CUSTOMS. 279 



sales of productions for food, and those of 

 the arts ; and reduced to two and a half per 

 cent, on sales of foreign commodities and 

 landed property. The congress, after abo- 

 lishing various taxes, decreed a direct tax 

 on the clear incomes of citizens. 



The Customs are the source of one of the 

 most productive imposts ; and leaving out of 

 consideration their present intrinsic faults or 

 merits, the object of the legislature ought 

 to be the increase of their amount, v^ith ad- 

 vantage to the national M^ealth. Moderate 

 import duties, the strictest vigilance in the 

 ports, officers w^ell selected and sufficiently 

 paid, rewards to the discoverers of frauds, 

 the liberty of exporting the produce of the 

 country without taxes, the tariffs moderate, 

 and the most severe punishments inflicted 

 upon officers who abuse their trusts ; these 

 are the measures which should be adopted, 



