PREPARED FOR THE USE OF THE Sony. HouseCOMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Under direction of the Clerk of the Committee WASHINGTON 1920 TH HIS SUMMARY is a comprehensive recapitulation of available tariff information, and was prepared for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means in anticipation of a general revision of the tariff act of October 3, 1913, and amendments thereto. The subject matter was furnished by the United States Tariff Commission from its records and reflects available data in the possession of the Government on world commerce and industrial development. Mr. H. L. Barrick, detailed to the Ways and Means Committee by the Customs Division of the Treasury Department, collaborated with Mr. Charles E. McNabb, of the Legal Division of the Tariff Commission, in preparing the résumé of decisions made prior to December 17, 1919, by United States courts, the Board of General Appraisers, and the Treasury Department, found under the heading "Interpretation and comments." Import and export figures, in some instances, are not stated in annual sequence, the serious disturbance to ocean shipping following the outbreak of the World War preventing the movement of many commodities. The statements of production are based on reports for calendar years; import and export figures are for fiscal years. A volume entitled "Statistics of Imports and Duties," compiled by the Tariff Commission, contains detailed import information for the years 1909 to 1918, inclusive, and is designed to supplement the necessarily brief and condensed statistical statements in the SUMMARY. Acknowledgments are made to the Library of Congress, the Treasury Department, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Standards, the United States Appraiser's Staff of New York, the Comparative Value Reports Bureau, and other Government boards and agencies for assistance rendered and courtesies extended." The SUMMARY was edited by Mr. Frank A. Kidd, detailed to the committee from the Government Printing Office. JANUARY, 1920. ERNEST W. CAMP, Clerk. 3 SUMMARY OF TARIFF INFORMATION, 1920. ACT OF 1909. ENACTING CLAUSE. AN ACT To provide revenue, equalize duties and encourage the industries of the United States, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That on and after the day following the passage of this Act, except as otherwise specially provided for in the second section of this Act, there shall be levied, collected, and paid upon all articles when imported from any foreign country into the United States or into any of its possessions (except the Philippine Islands and the islands of Guam and Tutuila) the rates of duty which are by the schedules and paragraphs of the dutiable list of this section prescribed, namely: ACT OF 1913. AN ACT To reduce tariff duties and to provide revenue for the Government, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That on and after the day following the passage of this Act, except as otherwise specially provided for in this Act, there shall be levied, collected, and paid upon all articles when imported from any foreign country into. the United States or into any of its possessions (except the Philippine Islands and the islands of Guam and Tutuila) the rates of duty which are by the schedules and paragraphs of the dutiable list of this section prescribed, namely: INTERPRETATION AND COMMENTS. The tariff act of 1913 was designed to be a complete revision of the tariff laws of the country, and its wording clearly shows that it was intended as a substitute for all prior tariff legislation not saved by the act itself. (7 Ct. Cust. Appls., 343, of 1916.) "When imported" should be read as meaning "which are imported." Cust. Appls., T. D. 37978, 37980, of 1919.) INSULAR POSSESSIONS. (9 Ct. The Panama Canal Zone is not a possession of the United States but is a place subject to its jurisdiction for maintenance of the canal. (27 Op. Atty. Gen., 594, of 1909.) Shipments between the United States and the Canal Zone are treated in all respects as shipments to and from foreign countries. (Act of Mar. 2, 1905; 216 U. S., 610, of 1910.) The customs administration of said Zone is under the jurisdiction of the War Department. (Art. 201, Cust. Regs. of 1915.) The tariff status of the Philippine Islands has been fixed by law. Duties are collected upon importations into Guam and Tutuila under a tariff administered by the Navy Department, and goods not products of those islands when brought thence into the United States are subjected to duties at the rates imposed by the tariff act of 1913. Under existing laws merchandise can not be shipped to those islands for drawback of duties nor be withdrawn from bonded warehouses for shipment thereto without payment of duties. (Art. 200, Cust. Regs. of 1915.) 5 |