and articles, that they are owned by the affiant and are being used for the purpose of immigration and are not intended for sale, and that the same have been in actual use by him abroad. (Form No. 128.)

708. Natural mineral waters.-Mineral waters, all not artificial, and mineral salts of the same obtained by evaporation, when accompanied by duly authenticated certificates showing that they are in no way artificially prepared and are the product of a designated mineral spring; lemonade, soda water, and all similar waters are exempt from duty.-Tariff of 1894, par. 555. Natural mineral water artificially charged with gas from the same or an adjacent spring, to compensate for loss of same in bottling, is entitled to free entry.S. 5115, 16249, 16845. The certificate required should be separate and distinct from the invoice and invoice certificate, and should embrace the oath or declaration of the owner or manager of the spring, authenticated under the certificate of the consular officer of the United States.-S. 15503, 16587. (Form No. 156.)

709. Paintings and statuary.-Paintings, in oil or water colors, original drawings and sketches, and artists' proofs of etchings and engravings, and statuary, not otherwise provided for in the tariff act, are exempt from duty; but the term "statuary" as therein used includes only professional productions, whether statuary or sculpture, and the word "painting" does not include such as are made wholly or in part by stenciling or other mechanical process.-Tariff of 1894, par 575. The professional productions of a statuary or sculptor are such works of art as are the result of the artist's own creation or copies of them or of works of other artists, made under his direction and supervision.-S. 9744, 11394: 108 U. S., 312; 132 U. S., 167. The most direct and satisfactory, but not the only, evidence that the statue is the professional production of a statuary or sculptor is the declara

tion (Form No. 127) of the sculptor himself, certified by the consular officer.-S. 11394, 15283, 15428, 15821, 16377.

710. There is no requirement that the paintings provided for in the foregoing paragraph should be the production of professional artists, rising to the dignity of works of art, or should be accompanied by artists' certificates; but they must have been produced by hand and not by stenciling or other mechanical process.-S. 9161, 15292.

Paintings on porcelain in mineral colors, vitrified by firing, are not exempt from duty under paragraph 575 of the tariff act, and articles primarily designed for a useful purpose, but made the groundwork of artistic painting to please the eye and gratify the taste, are not paintings within the meaning of that paragraph, although the painting imparts to them their chief value from a pecuniary point of view. Paintings on clocks, curtains, gas fixtures, porcelain plaques and other similar ware, tiles, glass windows, table covers, doilies, etc., do not entitle those articles to free entry under this paragraph, although they may be so entitled under paragraph 686 of the act. (Paragraph 711.). The painting must be designed solely for ornamental purposes, and the groundwork may be anything not designed to fulfill a useful purpose apart from the painting upon it.-S. 15178, 15413, 15831, 15952, 16422, 16429, 16430, 16712.

711. Works of art, the production of American artists residing temporarily abroad, or other works of art, including pictorial paintings on glass, imported expressly for presentation to a national institution, or to any State or municipal corporation, or incorporated religious society, college, or other public institution, including stained or painted window glass or stained or painted glass windows, are exempt from duty; but such exemption shall be subject to such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.-Tariff of 1894, par. 686; S. 15540.

For the free entry of any work of art, the production of an American artist residing temporarily abroad, it is requisite that the article shall be positively identified as such production by means of the declaration (Form No. 155) of the producer or of witnesses of such production, and such other evidence as may be needed to establish the facts to the satisfaction of the collector of customs.-Cust. Reg. art. 352.

Paragraph 686 of the tariff act requires only that the article shall be a work of art produced by an American artist, or, if not so produced, that it shall be imported for one of the purposes mentioned therein. As all paintings and all statuary which is the work of a professional sculptor are admitted free of duty under the present tariff act, the consular certificate of identification (Form No. 186) is not necessary for the works of American artists.-S. 11693, 15292, 15821, 16116, 16341, 16712.

RETURNED AMERICAN MERCHANDISE.

712. Articles the growth, produce, and manufacture of the United States, when returned after having been exported, without having been advanced in value or improved in condition by any process of manufacture or other means; casks, barrels, carboys, bags, and other vessels of American manufacture exported filled with American products, or exported empty and returned filled with foreign products, including shooks when returned as barrels or boxes; also quicksilver flasks or bottles, of either domestic or foreign manufacture, which have been actually exported from the United States, are exempt from duty; but proof of the identity of such articles must be made under general regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury.-Tariff of 1894, par. 387.

713. To guard against fraud and to insure identity, the

Treasury regulations require, in addition to proof of exportation, the production of a declaration (Form No. 129), made by the foreign exporter of the merchandise before the consul, of the fact that the merchandise was imported from the United States and that it has not been advanced in value or improved in condition by any process of manufacture or other means. But if it be impracticable to produce such declaration at the time of making entry, bond may be given for the production thereof.-S. 14653, 15063, 16794 (Paragraph 657).

714. Shooks of American manufacture.-Consular officers are required to keep a debit and credit account or record of shooks, claimed to be of American manufacture, imported into or exported from their districts, and to grant certificates (Form No. 130) under seal for such of the shooks as are covered by certificates under seal from customs officers in the United States, showing the merchandise to be of domestic manufacture exported for return as boxes or barrels.-Cust. Reg. 1892, art.

337.

To the end that consuls may have the requisite information upon which to base their certificates, collectors of customs have been instructed to forward, on the shipment of such shooks to foreign ports, declared to be intended for reimportation, to the proper consul, at the expense of the shippers, a certificate showing that such exportation has been made.Cust. Reg. 1892, art. 337.

Whenever a shipment of boxes or barrels is made from a consular district other than that into which the shooks were imported, the consul in the former district must require the production from the consul in the latter district of the required certificate of importation, and the latter will make the required record of exportation.

715. Orange and lemon boxes.-Thin wood, so called, comprising the sides, tops, and bottoms of orange and lemon boxes of 17824 C R-▬▬▬▬▬20

the growth and manufacture of the United States, exported as orange and lemon box shooks, may be reimported in completed form, filled with oranges and lemons, by the payment of duty at one-half the rate imposed on similar boxes of entirely foreign growth and manufacture.-Tariff of 1894, par. 216.

The effect of this provision is to impose a duty of 15 per cent ad valorem on orange and lemon boxes made in part (sides, tops, and bottoms, the ends being of foreign material) of thin wood of the growth and manufacture of the United States, and to exclude such boxes from the benefit of paragraph 387 of the tariff act, which, being generic in its terms, would otherwise entitle them to admission free of duty.—S. 15563, 15674, 15850, 16009, 16473, 17004.

716. The regulations for the documentation of boxes and barrels made of American shooks (paragraph 714) are to be applied as far as may be to orange and lemon boxes the sides, tops, and bottoms of which are made of thin wood of the growth and manufacture of the United States.

The affidavit of the foreign shipper (Form No. 130) may be modified to agree with the facts in the shipment of boxes not wholly made of shooks the product of the United States, and the certificate of the consul may be modified to agree with the facts of each case.

Thin wood exported for the purpose of being used in the construction of orange and lemon boxes is required to be specially designated in the outward manifest on exportation from the United States as "orange and lemon box shooks." They must be entered in the consular record required by par agraph 714 as "orange and lemon box shooks," and the cer tificate of the consul must show that the exportation back to the United States includes this class of shooks and no other. 717. Products of American fisheries.-Paragraph 568 of the