Draught of a bill to secure uniformity in the mode of appointing appraisers, and for other purposes. DECEMBER 21, 1870.-Referred to the Committee of Ways and Means and ordered to be printed. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., December 20, 1870. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, the draught of a proposed bill, entitled "A bill to secure uniformity in the mode of appointing appraisers, and for other purposes," the passage of which, or of a bill effecting substantially the same results, is deemed by this Department desirable, for the following reasons: 1. It is thought that the system of appraisement as fixed for the port of New York by the act of July 27, 1866, (14 Stat., 302,) should, for the sake of uniformity, be extended to the other principal ports of the United States. The present bill is intended to assimilate both the mode of appointment and the practical details of appraisement, as to all the ports named, with the system established at New York. 2. There are several discrepancies and omissions in existing laws relative to the appointment of officers in this branch of the revenue service, as, for instance, in the act of September 28, 1850, sec. 21, 9 Stat.. 512, which authorizes the appointment of "two additional assistant appraisers for the collection district of New Orleans, with the same salary as that now [then] authorized by law to the assistant appraisers of said collection district," when, in fact, as appears upon examination, there was not then in existence any law authorizing the appointment or fixing the salary of any assistant appraisers for said district. Again, the act of March 2, 1867, sec. 5, 14 Stat., 466, fixes the salaries of assistant appraisers at sundry ports named, including Baltimore, when, in fact, it would seem that up to the present time no act expressly authorizing the appointment of any assistant appraiser at the port of Baltimore has ever been passed. Furthermore, the general tenor of the various acts relating to ap praisers would indicate that it was intended, as to all grades below that of local or principal appraiser, that the appointing power should be in the |