There are other curious facts connected with this branch of jurisdiction. The captured or abandoned property fund existed before the abandoned or captured property act. The funds in the Treasury derived from property captured anterior to the abandoned or captured property act have never been treated as booty coming within the rule of international warfare by either the executive or the legislative branches of the Government. It was the purpose of the act of July 2, 1864 (13 Stat. L., p. 375), to dispose of all funds derived from captured property by bringing them within the operation of the abandoned or captured property act, and thereby obviate the necessity of judicial proceedings under the confiscation or the nonintercourse act. The amount deducted from the proceeds of the cotton comprises the expenses of collection, rebaling, transportation, insurance, freight, expenses of sale, commissions, etc., which were paid to the many persons employed to perform the services and labor by the supervising and assistant special agents, the agent at New York, and in some instances by the Treasury Department, upon proper vouchers now on file with the accounts of the respective agents, which have been examined and adjusted by the Treasury Department. On and after the 1st day of tax of one-half of 1 cent per levied, collected, or owned by any person, etc. COTTON, TAX ON. LAWS TO PROVIDE FOR THE COLLECTION OF [12 Stat. L., p. 465.] [Extract from an act to provide internal revenue to support the Government and pay interest on the public debt.] On and after the first day of October, eighteen hundred October, 1862, a and sixty-two, there shall be levied, collected, and paid, a tax of one-half of one cent per pound on all cotton held or pound shall be owned by any person or persons, corporation, or assoand paid on all ciation of persons; and such tax shall be a lien thereon in cotton held the possession of any person whomsoever. And further, if any person or persons, corporations, or association of persons, shall remove, carry, or transport the same from the place of its production before said tax shall have been paid, such person or persons, corporation, or association of persons, shall forfeit and pay to the United States double the amount of such tax, to be recovered in any court having jurisdiction thereof: Provided, however, That the Commissioner of Internal Revenue is hereby authorized to make such rules and regulations as he may deem proper for the payment of said tax at places different from that of the production of said cotton: And provided further, That all cotton owned and held by any manufacturer of cotton fabrics on the first day [of] October, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and prior thereto, shall be exempt from the tax hereby imposed. Approved, July 1, 1862. [13 Stat. L., p. 15.] [Extract from an act to increase the internal revenue, and for other purposes.] ton. cotton, to evade, etc., duty. cotton sold by SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That from and after Duty on cotthe passage of this act, in lieu of the duties provided in Penalty for rethe act referred to in the first section of this act, there with intent moving shall be levied, collected, and paid upon all cotton produced or sold and removed for consumption, and upon Government. which no duty has been levied, paid, or collected, a duty of two cents per pound; and such duty shall be and remain a lien thereon until the said duty shall have been paid, in the possession of any person whomsoever. And further, if any person or persons, corporation or association of persons remove, carry, or transport the same or procure any other party or parties to remove, carry, or transport the same from the place of its production, with the intent to evade the duty thereon, or to defraud the Government, before said duty shall have been paid, such person or persons, corporation, or association of persons. shall forfeit and pay to the United States double the amount of said duty, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction: Provided, That all cotton sold by or on account of the Government of the United States shall be free and exempt from duty at the time of and after the sale thereof, and the same shall be marked free, and the purchaser furnished with such a bill of sale as shall clearly and accurately describe the same, which shall be deemed and taken to be a permit authorizing the sale or removal thereof. marked be on the as sessors and col SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That every collector to Duty to whom any duty upon cotton shall be paid shall mark the bales. Permit for rebales, or rather [other] packages, upon which the duty moval. shall have been paid, in such manner as may clearly indi- Duties of cate the payment thereof, and shall give to the owner, or lectors, etc. other person having charge of such cotton, a permit for the removal of the same, stating therein the amount and payment of the duty, the time and place of payment, the weight and marks upon the bales and packages, so that the same may be fully identified. Whenever any cotton, the product of the United States, shall arrive at any port of the United States from any State in insurrection against the Government, the assessor or assistant assessor, under the act referred to in the first section of this act, shall immediately assess the taxes due thereon, and shall, without delay, return the same to the collector or deputy collector of said district, and the said collector or deputy collector shall demand of the owner or other person having charge of such cotton, the tax imposed by this act, and assessed thereon, unless evidence of previous payment of said tax shall be produced, under such regulations as the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, by the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall from time to time prescribe; and in case the tax so assessed shall not be paid to such collector within thirty days after demand,” the Drawback. per pound, after in the States. United collector or deputy collector as aforesaid, shall institute proceedings for the recovery of the tax, which shall be a lien upon said cotton from the time when said assessment shall be made. