in good homes.

The rate paid for servants is from $6 to $10 per month. Of course we will not contract with any family to furnish servants, neither with your people until here; but if you will bring 500 to 1,000 servants, we will see that homes are secured for them, after arrival.

The secretary inquires whether "it will be a violation of the law to land parties who pay their own passage with such statement made in advance."

In reply, while the Department does not undertake to determine questions of law or fact upon hypothetical statements, and in advance of an opportunity for official action, yet in this case there is no hesitation in expressing the opinion that the proviso in section 5 of the alien contract-labor law, exempting from its operation "persons employed strictly as personal or domestic servants," was intended to apply only to servants who should come into this country with their employers.

Without attempting to pass upon the action of the bureau at this time, I do take the liberty of calling attention to the language of the first section of the act referred to.

Parol or special, express or implied, contracts are alike under the ban of the law, and whether a court would determine that there was an implied agreement on the part of the bureau to furnish homes on arrival to from 500 to 1,000 servants at from $6 to $10 a month, implied from the language of their answer, they can determine as well as I. I do not think it proper to say more at this time.

Respectfully yours,

WILLIAM WINDOM,

Secretary.

COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, Jacksonville, Fla.

(9920.)

Columbus, Ohio, a port of delivery, etc.

AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act to constitute Columbus, Ohio, a port of delivery, and to extend the provisions of the act of June tenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, entitled 'An act to amend the statutes in relation to the immediate transportation of dutiable goods, and for other purposes,' to said port of Columbus, Ohio," approved February ninth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That an act entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to constitute Columbus, Ohio, a port of delivery,' and to extend the provisions of the act of June tenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, entitled 'An act to amend the statutes in relation to immediate transportation of dutiable goods, and for other purposes,' to said port of Columbus," approved February ninth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, be, and hereby is, amended

to read as follows, namely: "That Columbus, in the State of Ohio, be. and is hereby, constituted a port of delivery, and that the privileges of the seventh section of the act approved June tenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, entitled "An act to amend the statutes in relation to immediate transportation of dutiable goods, and for other purposes,' be, and the same are hereby, extended to said port, and that there shall be appointed at said port a surveyor with a compensation at one thousand dollars per annum and the usual fees and commissions."

Approved, March 13, 1890.

(9921.)

Drawing paper-Pastel paper dutiable as.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 14, 1890.

SIR: The Department duly received your letter of the 25th ultimo, transmitting the appeal (9821 x) of Thayer & Chandler from your assessment of duty, at the rate of 25 per cent. ad valorem, on certain pastel paper, imported by them per La Champagne, January 8, 1890, and returned by the appraiser for duty as paper not otherwise provided for, dutiable under T. I., 392.

From the appraiser's report, submitted with your letter, and an examination of the sample submitted, as well as from a reference to the report of the Conference of Appraisers held in January last, it appears that this pastel paper consists of sheets of paper having a sanded surface, that it is used by artists in crayon sketching, and constitutes a regular article of commerce, known and sold by dealers as pastel paper, drawing paper, etc.

The appellants claim that it is dutiable as a manufacture of paper, at the rate of 15 per cent. ad valorem, under T. I., 388.

In the case of De Jonge et al. vs. Magone, recently tried in the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York, before Judge Lacombe and a jury, and which involved the question of the dutiable character of so-called Morocco paper, velvet paper, and embossed paper used for covering trunks, boxes, walls, etc., the learned judge, in his instructions, stated as follows:

This particular article imported here would be dutiable as the plaintiffs claim, under the 388th section of the tariff act, as manufactures of paper, unless it is elsewhere covered by some other expression in the tariff act.

*

*

The court then referred to the provisions in T. I., 392, for "paper hangings * paper antiquarian, demy, drawing, * and all other paper not specially enumerated or

foolscap,

provided for," and left the question to the jury as to whether the articles subject of suit were covered by this latter provision.

The jury found for the defendant, thus sustaining the position heretofore taken by the Department, that these classes of paper were specially provided for in T. I., 392.

In the present case the article is known as a drawing paper, and, although it is a manufacture of paper in a certain sense, it has not been taken out from the special provisions in T. I., 392, for drawing paper, which is sufficiently comprehensive to cover all paper used for drawing purposes.

Your assessment of duty, therefore, being in accordance with the rule laid down by the court, as aforesaid, and which governed Department's decisions, Synopses 6546, 6677, 7008, 7427, 8940, is hereby affirmed.

