Are incorporated banks, who pay no license, entitled to deal in coin, currency, or exchange, or any of them, that is, by purchase and sale at a premium or discount? Respectfully, GENTLEMEN: In answer to your communication of the 8th instant, I must say that parties doing business as bankers, brokers, and land warrant brokers must take three licenses. See section 61, excise law. Incorporated banks dealing in coin, currency, and exchange are subject to license as brokers. Very respectfully, (Signed) GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Messrs. JOHN H. ROCHESTER & BRO., Rochester, N. Y. TAX LAW-RECTIFIED SPIRITS, ETC. Office of Collector of Internal Revenue, NEW YORK, 85 Franklin Street, October 9, 1862 SIR: 1. * * * Must rectified spirits be inspected after being rectified, in those cases in which the article rectified had been inspected before it was subjected to the process of rectifying? 2. Are rectified spirits subject to any and what duty, after being rectified, in those cases in which a duty shall have been paid upon the article rectified before it was subjected to the rectifying process? 3. A large distinct business is done in the manufacture of "cordials," but the article is not specifically named or provided for in the act. Cordials being made in good part of spirits, may, I think, be properly considered as embraced in the definition of a "rectifier" in subdivision eight of section 64 of the act, and be subjected to the same duty or tax. The provisions of the law requiring inspection would not, however, it seems to ine, apply to the manufacture of cordials. Am I right in this view of the business? 4. The manufacture or distillation of syrups-lemon, sarsaparilla, etc.is also a large business which is not provided for by name in the law. Being made from sugar or saccharine matter, mixed with other materials, they may, I think, be properly considered as a "manufacture," and be taxed as such, under the clause or paragraph of section 75, commencing on all manufactures of cotton," &c., or of other materials not in this act otherwise provided for, "a duty of three per centum ad valorem." Is this opinion of the liability of the article correct? 5. Under the peculiar conjunctive phraseology of section 77, declaring that from and after the first day of May, 1862, there shall be levied, collected, and paid by any person or persons owning any carriage, yacht “and” billiard table, the several duties, etc., set forth in schedule A, can a duty be demanded from a person who keeps for use only a carriage or carriages, of the kind designated, and no yacht and billiard table, and so also as to the owner of a yacht or billiard table only? Or will the word "and" in the law be read by intendment "or?" 6. Are persons who purchase foreign imported cloths, silks, muslins, laces, or other dutiable articles, and cut up and convert the same into garments or articles of wearing or personal apparel and offer them for sale to an amount exceeding annually $1,000, to be considered "manufacturers," and taxed three per centum on the amount of their stock of such garments or articles of personal apparel? or, under the proviso of section 75, which declares "That on all cloths, etc., manufactured into other fabrics, etc., on which a duty shall have been paid before the same were so manufactured, etc., the tax of three per centum shall be assessed only upon the increased value thereof? Ought this duty of three per cent to be assessed only upon the increased value of the stock manufactured into personal apparel by the class of persons referred to? * I am, Sir, very respectfully, your ob't servant, * JOHN MACK, Collector Fourth District. To Hon. GEO. S. BOUTWELL, Com. Internal Revenue. Treasury Department, Office of Internal Revenue, SIR: Your letter of the 9th inst. has been received. 1 and 2. Your first and second questions are answered by my decision of the 6th inst., according to which the basis for calculating the amount of license duty that a rectifier of liquor is subject to, under the internal revenue law, is the number of barrels or casks containing not more than forty-nine gallons each produced by the process of rectification, and not on the quantity of proof liquor used. Rectifiers will keep a record of the quantity of liquor produced, and will be required to make a monthly return of the same to the assistant assessor, subscribed and sworn, and pay the amount of license tax accrued thereon when required by the collector. It follows that the article rectified, before it was subjected to the rectifying process, need not be regarded by the collector, who has simply to exact a rectifier's license, according to the quality of liquor rectified. 3. You are right in considering the manufacture of cordials as embraced in the definition of subdivision 3 of section 64. 4. The manufacture of "syrups "-lemon, sarsaparilla, etc.