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the date on which this act takes effect, in computing the allowance or drawback upon articles manufactured exclusively of cotton when exported, there shall be allowed, in addition to the three per centum duty which shall have been paid on such articles, a drawback of two cents per pound upon such articles in all cases where the duty imposed by this act upon the cotton used in the manufacture thereof shall be satisfactorily shown to have been previously paid, the amount of said drawback to be ascertained in such manner as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury. Approved, March 7, 1864. [14 Stat. L., p. 471.] [Extract from an act to amend existing laws relating to internal revenue, and for other purposes.] Tax of 2 cents Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives Sept. 1, 1867, on of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that produced That all acts in relation to the assessment, return, collection, and payment of the income tax, special tax, and other annual taxes now by law required to be performed in the month of May, shall hereafter be performed on the corresponding days in the month of March in each year; all acts required to be performed in the month of June, in relation to the collection, return, and payment of said taxes, shall hereafter be performed on the corresponding days of the month of April of each year: Provided, That on and after the first day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, a tax of two and one-half cents per pound only shall be levied, collected, and paid on any cotton produced within the United States. grown in the after the empt from Approved, March 2, 1867. [15 Stat. L., p. 34.] AN ACT To provide for the exemption of cotton from internal tax. All cotton Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives United States of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 1867 shall be exYear That all cotton grown in the United States after the year in- eighteen hundred and sixty-seven shall be exempt from internal tax; and cotton imported from foreign countries on and after November first, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, shall be exempt from duty. ternal tax, etc. Approved, February 3, 1868. NOTE. The cotton tax levied by the foregoing acts of Congress was entirely under the control of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Statement showing the sum of money realized to the Government under the various acts. NOTE. An impression is abroad that the Supreme Court of the United States has pronounced an opinion on the constitutionality of the cotton tax. This is a mistake. There was a case before the court, argued in an early year after the war, in which the constitutionality of the cotton tax was raised. There were but 8 judges on the bench. They were equally divided on the question and therefore no decision was made. The tax in all cases being imposed on the cotton, and required to be paid by the producer, owner, or holder, as the case might be, and being a lien on the cotton from the day of assessment until the same was paid, the collection of these taxes was often and largely made in States other than those in which the cotton was grown. Returns of collections from cotton were made from no less than 26 States, many of them States which produced no cotton, though the returns show that most of the tax was collected in the cotton-producing States. The following is a list of the States in which taxes on cotton were collected, and the several amounts collected in each, to wit: Of the 26 States enumerated above, and in which portions of the cotton tax were collected, 15 are not known as cotton-growing States, and none of the cotton on which taxes were collected was produced in those states, if we except, perhaps, two or three States, which, during the war, might have grown a very small quantity of an inferior article, as, for instance, the States of Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky. The taxes collected in those States were on cotton which had been brought into the same from the insurrectionary State before any tax had been collected on it, and were assessed on the cotton in the hands of the owner, purchaser, or holder, according to the terms of the statute. BUREAU FOR THE RELIEF OF FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES, ACTS ESTABLISHING, ETC. [13 Stat. L., p. 507.] AN ACT To establish a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees. ugees, freedmen, Be it enacted, &c., That there is hereby established in Bureau of refthe War Department, to continue during the present war and abandoned of rebellion, and for one year thereafter, a bureau of lands. refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands, to which shall be committed, as hereinafter provided, the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control, Duty, etc., of of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel states, or from any district of country within the bureau. Pay. Clerks. territory embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the bureau and approved by the President. The said bureau shall be under the management and control Commissioner. of a commissioner to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose compensation shall be three thousand dollars per annum, and such number of clerks as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of War, not exceeding one chief clerk, two of the fourth class, two of the third class, and five of the first class. And the commissioner and all persons appointed under this act, shall, before entering upon their Oath of office. duties, take the oath of office prescribed in an act entitled "An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes," approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the commissioner and the chief clerk shall, before entering upon their duties, give bonds to the treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, and the latter in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties respectively, with securities to be approved as sufficient by the Attorney-General, which bonds shall be filed in the office of the first comptroller of the treasury, to be by him put in suit fo the benefit of any injured pa ty upon any breach of the conditions thereof. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of and fuel for refu- War may direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel, as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen and their wives and children, under such rules and regulations as he may direct. Bonds. Issues of provisions, clothing, gees and freedmen, etc. Assistant commissioner for each tion. Bond. Pay. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President state in insurrec- may, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint an assistant commissioner for each of the states declared to be in insurrection, not exceeding ten in number, who shall, under the direction of the commissioner, aid in the execution of the provisions of this act; and he shall give a bond to the Treasurer of the United States, in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, in the form and manner prescribed in the first section of this act. Each of said commissioners shall receive an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars in full compensation. for all his services. And any military officer may be may be assigned detailed and assigned to duty under this act without Annual and increase of pay or allowances. The commissioner shall, commissioners. before the commencement of each regular session of congress, make full report of his proceedings with exhibits of the state of his accounts to the President, who shall communicate the same to congress, and shall also make special reports whenever required to do so by the PresiAssistants to re- dent or either house of congress; and the assistant commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceedings to the commissioner, and also such other special reports as from time to time may be required. Military officers to this duty. special reports of port quarterly. |