Register of Debates in Congress, Comprising the Leading Debates and Incidents of the Second Session of the Eighteenth Congress Page: 561
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561
OF DEBATES IN" CONGRESS.
562
Feb. 11, 1825.j
On Drawback Duties.
[H. of R.
ble to lake the oath were as numerous as those in which
they were unable to give the bond, and'so frequent were
both that there had not occurred a single week, during
the present session, in which he had not presented to
the House one or more petitions from merchants so si-
tuated. Surely, if the Secretary of the Treasury has
now power to cancel the bond itself, when given, there
can be no great danger in giving him power to remit
the penalty incurred by not giving the bond within a
certain number of days. This power was to be exercis-
ed by the Secretary only when he should be satisfied
that the individual applying to liirn had a good and suf-
ficient excuse for not having taken the oath and given
the bond, within the twenty days prescribed by law.
That officer is already clothed with power to remit al-
most every other forfeiture provided by our revenue
laws. The restriction which obliges the merchant to
make oath and give bond within twenty days, was co-
pied from the laws of England—a country which is not
more than twenty miles distant from the coast of France,
and which is, therefore, peculiarly exposed to frauds,
on the subject of drawback. We are not so situated.
The restriction was a substantial measure in England.;
with us, it is, in a great degree, a matter of form. The
cases were numerous, and of daily occurrence, in which
it is physically impossible that this part of the law should
be complied with. A merchant may die—when it is
manifest that he can neither take oath or give bond.
Yet his executors cannot obtain the debenture, which is
justly due to his estate, without coming all the way to
this House, at the risk of waiting here, from year to year,
before they can get leave to take the oath or to give
the bond required. Mr. C. stated several cases of pecu-
liar hardship which had occurred within his own know-
ledge.
Mr. LIVINGSTON, of Louisiana, said, that, standing
in the same situation with the gentleman from New York,
who had last spoken, he was obliged to address the
House on the subject of this bill, which would give re-
lief to some of his constituents, who were clearly enti-
tled to it, and, at the same time, relieve the House from
the task of examining private claims, and the country
from an expense attending such examination, necessari-
ly greater, in many instances, than the amount demand-
ed. The amendment proposed went to defeat the bill,
and he was persuaded that the gentleman from Connec-
ticut would not have offered it had he duly considered
the necessity of giving relief to the numerous applicants,
and the time, expense, and difficulty of conducting the
examination in this House.
In order fully to understand the bill, it was necessary
to refer to the nature of the drawback of duties, and to
the provision made for preventing fraud in granting it.
Duties, Mr. L. said, were levied, on the supposition that
the merchandise, on which they were paid, was intend-
ed for consumption within the United States. It was a
tax paid by the importer, in advance, for the consumer,
on whom it ultimately fell. As it was uncertain, how-
ever, at the moment of importation, whether the mer-
chandise would be consumed or re-exported, the import
er was bound to pay or secure the duties; but, in order
to give him a reasonable time to execute his purpose of
re-exportation, or to deliberate whether it would be more
to his advantage to sell here or to try a foreign market,
the law provided, that if, within twelve months after the
introduction of the merchandise, the importer chose to
export it, the government would refund to him (with a
small deduction) the duties he had paid or secured.—
This was not only just but profitable. It gave a free-
dom to trade, which was highly advantageous. It made
the country an entrepot for commodities not of our own
produce, and enabled our merchants to supply one fo-
reign nation with the merchandise of another, as their
wants might require. It cherished the shipping interest,
and was essential to every operation o commerce. But
\Jyi.. I.—3.0
this reimbursement of duties subjected the Treasur , to
frauds, against which the law contains careful provisions.
The goods must be exported within the year, and m the
same casks or packages; must be laden in the presence
of an officer; 24 hours' notice must be given of the in-
tent to export; entry must be made, specifying the mer-
chandise particularly, and annexing the oath of the im-
porter as to the due importation, and that the duties were
paid or secured—then, and not until then, is a per nit
given to lade for exportation. Hut this is not all; before
the debenture (which, as the House knows, is the in-
strument which entitles the exporter, or his assigns, to
receive the amount of the duties paid) can be received,
the exporter must make oath that the goods so laden
are intended to be exported, and be must give boixi, in
double the amount of the debenture, that the goods
shall not be relanded in the United States, and that he
will, within a specified time, produce proof that siiey
have been landed in a foreign country. The law now
gives the party twenty days, after obtaining the clear-
ance, to take this oath and give this bond; and these
two formalities alone are the subject of the present bill,
which does not abrogate them, but provides only that,
in case they are not performed within the time, the Se-
cretary of the Treasury may permit them to be done af-
terwards, in cases, and such cases only, where the de-
lay has proceeded from accident, without any design to
defraud. I pray the House to remark, thatthe bill does
not authorize him to dispense with the oath or the bond,
but only to permit the one to be given, and the other to
be executed, after the time when all the other formali-
ties have been executed. All those which -.re enumer-
ated are intended for the security of the United States,
to prevent the substitution of goods to their injury, to
prevent the relanding of them, or other frauds. But
these two can never be designedly omitted after thp
others have been performed, because, until the oath is
taken and the bond given, the debenture is not issued,
and the exporter gets nothing'.
Now, in numerous instances, and several are now be-
fore a committee of the House, sometimes accident,
sometimes death, and sometimes the neglect of the
Custom House Clerks, have deprived the party of the
power, after paying or securing the duties, and re-ex-
porting the merchandise, with all the forms required by
law, from making the oath and giving the security,
which could alope entitle him to the debenture. In all
these cases, recourse must now be had to this House,
The petition must be read and referred, the committee
must examine and report, the House must debate, and
if, at the end of two or three yeari, the unfortunate
merchant can procure his case to be considered, we are
obliged to give him an order to receive the amount of
the duties be has paid, afLer having put our constituents
to an expense equal, in many instances, to ten times the
amount of the sum demanded. I say we are obliged,
sir, because the money we have received is not ours.
The duties were paid under the faith of your law, winch
directed that they should be repaid on their being again
exported, on conditions which, if only unperformed
through accident or necessity, cannot be enforced, con-
sistent with the dictates of justice.
Now, the bill proposes a remedy for this expense, for
this delay, which is equal to a denial of justice, to this
interference of private claims, of affairs of fiscal detail,
with the public business of the nation: and th« remedy
is not an unusual or a dangerous one. Already, by law,
the officer at the head of the Treasury is authorized to
remit all fines and penalties for offences against the re-
venue, when he is convinced they have not been incur-
red with intent to defraud. Without any restriction as
to amount, even where the courts have condemned,^ he
may interfere and give x'eiief. Nay, in the very subject
now under discussion, a much more extensive and im.
portant discretion fs confided to him—the important fact
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Gales, Joseph, 1761-1841. Register of Debates in Congress, Comprising the Leading Debates and Incidents of the Second Session of the Eighteenth Congress, book, 1825; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30752/m1/285/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.