—is to be considered as a "manufacture" under the clause which you quote, and to be taxed three per centum ad valorem. 5. Section 77, in speaking of "any person or persons owning, possessing, or keeping any carriage, yacht, and billiard table," is to be interpreted as referring to three different classes of owners, viz: Such as possess any carriage; and, as a second class, such as possess any yacht; and, as a third class, such as possess any billiard tables. If you read the passage thus, your scruples with regard to the interpretation of the word "and" will disappear. It is, I believe, in strict accordance with grammar and usage to employ it thus, with the force of "or." 6. Your sixth question is answered by this department, that manufacturers of clothing are required to pay duty on the whole value of goods manufactured by them, and not on the increased value of their goods over the value of the cloth. This principle holds good generally, with regard to all manufactures. The exceptions are found in section 75. I am, Sir, very respectfully, GEO. S. BOUTWELL, Commissioner. JOHN MACK, Collector Fourth District. STAMP DUTY ON BOND AND MORTGAGE. The following letter from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue has been received in answer to an inquiry: } Treasury Department, Office of Internal Revenue, Oct. 11. [ SIR: Your letter of the 9th instant has been received. A separate stamp is required for each document-one for the bond and another one for the mortgage. I am, very respectfully, GEO. S. BOUTWELL, Commissioner. TO ISAAC BUTTS, Esq., Rochester, N. Y. STAMPS ON CHECKS AND DRAFTS MUST BE CANCELED BY THE DRAWER. The following is another important decision under the Internal Revenue law: Treasury Department, Office of Internal Revenue, I would say that when the maker of a check, draft, note, or any other document shall neglect to put on the required stamp, it will not do for the party receiving the same to affix the stamp and cancel it, but it must be returned to the maker for him to do it. GEO. S. BOUTWELL, Commissioner. DUTIES ON IMPORTS IN VENEZUELA. Department of State, Washington, Oct. 15. The following decree, received from the United States consulate at Maricaibo, Venezuela, imposing twenty-five per cent additional duty on mer chandise imported into that republic, is published for the information of those whom it may concern: DECREE REQUIRING THE CUSTOM-HOUSE OF THE REPUBLIC TO COLLECT A DUTY OF TWENTY-FIVE PER CENT UPON THE ORDINARY DUTIES OF IMPORTATION. I, JOSE ANTONIO PAEZ, Supreme Chief of the nation, do decree : ART. 1. There shall be levied by the custom-houses of the republic a duty of twenty-five per cent upon the ordinary duties of importation, besides that of fifty per cent which is levied under the existing regulations. ART. 2. The levying of this twenty-five per cent will begin and take effect within thirty days upon the imports which are paid from the Antilles ; within sixty days upon those that are paid from the United States, and within ninety days for those that are paid from Europe. These periods commence to run respectively from the publication of the present decree at the ports of the republic. Given at the government palace, in Caracas, on this 18th day of August, 1862. J. A. PAEZ, The Secretary General. MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES. 2. AN AMUSING HISTORIETTE DE 1. THE LATE HIGH BALLOON ASCENT AT WOLVERHAMPTON. THE LATE HIGH BALLOON ASCENT AT WOLVERHAMPTON. BY JAMES GLAISHER, ESQ., OF THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH. BALLOONING has been turned to account and we preserve for our readers Mr. Glaisher's interesting narrative of his late ascent. In this he reached the greatest height attained by a native of our globe, and shows the limits at which human life appears to be capable of support: indeed his ballooning voyages of late, but especially this, will be preserved as the most interesting on many accounts that have ever been made. On the earth at 1h. 30m. the temperature of the air was 59°, at the height of one mile it was 39°, and shortly afterwards we entered a cloud of about 1,100 feet in thickness, in which the temperature of the air fell to 3610, and the wet bulb thermometer read the same, showing that the air here was saturated with moisture. On emerging from the cloud at 1h. 17m. we came into a flood of light, with a beautiful blue sky, without a cloud above us, and a magnificent sea of cloud below, its surface being varied with endless hills, hillocks, mountain chains, and many snow white masses rising from it. I here tried to take a view with the camera, but we were rising with too great rapidity, and going round and round too quickly to enable me to do so; the flood of light, however, was so great, that all I should have needed would have been a momentary exposure, as Dr. Hill Norris had kindly furnished me with extremely sensitive dry plates for the purpose.. When we reached