square yard of these goods was met in the market with one and seventenths yards of foreign goods. The proposed clause in relation to all wool merino goods is a new provision, and has in view the introduction of fabrics never yet successfully made in this country. Many of these goods constitute staple fabries subject to few changes of fashion, and the manufacture of them would furnish an increased demand for our finest wools; and as they are the choicest woolen fabrics for female apparel, their manufacture would be a most desirable acquisition to our national industry. In considering the rates of duty in this schedule, the Commission has not been unmindful of the great variety of fabrics embraced in the woolen manufacture, their utility as well as their beauty, the immense outlay of capital required in their production, the artistic taste and technical skill necessary to success in the higher branches of the manufacture, and the vicissitudes to which the manufacturer is subject by the caprices of fashion, nor of the important consideration that, there being no exports of domestic wool, upon this manufacture depends the prosperity of a leading agricultural interest, the sheep husbandry, diffused in every State and Territory. SCHEDULE L.-SILK. It is an interesting fact that in 1860 the importations of silk manufactures into the United States amounted to $32,961,120, and that twenty years later (1880), after the successful introduction of the silk manufacture in this country, the imports amounted to $32,188,690; while on the other hand the value of the product of our own silk manufactures has increased from $6,589,171 in 1860 to $41,033,045 in 1880. Thus, while the population of the country has increased 20,000,000, and its wealth proportionately, the importations of this class of goods have remained practically the same, the larger proportion being now supplied by the home manufactures. The following exhibit from the report of the special agent of the census, William C. Wyckoff, shows the growth of the silk industry for the last four decennial periods: The slight changes in phraseology and classification of the silk schedule recommended by the Commission were inspired by a desire to simplify construction and to facilitate its enforcement. To this end the Commission has substituted specific for ad valorem daties wherever the former could be made to apply. The duties recommended indicate a reduction from existing duties of something more than 23 per cent. SCHEDULE M.-BOOKS AND PAPER. The industry of these manufactures is deemed sufficiently important to warrant their classification under a separate schedule. SCHEDULE N.-SUNDRIES. The report of the Bureau of Statistics for 1881 gives the total value of "the principal and other imported merchandise entered for consump tion in the United States," including the dutiable and free list, as $650,618,999.63. Of this amount $202,557,411.68 came in free of duty. The total amount of duty collected on the dutiable merchandise imported was $193,800,879.67. The total products of the manufactures of the United States, as already shown, amounted in 1880 to $5,369,667,706. In each of the preceding schedules the Commission has shown, as far as possible, the relative importance of the industries included in the several schedules in the United States during the last forty years; that is to say, the number of hands employed, the value of the material consumed, the amount of wages, and the aggregate value of the product. In the same way an attempt has been made to ascertain the value of the product represented by what may be called the sundry schedule. In this work it was found impracticable to select anything further than the principal items, such as boots and shoes and leather manufactures of all kinds, agricultural machines, musical instruments, jewelry, oil, India rubber and elastic goods, brushes and brooms, clothing, carriages, and a score of other articles of manufacture of less importance. The aggregate value of all these products, so far as the Commission has been able to enumerate them, was, in 1880, $1,159,989,616, leaving a remainder unenumerated of $945,825,550. In this work absolute exactitude is not claimed, as the classification and methods for taking the census have differed under different superintendents and management, and perfection in classification is impossible. The subjoined table, which gives the value of the products for the several schedules, as rearranged by the Commission, is, perhaps, as nearly correct as a comparison of this kind could be made. It will be seen that the largest amounts are represented by the provisions schedule and the sundries, which latter, if the computation had been carried further, would in all probability have included most of what is given under the head of "remainder." Next to it comes the value of the product as represented by Schedule C, metals, and which in itself amounts to within $46,000,000 of the entire imported merchan. dise, including the dutiable and free list for year 1881. The object of this presentation is merely to bring out as forcibly as possible the great indus trial progress of the United States during the past forty years, and to show the enormous amount of manufacturing necessary to supply the home markets for the wants of fifty millions of people. In other words, while the total imports are represented in round figures by $600,000,000, the total home productions of our manufactures would be nearer $6,000,000,000. In addition to the above table, to make this general-statistics table complete, and that a ready reference may be made to the special items of imported merchandise, the following statement showing the values of the principal and other imported merchandise entered for consumption in the United States during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1881, is herewith