The Navigation Laws of the United States

CHAP. 447.-An act to amend the first subdivision of section twenty-five hundred and sixty eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States, title thirty-four, collection of duties on imports.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first subdivision of section twenty-five hundred and sixty eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended by striking therefrom the words "in Missouri" following the words "Saint Lonis," and by adding to said subdivision of said section as follows: "Saint-Louis as used in this section, shall include Saint Louis, in Missouri, and East-Saint Louis, in Illinois; and the surveyor and acting collector for the port of Saint Louis may receive goods, issue lauding certificates to carriers, and issue orders to inspectors of customs to open cars containing goods and packages, and generally do and perform all acts necessary to be done and performed by him in East Saint Louis, in Illinois, as well as in Saint Louis in Missouri.

Approved, August 7, 1882.

CHAP. 142.-An act to amend an act entitled "An act to amend the Statutes in relation to immediate transportation of dutiable goods, and for other purposes," approved June tenth eighteen hundred and eighty.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That sections five and six of the act entitled "An act to amend the statutes in relation to immediate transportation of dutiable goods, and for other purposes", approved June tenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, be, and the same are hereby, amended so that they shall read as follows, namely:

SEC, 5, That merchandise transported under the provisions of this act shall be conveyed in cars, vessels, or vehicles securely fastened with locks or seals, under the exclusive control of the officers of the customs; and merchandise may also be transported under the provisions of this act by express companies on passenger trains, in safes and trunks, which shall be of such size, character, and description, and secured in such manner as shall be from time to time prescribed by the Secretary; and in cases where merchandise shall be imported in boxes or packages too large to be included within the safes or trunks so prescribed, such merchandise may be transported under the provisions of this act by such express companies in a separate compartment of the car, secured in such manner as shall from time to time be prescribed by the Secre tary of the Treasury; and merchandise such as pig iron, speigle-iron, scrap-iron, iron ore, railroad iron, and similar articles commonly transported upon platform or flat cars, may be transported under the provisions of this act upon such platform or flat cars; and the weight of such merchandise so transported shall be ascertained in all cases before shipment, and ordinary railroad scales may be used for such purpose; and inspectors shall be stationed at proper points along the designated routes, or upon any car, vessel, vehicle, or train, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, and at the expense of the companies, respectively, Such merchandise shall not be unladen or transshipped between the ports of first arrival and final destination unless authorized by the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury in cases which may arise from a difference in the gauge of railroads, or where the route is bonded for both land and water carriage, or from accidents, or from legal intervention, or when by reason of the length of the route the

cars, after due inspection by customs officers, shall be considered unsafe or unsuitable to proceed further, or from low water, ice, or other unavoidable obstruction to navigation; and in no case shall there be permitted any breaking of the original packages of such merchandise,

SEC. 6. That merchandise so destined for immediate transportation shall be transferred, under proper supervision, directly from the importing vessel to the car, vessel, or vehicle specified in the entry provided for in Section two of this act,"

Approved, July 2, 1884.

3. COINAGE, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES.

(Revised Statutes, Title XXXVII.)

SEC. 3563. The money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars or units, dimes or tenths, cents or hundredths, and mills or thousandths, a dime being the tenth part of a dollar, a cent the hundredth part of a dollar, a mill the thousandth part of a dollar; and all accounts in the public offices and all proceedings in the courts shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation.

SEC. 3564. The value of foreign coin as expressed in the money of account of the United States shall be that of the pure metal of such coin of standard value; and the values of the standard coins in circulation of the various nations of the world shall be estimated annually by the Director of the Mint, and be proclaimed on the first day of January by the Secretary of the Treasury.

SEC. 3565. In all payments by or to the Treasury, whether made here or in foreign countries, where it becomes necessary to compute the value of the sovereign or pound sterling, it shall be deemed equal to four dollars eighty-six cents and six and one-half mills, and the same rule shall be applied in appraising merchandise imported where the value is, by the invoice, in sovereigns or pounds sterling, and in the construction of contracts payable in sovereigns or pounds sterling; and this valuation shall be the par of exchange between Great Britain and the United States; and all contracts made after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, based on an assumed par of exchange with Great Britain of fifty-four pence to the dollar, or four dollars forty-four and four-ninths cents to the sovereign or pound sterling, shall be null and void.

SEC. 3566. All foreign gold and silver coins received in payment for moneys due to the United States shall, before being issued in circulation, be coined anew.

SEC. 3567. The pieces commonly known as the quarter, eighth, and sixteenth of the Spanish pillar-dollar, and of the Mexican dollar, shall be receivable at the Treasury of the United States, and its several offices, and at the several post-offices and land-oflices, at the rates of valuation following: the fourth of a dollar, or piece of two reals, at twenty cents; the eighth of a dollar, or piece of one real, at ten cents; and the sixteenth of a dollar, or half-real, at five cents.

SEC. 3568. The Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, may prescribe such regulations as are necessary and proper, to secure the transmission of the coins mentioned in the preceding section to the Mint for recoinage, and the *return or distribu

*See Act February 21, 1857, chap. 56, sec. 2.

tion of the proceeds thereof, when deemed expedient, and may prescribe such forms of account as are appropriate and applicable to the circumstances. The expenses incident to such transmission or distribution, and of recoinage, shall be charged against the account of silver profit and loss, and the net profits, if any, shall be paid, from time to time, into the Treasury.

SEC. 3569. It shall be lawful throughout the United States of America to employ the weights and measures of the metric system; and no contract or dealing, or pleading in any court, shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection because the weights or measures expressed or referred to therein are weights or measures of the metric system.

SEC. 3570. The tables in the schedule hereto annexed shall be recognized in the construction of contracts, and in all legal proceedings, as establishing, in terms of the weights and measures now in use in the United States, the equivalents of the weights and measures expressed therein in terms of the metric system; and the tables may lawfully be used for computing, determining, and expressing in customary weights and measures the weights and measures of the metric system.