one per centum.

6. Every person registered and taxed is required to make returns of the gross amount of sales from the passage of the act to the 30th June, and every three months there

after.

7. A tax upon all salaries, except of persons in the military or naval service, of one per cent. when not exceeding $1,500, and two per cent. upon an excess over that amount: Provided, That no taxes shall be imposed by virtue of this act on the salary of any person receiving a salary not exceeding $1,000 per annum, or at a like rate for another period of time, longer or shorter.

8. Provides that the tax on annual incomes, between $500 and $1,500, shall be five per cent.; between $1,500 and $3.000, five per cent. on the first $1.500 and ten per cent. on the excess; between $3,000 and $5,000, ten per cent.;

tobacco, and other agricultural products of the growth of any year preceding 1863, imposed in the first section, shall be levied and collected only for the present year.

The tax act of February 17, 1864, levies, in addition to the above rates, the following, as stated in the Richmond Sentinel of February, 1864:

SEC. 1. Upon the value of real, personal, and mixed property, of every kind and description, except the exemptions hereafter to be named, five per cent.; the tax levied on property employed in agriculture to be credited by the value of property in kind.*

*This is the section in full:

That on the 1st day of January, 1863, there shall be levied and assessed on each person residing in the Confederate States, for the support of the Government and the defence of the country, the following tax, to wit: One fifth the valno of all the wheat, corn, rice, rye, oats, potatoes, hemp, flax, peas, beans, barley, hay, wool, rosin, tar, pitch, turpentine, cotton, sugar, mokisses, and tobacco produced by him in these States during the previous calendar year; also, one fifth of the value of the increase for the preceding calendar year of the horses, asses, cattle, sheep, and swine; and also, one fifth of the profits made in the preceding calendar year of the feeding of swine, sheep, cattle, or mules; also, one. fifth of each person's yearly income for the preceding calendar year, from all sources whatsoever, except from the sources hereinafter described, and except from the interest on Confederate bonds, certificates, or treasury notes; Pro vided, That said tax so levied and assessed shall be due and payable on the 1st day of April, 1863. Provided further,

The tax to be levied on the value of property in 1860, except in the case of land, slaves, cotton, and tobacco, purchased since January 1st, 1862, upon which the tax shall be levied on the price paid. SEC. 2. A tax of five per cent on the value of all shares in Joint stock companies of any kind, whether incorporated or not. The shares to be valued at their market value at the time of assessment.

SEC. 3. Upon the market value of gold and silver coin or bullion, five per cent.; also the same upon moneys held abroad, or all bills of exchange drawn therefor.

A tax of five per cent. on all solvent credits, and on all bank bills and papers used as currency, except non-interest bearing Confederate Treasury notes, and not employed in a registered business taxed twenty-five per cent.

SEC. 4. Profits in trade and business taxed as follows: On the purchase and sale of agricultural products and mercantile wares generally, from January 1, 1863, to Janmary 1, 1865, ten per cent in addition to the tax under the act of April 24, 1863.

The same on the purchase and sale of coin, exchange, stocks, notes, and credits of any kind, and any property not included in the foregoing.

On the amount of profits exceeding twenty-five per cent. of any bank, banking company, or joint stock company of any description, incorporated or not, twenty-five per cent. on such excess.

SEC. 5. The following are exempted from taxation: Five hundred dollars' worth of property for each head of a family, and a hundred dollars additional for each minor child; and for each son in the army or navy, or who has fallen in the service, and a member of the family when he enlisted, the further sum of $500.

One thousand dollars of the property of the widow or minor children of any officer, soldier, sailor, or marine, who has died in the service.

A like amount of property of any officer, soldier, sailor, or marine, engaged in the service, or who has been disabled therein, provided said property, exclusive of furniture, does not exceed in value $1,000.

When property has been injured or destroyed by the enemy, or the owner unable temporarily to use or occupy it by reason of the presence or proximity of the enemy, the assessment may be reduced in proportion to the damage sustained by the owner, and the tax in the same ratio by

the district collector.

SEC. 6. The taxes on property for 1864 to be assessed as on the day of the passage of this act, and collected the 1st of June next, with ninety days extension west of the Mississippi. The additional tax on incomes or profits for 1863, to be paid forthwith; the tax on incomes, &c., for 1864, to be collected according to the acts of 1863.

SEC. 7. Exempts from tax on income for 1864, all property herein taxed ad valorem. The tax on Confederate bonds in no case to exceed the interest payable on the same; and said bonds exempt from tax when held by minors or lunatics, if the interest do not exceed one thousand dollars.

THE TAX LAW.

defense and carry on the Government of the Confederate States," approved April 24, 1863, and the act amendatory thereof, approved February 17, 1864, shall, in addition to the ono tenth required by said acts to be paid as a tax in kind, deliver to the Confederate Government, of the products of the present year and of the year 1865, one other tenth of the several products taxed in kind by the acts aforesaid, which additional one tenth shall be ascertained, assessed and collected, in all respects, as is provided by law for the said tax in kind, and shall be paid for, on delivery, by the Post Quartermasters in the several districts at the assessed value thereof, except that payment for cotton and tobacco shall be made by the agents of the Treasury Department appointed to receive the same.

