purchased and paid for in depreciated currency, without regard to the dutiable or nondutiable character of the merchandise.-S. 14287.

693. Disposition of invoices.-The consular officer is required to designate by stamp or otherwise the original, duplicate, triplicate, and (when there is one) quadruplicate of each invoice. The original must be filed for preservation in the consular office, the duplicate delivered to the person producing the invoice, or, upon his request, to the agents of the vessel in which the merchandise is to be exported to the United States, and the triplicate sent promptly, by the master of the vessel conveying the merchandise, or by mail, and without the intervention of any party in interest, to the collector of customs of the port at which the merchandise is to be finally entered.-S. 15936. When the merchandise is to be entered under the immediate-transportation act (paragraph 662), the quadruplicate copy of the invoice required by that act must be delivered, with the duplicate, to the person producing the invoice.

The triplicate or collector's copy of the invoice should always be transmitted, carefully addressed, in the most direct and speedy manner possible, so that it will reach the customhouse before the entry of the merchandise. It is never to be sent through the office of the consul-general.

All the triplicate invoices to be forwarded to the same collector by the same mail or vessel should be placed in an envelope, with a letter in Form No. 142, carefully addressed to the collector and stamped with the name of the consulate and the date. The blank for the number of invoice must be filled in writing. A small silk cord or narrow ribbon must then be passed through the envelope, near the end and sides, and under the consular seal, with which the envelope must be carefully sealed. The postage must be prepaid. When the

collector's invoice is sent by the master of the vessel which carries the merchandise, a receipt (Form No. 141) must be taken from the master and filed in the consular office.

694. Descriptive lists. When invoices are transmitted from a consulate or place of purchase or manufacture in the interior to the consul at the port of shipment designated in the invoice, to be thence forwarded to the proper collector, the package must be accompanied by a descriptive list (Form No. 143), to facilitate comparison with the shipper's manifest, before taking the master's receipt as per Forms Nos. 141 and 143. The consul at the port of shipment must see that the integrity of the package is duly secured in the manner prescribed in the preceding paragraph.

695. Fee for certification. An official fee of $2.50 has been prescribed for the consular certificate to the invoice required by law for entering imported merchandise.-R. S., secs. 1716, 2851. In the provinces of British North America the fee for certifying an invoice of merchandise not exceeding $100 in value is $1.-R. S., sec. 1721. This fee pays for the certified invoice in triplicate or quadruplicate, as the case may be, for the certificate of cost (paragraph 674), for the currency certificate (paragraph 692), and for any other authentification required in the entry of the merchandise.

696. Fees for copies and for extra and transit invoices.-Fees collected for copies of invoices, or for extra invoices certified as originals, are official.-133 U. S., 273. Fees for certified invoices to accompany merchandise shipped for transit through the United States to a foreign country are likewise official. (Paragraph 533.)

697. Copies and prices current for collectors.-Consuls are required, on request of the proper collectors of customs, to supply them, free of charge, with copies of invoices or with other documents on file in the consular office which are

needed by the customs officers in the discharge of their duties. They are also required to furnish the Secretary of the Treasury, the Board of General Appraisers, or such other officers as the Secretary of the Treasury may designate, with the prices current of the merchandise usually exported to the United States from their respective consular districts.-R. S., sec. 1713. (Paragraph 600.)

698. To explain the customs laws and regulations to exporters.— Consular officers are enjoined to explain to exporters in their districts the scope and purpose of the customs laws and regulations of the United States, and to take all proper measures for obtaining information needed by the customs officers.

699. Retaliatory tariff provisions. The duty imposed by paragraphs 166, 182, 185, 568, 591, 643, and 683 of the tariff act of 1894, depends on the existence or the nonexistence of certain specified conditions affecting the merchandise mentioned therein in the country of export. Consular officers are requested to note on invoices of merchandise subject to these variable duties the existence of any law or fact in the country of export which would call into operation the respective provisos in the said paragraphs and warrant the collection of the alternative duty.

SEALING OF CARS ENTERING THE UNITED STATES FROM

CANADA.

700. To avoid inspection at the frontier port or place of arrival in the United States of any car coming from contiguous territory in the Dominion of Canada which is capable of being properly closed and securely fastened and which is laden with merchandise destined for a port of entry or of delivery under the immediate-transportation act (paragraph 655), in the United States by a continuous railway route, the owner of such merchandise, or his agent, or the conductor of such car, is required to make application to a consular officer

of the United States residing in such foreign territory to close and seal said car, and also to prepare and present to such consular officer a manifest (Form No. 146) in quintuplicate containing a full and correct description of the merchandise, the marks and numbers on the packages, the dutiable value of each package, description and number of the car, and name of the railroad company to which it belongs.-R. S., secs. 3102, 3103; Cust. Reg., arts. 457, 458; S. 3025, 11433, 12406.

701. On receipt of such manifest in quintuplicate as aforesaid, the consular officer of the United States will, after a careful comparison of the contents of the car with the manifest, duly close and seal the openings of the car, and will thereupon, after placing a serial number on the manifest, retain one copy thereof for the files of his office, transmit one copy immediately by the conductor of such car, in a sealed envelope, to the principal customs officer at the frontier port or place of first arrival in the United States, transmit another copy by mail to the collector at the port of destination, deliver the fourth copy to the owner, agent, or conductor to accompany the car, and transmit the fifth copy directly to the Auditor for the Treasury Department.Cust. Reg., art. 458; S. 11433.

702. Before sealing the cars their contents should be examined and compared as to marks and numbers of the packages with the manifests presented for the consul's official signature; and the cars should be closed and sealed before the manifests are forwarded to their destination or delivered to the conductors of the trains. No car should be sealed if containing merchandise destined to more than one port, as it is contemplated that the car shall be opened only at one port of entry or of delivery and its entire contents taken out there. In no instance should this duty be intrusted to an unofficial person.

DOCUMENTATION OF MERCHANDISE FOR FREE ENTRY.

703. The tariff act of 1894, provides for the admission of certain articles of foreign growth or production free of duty, under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. In some cases the cooperation of consuls is provided for in the Treasury regulations, and these cases are given below. 704. Animals for breeding purposes.-The act provides that any animal imported specially for breeding purposes shall be admitted free: Provided, That no such animal shall be admitted free unless pure bred of a recognized breed and duly registered in the book of record established for that breed, and the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe such additional regulations as may be required for the strict enforcement of this provision.-Tariff of 1894, par. 373.

705. The Treasury regulations direct that no animal imported for breeding purposes shall be admitted free of duty unless the importer furnishes a certificate of the record and pedigree (Form No. 186), showing that the animal is pure bred of a recognized bred, and has been admitted to full registry in a book of record established for that breed, and that its sire and dam and grandsires and granddams were all recorded in a book of record established for the same breed. For list of the books of record, see Appendix V. An affidavit (Form No. 187) by the owner, agent, or importer that such animal is the identical animal described in said certificate of record and pedigree must be presented. This affidavit, when made. at the port of exportation, must be made before the consular officer of the United States. In the case of sheep, females are frequently recorded by flocks, and not individually; therefore, whenever the aforesaid requirement as to pedigree can not be complied with, the animal will be admitted on the certificate of the secretary of one of the recognized associations named in the circular to the effect that it is pure bred and has been