216 



CONGRESS. (REVENUE REFORM.) 



SEC. 32. That the circuit courts of the United States, 

 and the district courts or judges thereof exercising 

 circuit-court powers, and the district courts of the 

 Territories, are authorized to appoint, in different 



Earts of the several districts in which said courts are 

 eld, as many discreet persons to become commission- 

 ers of the circuit courts as may be deemed necessary ; 

 and said courts, or the judges thereof, shall have au- 

 thority to remove at pleasure any commissioners 

 heretofore or hereafter appointed in said districts. 



SEO. 33. That the Commissioner of Internal Rev- 

 enue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury, may compromise any civil or criminal case, and 

 may red'uce or remit any fine, penalty, forfeiture, or 

 assessment under the internal-revenue laws. 



SEC. 34. That section 3,176 of the Kevised Statutes 

 be amended so as to read as follows . 



" SEC. 3,176. The collector or any deputy collector 

 in any district shall enter into and upon the premi- 

 ses, if it ba necessary, of any person therein who has 

 taxable property and who refuses or neglects to ren- 

 der any return or list required, or who renders a false 

 or fraudulent return or list, and make, according to 

 the best information which he can obtain, including 

 that derived from the evidence elicited by the exami- 

 nation of the collector, and on his own view and in- 

 formation, such list or return, according to the form 

 prescribed, of the objects liable to tax owned or pos- 

 sessed or under the care or management of such per- 

 son, and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall 

 assess the tax thereon, including the amount, if any, 

 due for special tax, and a penalty of 25 per cent., and 

 he may add to such tax interest at the rate of 10 per 

 cent, per annum thereon from and after the date when 

 such tax became due and payable. The interest so 

 added to the tax shall Vie collected at the same time 

 and in the same manner as the tax. And the list or 

 return so made and subscribed by such collector or 

 deputy collector shall be deemed good and sufficient 

 for all legal purposes." 



SEC. 35. That nothing in this act shall in any way 

 change or impair the force or effect of any treaty be- 

 tween the United States and any other government, or 

 any laws passed in pursuance of or for the execution 

 of any such treaty, so long as such treaty shall remain 

 in force in respect of the subjects embraced in this 

 act ; but whenever any such treaty, so far as the same 

 respects said subjects, shall expire or be otherwise 

 terminated, the provisions of this act shall be in force 

 in all respects in the same manner ami to the same 

 extent as if no such treaty had existed at the time of 

 the passage hereof. 



SEC. 36. That section 3,255 of the Revi-ed Statutes 

 of the United States be amended by striking out all 

 after said number and substituting 'therefor the fol- 

 io whig : 



" And the Commissioner of Internal Eevenue, with 

 the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, may 

 exempt distillers of brandy made exclusively from 

 apples, peaches, grapes, or other fruits from any pro- 

 vision of this title relating to the manufacture of spir- 

 its, except as to the tax thereon, when in his judg- 

 ment it may seem expedient to do so. 



" The Secretary ot the Treasury may exempt all 

 distilleries which mash less than twenty-five bushels 

 of grain per day from the operations of the provisions 

 of this title relating to the maufacture of spirits, ex- 

 cept as to the payment of the tax, which said tax 

 shall then be levied and collected on the capacity of 

 said distilleries ; and said distilleries may, at the dis- 

 cretion of said Secretary, then be run and operated 

 without store-keepers or store-keepers and gangers.' 

 And the Commissioner of Internal Kevenue, with 

 the approval of said Secretary, may establish special 

 warehouses in which he may authorize to be deposited 

 the product of any number of said distilleries to be 

 designated by him, and in which any distiller operat- 

 ing any such distillery may deposit his product, 

 which, when so deposited, shall be subject to all the 

 laws and regulations as to bonds, tax, removals, and 



otherwise as other warehouses. The Commissioner 

 of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, is hereby authorized and di- 

 rected to make such rules and regulations as may be 

 necessary to carry out the provisions of this section : 

 Provided^ That such regulations shall be adopted as 

 will require that all the spirits manufactured shall be 

 subject to the payment of the tax according to law." 



SEC. 37. That the provisions of an act entitled 

 " An act relating to the production of fruit brandy, 

 and to punish frauds connected with the same," ap- 

 proved March 3, 1877, be extended and made appli- 

 cable to brandy distilled from apples or peaches, or 

 from any other fruit the brandy distilled from which 

 is not now required, or hereafter shall not be required, 

 to be deposited in a distillery warehouse : Provided. 

 That each of the warehouses established under said 

 act, or which may hereafter be established, shall be in 

 charge either of a store-keeper or a store-keeper and 

 gauger, at the discretion of the Commissioner of 

 Internal Revenue. 



SEC. 38. That section 3332 of the Revised Statutes, 

 and the supplement thereto, shall be amended so that 

 said section shall read as follows : 



" When a judgment of forfeiture, in any case of 

 seizure, is recovered against any distillery used or fit 

 for use in the production of distilled spirits, because 

 no bond has been given, or against any distillery 

 used or fit for use in the production of spirits, having 

 a registered producing capacity of Jess than one hun- 

 dred and fifty gallons a day, every still, doubler, 

 worm, worm-tub, mash-tub, and fermenting-tub 

 therein shall be sold, as in case of other forfeited 

 property, without being mutilated or destroyed. And 

 in case of seizure of a still, doubler, worm, worm-tub, 

 fermenting-tub, mash-tub, or other distilling appa- 

 ratus of any kind whatsoever, for any offense involv- 

 ing forfeiture of the same, it shall be the duty of the 

 seizing officer to remove the same from the place 

 where seized to a place of safe storage : and said prop- 

 erty so seized shall be sold as provided by law, but 

 without being mutilated or destroyed." 



SEC. 39. That whenever it shall be made to appear 

 to the United States court or judge having jurisdic- 

 tion that the health or life of any person imprisoned 

 for any offense, in a county jail or elsewhere, is en- 

 dangered by close confinement, the said court or judge 

 is hereby authorized to make such order and provis- 

 ion for the comfort and well-being of the person so 

 imprisoned as shall be deemed reasonable and proper. 



SEC. 40. That all clauses of section 3244 of the Re- 

 vised Statutes, and all laws amendatory thereof, and 

 all other laws which impose any special taxes upon 

 manufacturers of stills, retail dealers in liquors, and 

 retail dealers in malt liquors, arc hereby repealed. 



SEC. 41. That this act is intended and shall be con- 

 strued as an act supplementary and amendatory to 

 existing laws, and the rates of duty and modification 

 of clauses, provisions, and sections as herein specifi- 

 cally made are intended and shall be construed as a 

 repeal of all clauses, provisions, and sections in con- 

 flict herewith, but as to all clauses, provisions ; and 

 sections in existing laws not herein specifically 

 changed, modified, or amended the rates of duty now 

 existing shall be and remain in full force and effect. 

 This act shall be in force from and after Oct. 1, 1888, 

 except as herein otherwise provided. 



This measure was referred in the Senate to 

 the Finance Committee, and tlie Republican 

 majority of that committee prepared a substi- 

 tute which they reported by way of amend- 

 ment October 3. The matter was taken up 

 October 8, and Mr. Allison, of Iowa, made the 

 opening speech in explanation of the Senate 

 bill ; but it was not very earnestly discussed, 

 and no attempt was made to push it to a vote 

 before adjournment. The Senate measure 