SEC. 2. The supplies necessary to the support of the producer and his family, and to carry on his ordinary business, shall be exempted from the contribution required by the preceding section, and from the additional impressments authorized by the act: Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to repeal or affect the provisions of an act entitled "An act to authorize the impressment of meat for the use of the army, under certain circumstances," approved Feb. 17, 1864, and if the amount of any article or product so necessary cannot be agreed upon between the assessor and the producer, it shall be ascertained and determined by disinterested freeholders of the vicinage, as is provided in cases of disagreement as te the estimates and assessments of tax in kind. If requires by the assessor, such freeholder shall ascertain whether producer, who is found unable to furnish the additional one tenth of any one product, cannot supply the deficiency by the delivery of an equivalent in other products, and upon what terms such commutation shall be made Any com mutation thus awarded shall be enforced and collected, in all respects, as is provided for any other contribution required by this act."

SEC. 3. The Secretary of War may, at his discretion, decline to assess, or, after assessment, may decline to collect the whole or any part of the additional one tenth herein provided for, in any district or locality; and it shall be his duty promptly to give notice of any such determination, specifying, with reasonable certainty, the district or locality and the product, or the proportion thereof, as to which be so declines.

SEC. 4. The products received for the contribution herein required, shall be disposed of and accounted for in the same manner as those received for the tax in kind; and the Secre tary of War may, whenever the exigencies of the public service will allow, authorize the sale of products received from either source, to public officers or agents charged in any Stato with the duty of providing for the families of soldiers. Such sale shall be at the prices paid or assessed for the products sold, including the actual cost of collections.

SEC. 5. If, in addition to the tax in kind and the contribution herein required, the necessities of the army or the good of the service shall require other supplies of food or forage, or any other private property, and the same cannot be procured by contract, then impressments may be made of such supplies or other property, either for absolute

act.

The daily wages of detailed soldiers and other employés of the Government are not liable to taxation as income, although they may amount, in the aggregate, to the sum of $1,000 per annum.

A tax additional to both the above was imposed as follows, June 1, 1864:

A bill to provide supplies for the army, and to prescribe the mode of making impressments.*

SEC. 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, Every person required to pay a tax in kind, under

That foreigners resident within the Confederate States shall not be required to pay, except from the aforesaid articles produced by or for them, or from income or profits derived from business conducted by them within those States; nor shall any tax be levied upon the produce of residents where the total value of such products during said years is less than $500; nor shall any tax be levied on the income of residents where the total value of such income is less than $500.

The Georgia Supreme Court has made an important decision in the case of impressment of sugar in the hands of ■ merchant. One of the points was that "the Congress of

may require. Such impressments shall be made in accordance with the provisions, and subject to the restrictions of the existing impressment laws, except so far as is herein otherwise provided.

SEC. 6. The right and the duty of making impressments charged in the several districts with the assessment and colis hereby confided exclusively to the officers and agents lection of the tax in kind and of the contribution herein required; and all officers and soldiers in any department of the army are hereby expressly prohibited from undertak ing in any manner to interfere with these officers and agents in any part of their duties in respect to the tax in kind, the contribution, or the impressment herein provided for: Provided, That this prohibition shall not be applicable to any district, county, or parish in which there shall be no officer or agent charged with the appointment and collec tion of the tax in kind.

SEC. 7. Supplies or other property taken by impressment shall be paid for by the post quartermasters in the several districts, and shall be disposed of and accounted for by them as is required in respect to the tax in kind and the contribution herein required: and it shall be the duty of the post quartermasters to equalize and apportion the impressments within their districts, as far as practicable, so as to avoid oppressing any portion of the community.

the Confederate States have the constitutional power to authorize, by statute, the accumulation of supplies for fo ture use of the army by impressment, where holders refuse to sell at fair prices: Provided, 'Just compensation' be made or tendered to the owner.”

SEO 8. If any one not authorized by law to collect the tax in Lind or the contribution herein required, or to make impressments, shall undertake, on any pretence of such authority, to seize or impress, or to collect or receive any such property, or shall, on any such pretence, actually obtain such property, he shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by fine not exceeding five times the value of such property, and be imprisoned not exceeding five years, at the discretion of the court having jurisdiction. And it shall be the duty of all officers and agents charged with the assessment and collection of the tax in kind and of the contribution herein required, promptly to report, through the post quartermasters in the several districts, any viola

tion or disregard of the provisions of this act by any officer or soldier in the service of the Confederate States. SEC. 9. That it shall not be lawful to impress any sheep, milch cows, brood mares, stud horses, jacks, bulls, or other stock kept or necessary for raising horses, mules, or cattle. The following is the vote by which the bill passed the Senate:

YEAS Messrs. Caperton, Graham, Haynes, Jemison, Johnson (Ark.), Johnson (Mo.), Mitchel, Orr, Walker, Watson10. NAYS-Messrs. Baker, Burnett, Henry, Hunter, Maxwell, Semmes, Sparrow-7.