appended: Animals, living... FREE OF DUTY. Articles, the growth, production, &c., of the United States, exported and brought back, &c... Barks, not otherwise specified Chemicals, drugs, dyes, and medicines... Books, maps, and charts... Cocoa or cocao, crude and fiber, leaves and shells of. Coffee Cork-wood or bark, unmanufactured. Cotton, unmanufactured Dye-woods, in sticks... Fish from the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, &c. Guano.... Household and personal effects, &c., of immigrants. India-rubber, crude, and milk of.. Ivory, animal and vegetable, unmanufactured Machinery for the manufacture of beet sugar, and imported for that purpose solely.. Oils, fixed or expressed, and volatile or essential. Painting, stationery, &c.. Platinum, unmanufactured, and basis and retorts of. Paper materials.. Seeds. Silk, cocoons, raw, waste, &c Tea.. Tin, in pigs, bars, or blocks.. Wood, unmanufactured .... All other articles, free of duty, except from Hawaiian Islands.. Articles free of duty from Hawaiian Islands: Books, engravings, and other printed matter, bound and unbound.. Braids, plaits, flats, laces, trimmings, &c.. Brass, and manufactures of.. Breadstuffs, and other farinaceous food, not otherwise specified Flax, and manufactures of.. Ginger, essence, ground, and preserved. Gold and silver, manufactures of. Hemp, jute, &c., and manufactures of. Iron, and manufactures of.. Metals, metal compositions, and manufactures of, not otherwise specified... Mineral and bituminous substances, not otherwise specified. Musical instruments, and strings for.. Oil-cloths for floors, &c.. Oils: Mineral Animal Paper, and manufactures of, not otherwise specified (except books). Provisions, not otherwise specified... 683,701 34 278,519 47 2,210,944 47 985,604 69 1,806, 891 06 1, 127, 874 98 1,908, 797 19 1,612, 207 41 32, 377, 226 48 46,864 50 252,751 35 2, 203, 078 49 8,762, 762 74 35,478 04 195,863 12 41,422 89 89,811, 785 48 14,714, 146 53 6,474, 938 67 102,088 00 140,551 71 746,510 07 6,332 62 7,496, 815 79 45, 164, 149 01 262,218 48 8, 141, 527 38 Grand total... $650, 618, 999 63 Referring especially to the changes made in the "Sundry" schedule, it was found that it contained a total number of 272 sections, having from time to time been made the receptacle of many dutiable articles that properly belonged to other schedules. The Commission has relegated 99 of the sections to the chemical schedule, 25 to the provision schedule, 26 to the metal schedule, and the remainder to the respective schedules to which they belong, and the free list. This, with some consolidation, will reduce the number of sections in the present sundry list to nearly one-third of its former proportions. It has been revised, and the wording in many cases simplified and the duties reduced on an average fully 20 per cent. STATUTES RELATING TO DUTIES OF COLLECTORS. The Commission recommends the adoption of substitutes for sundry sections of the Revised Statutes, and appends to this report drafts of the proposed substitutes. These substitutes are recommended for the reasons following: The proposed substitute for section 2499 seems necessary, as without it non-enumerated articles are dutiable under the general clause, notwithstanding the fact that they are substantially in material and use the same as other articles which are on the free list. That is to say, a special enumeration of the precise article must be found in the free list to exempt it from duty. The Commission is of the opinion that the same rule should obtain as to the free list which is applied in other parts of the law, and that articles similar in material and use to those specifically named in the free list should be free of duty. The change proposed in section 2626 is for the purpose of saving unnecessary duplication of work, as it seems only necessary that the final adjustment or liquidation of duties should be verified by the naval officer, and that it is entirely unnecessary that he should countersign any papers issued by the collector, other than debenture certificates; the check by the naval officer on the accounts of the collector, it is believed, will be complete without the other requirements of the present law, and the proposed change will save unnecessary annoyance to importers. The proposed changes in section 2627 are to strike out the words "if American vessels," in defining the duty of the surveyor as to ascertaining whether masters of vessels entering have complied with the law in regard to manifests of cargoes, so that this section may conform to other provisions of the statutes and the general practice; and to require the appraiser to report to the surveyor the respective degrees of proof of imported liquors, so as to avoid the present practice, which requires an ascertainment of the proof both by the surveyor and the appraiser. This frequently results in differences between the reports, and as in case of such difference the practice has been to take the report of the appraiser as more likely to be correct, we see no purpose in requiring the proof to be ascertained by two sets of officers. The change proposed in section 2648 is to do away with the system of petty charges for stationery blanks in the collection offices on the northeastern and northwestern frontiers, where the entries are ordinarily small in amount and there is great complaint on account of annoying small charges. We think the government should furnish these blanks free of charge, as the expense would be very small, and the effect would be to avoid what is now regarded as an annoying exaction. The purpose of the proposed amendment to section 2654 is also to avoid annoying small fees. Instead of the present system of small fees for each service performed, we recommend an entry fee of 50 cents, which is intended to cover all the charges enumerated after the fifth clause of |