148 



COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION, AMERICAN. 



ARTICLES. Values. 



Eawcotton $800,532 



Hides andskins 27,640,030 



Tin, and manufactures of. 28,917,837 



Linen manufactures and flax 19,737,542 



Fruits and nuts 19,318,041 



Tea 17,302,849 



India-rubber, gutta-percha, and manufactures of 15,844,302 



Breadstuffs and farinaceous food 15,880,605 



Wood, and manufactures of. 14,857,578 



Leather, and manufactures of. 13,104,415 



Jute and grasses, raw and manufactured 12,606,513 



Wines, spirits, and cordials 12,308,307 



Tobacco, and manufactures of 11,771,596 



Provisions, including eggs, tish, and potatoes. . 10,653,273 



Earthen, stone, and china ware 8,620,527 



Fancy goods, perfumery, and cosmetics 8,358,471 



Furs, dressed and undressed 7,959,759 



Glass and glassware 7,762,543 



Precious stones 7,692,385 



Products of the United States brought back .... 6,514,999 



Paper materials 5,829,876 



Hemp, and manufactures of. 5,118,508 



Buttons and button materials 4,223,161 



Animals, living 4,042,367 



Books, engravings, and other publications 8,651,590 



Btraw and palm-leaf, manufactures of 3,565,137 



Paintings, lithographs, and statuary 8,403,874 



Metals, and manufactures of, not elsewhere 



specified 2,897,972 



Oils, of all kinds 2,736,753 



Watches and watch materials 2,522,111 



Hair, and manufactures of. 2,496,699 



Spices 2,474,088 



Household and personal effects of persons arriv- 

 ing from foreign countries 2,815,353 



Coal, bituminous 2,085,972 



Paper, and manufactures of, not elsewhere 



specified 1,958,113 



Seeds 1,702,345 



Salt 1,674,803 



Musical instruments 1,652,528 



Paints, of all kinds 1,336,229 



Bristles 1,228,543 



Cocoa 1,213,371 



Clothing 1,182,355 



Beer, ale, and porter. 1,122,010 



Marble and stone, and manufactures of. 1,01 1,363 



Cork-bark and wood, unmanufactured 933,935 



Jewelry, etc 912,625 



Guano, except from bonded islands 535,742 



Brass, and manufactures of.. 530,281 



Bolting-cloths 418,711 



Copper, and manufactures of 894,765 



Barks, used for tanning '343,998 



All other articles 27,384,337 



Total $723,180,914 



The total value of the merchandise entered for 

 consumption, during the fiscal year 1883, was 

 $700,829,673, of which $493,916,384 was duti- 

 able and $206,913,289 free of duty. The total 

 amount of duty collected was $210,637,293, 

 which was a larger sum than was collected in 

 any previous year, except in 1882 and 1872. 

 The average rate of duty collected was 42-64 

 per cent, pf the values of the dutiable mer- 

 chandise and 30-05 per cent, of the values of 

 both free and dutiable. The average ad 'valo- 

 rem rate of duty collected in 1882 was 42 '75 

 per cent. ; in 1881, 43-25 ; in 1880, 43'56 ; in 

 1879, 44-95 ; in 1878, 42-81 ; in 1877, 42'95 ; in 

 1876, 44-80; in 1875, 40-69; in 1874, 38-61. 

 The total value of merchandise entered for con- 

 sumption in 1882 was $716,213,948, of which 

 $505,491,967 was dutiable and $210,711,981 

 free of duty. 



Undervaluation of Imports. American consuls 

 in Europe report many details of a fraudulent 

 practice of undervaluation in the declarations 

 of the export value of dutiable merchandise 

 brought into the United States, whereby large 



sums are lost to the Treasury. For the pur- 

 pose of practicing this method of evasion, 

 the European manufacturers and wholesale 

 dealers maintain agents in the United States, 

 to whom all their shipments are consigned, 

 thus depriving American merchants of their 

 trade by closing -the market to the regular im- 

 porter. The protective intent of the tariff laws 

 can in this way be defeated, for, when the 

 American manufacturer lowers his prices, his 

 foreign competitor need only make his ficti- 

 tious invoices lower, to retain his advantage. 

 The American agency or commission-house 

 accounts to him for the selling price, so that 

 the consignor sustains no loss by undervalua- 

 tion. Many foreign houses refuse to furnish 

 price-lists to American purchasers, referring 

 them to their branch establishments in the 

 United States, while some have specially pre- 

 pared price-lists to show to American mer- 

 chants. In 1883 the Treasury Department 

 employed experts at various consulates to as- 

 certain the wholesale market value of certain 

 classes of merchandise. Their reports enabled 

 appraising officers at the ports to scrutinize in- 

 voices more carefully, which in many cases led 

 to the collection of increased duties and fines. 

 Fictitious discounts and unusual commissions, 

 allowances for pretended defects and imper- 

 fections, etc., are among the devices by which 

 goods are got through the custom-house at 

 valuations below the market price, shippers 

 and consignees sharing in the profit. Half the 

 profits from the large trade in silk manufac- 

 tures with Switzerland are said to be derived 

 from the evaded duties. The consul at Brad- 

 ford, England, excited the animosity of the 

 manufacturers by reporting instances of under- 

 valuation. The consul at St. Galjen, Switzer- 

 land, was threatened with appeals to the Swiss 

 Federal authorities or the United States Con- 

 gress, against his surveillance over the private 

 business affairs of merchants. At Crefeld, in 

 Germany, lists of prices in dollars are presented 

 to American purchasers of velvets, the prices 

 being payable in New York to the agents of 

 the associated manufacturers. The velvet 

 manufacturers of Basle resort to the practice, 

 which is also common elsewhere, of including 

 in an undervalued invoice a quantity of cor- 

 rectly-valued goods, which the appraisers are 

 to examine first, and then in the hurry of busi- 

 ness to pass the lot. The invoicing of East 

 India cashmere wool as common wool, as prac- 

 ticed at Liverpool, illustrates another method 

 pf evasion. Silks, aniline dyes, wool, velvets, 

 incandescent lamps, chemicals of several kinds, 

 silver filigree-work, ribbons, gloves, plush, 

 seal-skins, worsted yarns, ladies' cloaks, wool- 

 en cloths, paper-hangings, varnishes, fine pot- 

 tery, cotton ties and hoop-iron, and many 

 other articles, are in the category of fraudu- 

 lently invoiced imports in respect to which the 

 consuls have particular accounts of undervalu- 

 ation. 

 The practice is suspected to be general 