Fish, fresh, for immediate consumption-Cold storage under attachment pro

ceedings.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 14, 1890.

SIR: The Department duly received your letter of the 25th ultimo, reporting your action in assessing duty on certain fresh fish, imported by W. J. Ingalls, February 14 last, which were passed free of duty as fresh fish for immediate consumption, but which having been attached by the sheriff on his action for debt, and placed in cold storage as a means of preservation, were assessed with duty by you under paragraph 6, Circular No. 4, February 1, 1890.

As stated in Department's telegram to you of the 16th ultimo, "if free entry of the fish was made in good faith, subsequent attachment proceedings, including cold storage, would not warrant collection of duty" under the decision cited.

You are accordingly authorized to reliquidate the entry free of duty, and to take the necessary steps for refunding the amount exacted.

Respectfully yours,

GEORGE C. TICHENOR,

(9813x.)

Assistant Secretary.

COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, Detroit, Mich.

(9923.)

Circular No. 343.-Disposition of fruit brandy after gauge.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

Office of Internal Revenue, Washington, D. C., March 15, 1890.

A new form (No. 247) has been prepared, and is hereby prescribed, for the use of collectors in making report to this office of fruit brandy tax-paid, warehoused, or reported for assessment of tax.

Collectors are hereby required to make a report upon this form, as soon as may be practicable after receipt hereof, of all packages of fruit brandy which have been gauged within their respective districts since June 30, 1889, and which have, at the date of such report, been disposed of in either method mentioned therein.

Thereafter they will make semi-monthly report on the 15th and last days of each month of every package which has been tax-paid, warehoused, or reported for assessment of tax during the period covered by the report, as directed in the "Instructions" on said form.

G. W. WILSON,

Approved:

WILLIAM WINDOM, Secretary.

Acting Commissioner.

(9924.)

Smokers' articles-Certain so-called bouquet holders (cigarette holders) dutia

ble as.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 17, 1890.

SIR: The Department is in receipt of your letter of the 26th ultimo, transmitting the appeal (9871 x) of Carl Hermann from your decision assessing duty, at the rate of 70 per cent. ad valorem, on certain socalled manufactures of paper, imported by him per Moravia and Wieland, December 23 and 29, 1886, respectively, and returned by the appraiser on the invoices as "smokers' articles."

The appellant claims that the articles in question are used for bouquet holders, that they are manufactured of quills and paper, and are dutiable at the rate of 15 per cent. ad valorem, under T. I., 388, for manufact ures of paper, or of which paper is the component part.

The appraiser, in reporting on this appeal, states that the merchandise consists of cigar and cigarette holders; that they are designed

exclusively for the use of smokers, and are suitable for no other purpose.

An examination of the sample submitted with the appeal seems to confirm this statement, but if the articles in question are used for bouquet holders, they can be used and seem more appropriate for cigarette holders, and therefore, under the rule laid down in section. 2499 of the Revised Statutes, that, when two or more rates of duty are applicable to any imported article, it shall be classified for duty under the highest of such rates, your action in assessing duty at the rate prescribed in T. I., 476, for "smokers' articles," being in harmony with the principle enunciated in Department's decisions, Synopses 8007 and $379, is hereby affirmed.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 17, 1890.

SIR: The Department is in receipt of your letter of the 27th ultimo, transmitting the appeal (9707 x) of Messrs. Weiller, Strauss & Co. from your assessment of duty, at the rate of 35 per cent. ad valorem, on certain so-called "watches," imported by them per Neckar, January 4, 1890, and returned by the appraiser on the invoice as "toys."

The appellants claim that the merchandise is dutiable at the rate of 25 per cent. ad valorem, under T. I., 494, for “Watches.”

You state that "the goods are invoiced as watches at a cost of marks 17.10, about $4.07 per gross, or less than 3 cents each."

As the goods in question have no practicable value as watches, and are designed for the amusement of children, your action in assessing duty at the rate prescribed by T. I., 425, for "toys," being in harmony with the principle enunciated in Department's decisions of November 16, 1883 (Synopsis 6018), and October 6, 1886 (Synopsis 7797), is hereby affirmed.

Respectfully yours,

(9707 x.)

GEORGE C. TICHENOR,

Assistant Secretary.

COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, New York, N. Y.