two miles in height, at 1h. 21m., the temperature had fallen to the freezing point. We were three miles high at 1h. and 28m. with a temperature of 18°; at 1h. 39m. we had reached four miles, and the temperature was 8°; in ten minutes more we had reached the fifth mile, and the temperature had passed below zero, and then read -2°, and at this point no dew was observed on Regnault's hygrometer when cooled down to -30°. Up to this time I had taken the observations with comfort. I had experienced no difficulty in breathing, whilst Mr. Coxwell, in consequence of the necessary exertions he had to make, had breathed with difficulty for some time. At 1h. 51m. the barometer reading was 11.05 inches, but which requires a subtractive correction of 0.25 inch, as found by comparison with Lord Wrottesly's standard barometer just before starting, both by his lordship and myself, which would reduce it to 10.8 inches, or at a height of about 5 miles. I read the dry bulb thermometer as -5°; in endeavoring to read the wet bulb I could not see the column of mercury. I rubbed my eyes, then took a lens and also failed. I then tried to read the other instruments, and found I could not do so, nor see the hands of the watch. I asked Mr. Coxwell to help me, and he said, he must go into the ring and he would when he came down. I en deavored to reach some brandy which was lying on the table, at the distance of about a foot from my hand, and found myself unable to do so. My sight became more dim. I looked at the barometer, and saw it between 10 and 11 inches, and tried to record it, but was unable to write. I then saw it at 10 inches, still decreasing fast, and just noted it in my book; its true reading therefore at this time was about 9 inches, implying a height of 5 miles, as a change of one inch in the reading of the barometer at this elevation takes place on a change of height of 2,500 feet. I felt I was losing all power, and endeavored to rouse myself by struggling and shaking. I attempted to speak and found I had lost the power. I attempted to look at the barometer again; my head fell on one side; I struggled and got it right, and it fell on the other, and finally fell backwards. My arm, which had been resting on the table, fell down by my side. I saw Mr. Coxwell dimly in the ring; it became more misty, and finally dark, and I sank unconsciously as in sleep. This must have been about 1h. 54m. I then heard Mr. Coxwell say, "What is the temperature? Take an observation. Now try." But I could neither see, move, nor speak. I then heard him speak more emphatically, "Take an observation. Now do try." I shortly afterwards opened my eyes, saw the instruments and Mr. Coxwell very dimly, and soon saw clearly, and said to Mr. Coxwell, "I have been insensible;" and he replied, "You have, and I nearly." I recovered quickly, and Mr. Coxwell said, “I have lost the use of my hands, give me some brandy to bathe them." His hands were nearly black. I saw the temperature was still below zero, and the barometer reading eleven inches but increasing quickly. I resumed my observations at 2h. 7m., recording the barometer reading 11.53 inches and the temperature -2. I then found that the water in the vessel supplying the wet-bulb thermometer, which I had by frequent disturbances kept from freezing, was one mass of ice. Mr. Coxwell then told me that whilst in the ring he felt it piercingly cold, that hoar frost was all round the neck of the balloon, and on attempting to leave the ring he found his hands frozen, and he got down how he could; that he found me motionless, with a quiet and placid expression on the countenance; he spoke to me without eliciting a reply, and found I was insensible. He then said he felt insensibility was coming over himself, that he became anxious to open the valve, that his hands failed him, and that he seized the line between his teeth and pulled the valve open until the balloon took a turn downwards. This act is quite characteristic of Mr. Coxwell. I have never yet seen him without a ready means of meeting every difficulty as it has arisen, with a cool self-possession that has always left my mind perfectly easy, and given to me every confidence in his judgment in the management of so large a balloon. On asking Mr. Coxwell whether he had noticed the temperature, he said he could not, as the faces of the instruments were all towards me but that he had noticed that the centre of the aneroid barometer, its blue hand, aud a rope attached to the car, were in the same straight line; if so, the reading must have been between seven and eight inches. A height of six miles and a half corresponds to eight inches. A delicate self-registering minim thermometer read -12°, but unfortunately I did not read it until I was out of the car, and I cannot say that its index was not disturbed on descending. When the temperature rose to 17° it was remarked as warm, and 24° as very warm. |