tures, either for his own use or for sale, of the amount of $600 per annum, is regarded as a manufacturer; and whenever the total amount of manufactures of any such person exceeds the sum of $600 per annum, he is liable to taxation on the whole sum, unless exempted by law.

In the first section of the act of March 3d, 1863, it is provided that "tailors, boot and shoe makers, milliners and dress-makers, making clothing or articles of dress, for men's, women's, or children's wear, to order, as custom work, and not for sale generally, shall, to the amount of one thousand dollars, be exempt from duty, and for any excess beyond the amount of one thousand dollars shall pay a duty of one per centum, ad valorem." Whenever any such person shall make and sell such goods to the amount of $600, he must be regarded as a manufacturer.

If, therefore, a tailor should manufacture and sell $600 worth of clothing, made to order, as custom work, in any one year, and should make an equal amount for sale generally, he would be liable to assessment on the last-named amount, at the rate of three per centum, ad valorem.

Where one party furnishes the materials, or any part thereof, and another party is employed to manufacture, make, or finish the goods, wares, merchandise, or articles, the value of the materials will be included as a part of the thousand dollars aforesaid exempt from taxation. (Decis. No. 87.)

THE INCOME TAX, page 180.

Guardians and trustees, whether such trustees are so by virtue of their office, as executors, administrators, or other fiduciary capacity, are required to make return of the income belonging to minors or other persons, which may be held in trust as aforesaid, and the income tax will be assessed upon the amount returned, after deducting such sums as are exempted from the income tax, under section 91 of the excise law of July 1st, 1862, as amended by the 1st section of the act of March 3d, 1863; provided that the exemption of $600, under section 90 of the excise law, shall not be allowed on account of any minor or other beneficiary of a trust, except upon the statement of the guardian or trustee, made under oath, that the minor or beneficiary has no other income from which the said amount of $600 may be exempted and deducted. (Decis. No. 88.)

SUPPLY OF STAMPS, page 188.

By regulation of the bureau, no revenue stamps will now be received in exchange for revenue stamps of other kinds or denominations excepting at a discount of one per cent on the amount exchanged.

COIN CONTRACTS, page 199.

Acting Commissioner Estee answers as follows to a question on the construction of this provision:

First-Does the law, as passed, interfere with the legality of contracts made for the delivery of coin for more than three days' time at a premium in currency?

Second-If not, are such contracts taxable upon the par value of the coin? or is the tax to be calculated upon the currency value named in the contract? For example: $1,000 gold, contracted for at $1,600 for 60 days, will be $1,600, 60 days' interest $16. Will the tax be $15 or $24?

Contracts made for the delivery of coin, if to be performed after a period exceeding three days, must be in writing, and signed by the parties, or their agents or attorneys, and stamped in a sum equal to one-half of one per centum of the amount of the purchase-money to be paid for a given quantity of gold or silver coin, or bullion, as the case may be. Contracts so made in writing, and duly signed and stamped, are valid.

In case of the example given by you, which I understand to be a contract to deliver $1,000 in gold coin at sixty days from the date of the contract, for the sum of $1,600 currency, no stamp is required on account of interest. If, however, a party should loan $1,600 in currency upon the pledge of $1,000 in gold or silver coin of the United States, such loan would be utterly void. (N. Y. Trans., March 25, '63.)

ASSIGNMENTS AND CONVEYANCES, page 199.

When a conveyance is made by a trustee, to a successor or substitute, of lands belonging to the same beneficiary, that fact fully appearing in the instrument, the deed or conveyance is exempt from stampduty.

If stocks are transferred and new certificates issued, a new certificate stamp will be required in each case.

The assignment of mortgages and bonds by a trustee to his successor will be governed by the rule applicable to conveyances, and will, of course, be exempt from stamp-duty. (Acting Com'r Estee, April 1, '63.)

Page 199.

In all cases of conveyance of real estate by deed, the stamps used must answer to the value of the estate conveyed.

When the consideration is nominal, the value of the property conveyed is the measure of the stamp-duty.

When an estate that is encumbered by mortgage, or deed of trust, is conveyed, subject to the encumbrance, the stamp must answer to the value of the equity, unless the payment of the mortgage debt is assumed by the grantor.

When two or more persons join in the execution of an instrument, the stamp to which the instrument is liable under the law may be affixed and canceled by any one of the parties. (Decis. No. 75.)

POWER OF ATTORNEY, &c., IN MORTGAGE, page 202.`

It is the ruling of the revenue bureau that neither a power of attorney, nor agreement to insure, &c., embodied in a mortgage which is properly stamped, are subject to special duty. (Acting Com'r Estee, March 31, '63.)

PROMISSORY NOTES, page 206.

Commissioner Lewis has given it as his opinion that the act of March 3d takes away the $20 limitation of the original statute; so that all notes, whether over or under $20, require stamps. We think this construction plausible, and, on the whole, sound. In view of this decision, we give the following corrected table of duty on promissory

notes:

These stamp-duties attach to notes made after March 3, 1863. It is provided, however, that a note is not to be deemed invalid for want of a stamp, if issued prior to June 1, 1863. A note without a stamp cannot be sued on until the provisions of the law mentioned on page 187, ante, have been complied with.

LOTTERIES, page 124.

Acting Commissioner Estee decides (April 3, 1863), as to license for lottery dealers, as follows:

Article 37 of section 64, as amended in the first section of the act of March 3, 1863, is considered to authorize a person, association, firm, or corporation to sell lottery tickets under a license, as contemplated in said article, at a place of business specified in the license granted. It cannot, however, be considered as authorizing the agents of such person, association, firm, or corporation, that may have been licensed as aforesaid, to sell at places other than that named in the license.

The particular application of this rule would authorize a corporation, established by the State of Missouri, to sell lottery tickets at its place of business whenever licenses shall be applied for and granted. If, however, corporations shall employ agents in various parts of the State to sell tickets upon commission, such agents will be required severally to take licenses under said article.

GIFT ENTERPRISES, &c.

The acting commissioner has decided that an advertised proposal to sell a thousand tickets at $1 each admitting the holder to a concert, and to distribute, by lot or hazard, one hundred prizes among the holders of the thousand, is a lottery within the meaning of the act.

This proceeding answers to a definition given to lotteries, viz.: “A distribution of prizes and blanks by chance; a game of hazard in which small sums are ventured for the chance of obtaining a larger value, either in money or other articles." This definition conforms to the letter and spirit of the law of Congress, and describes with exactness the character of the gift concert advertised. It is not possible for the bureau to make any distinction growing out of actual or supposed difference in the objects to which the proceeds of the enterprise are to be devoted. It is the peculiar characteristic of the lottery sys tem in all countries that it has had its origin in real or pretended purposes to give aid to philanthropic or benevolent movements.

"The ruling of this office requires superintendents and ticketsellers of raffles to take license as lottery ticket-dealers. "EDWARD MCPHERSON,

'Dep. Com'r.

The commissioner has issued the following regulation: Companies authorized by charter to build railroads or canals, upon which passengers and freight other than that of the company are to be transported, being indebted for any sum or sums of money for which bonds or other evidences of indebtedness have been, or shall be issued, payable in one or more years after date, are required to withhold three

per centum from all payments on account of coupons or interest upon such indebtedness as was incurred on account of such railroad or canal, and to make quarterly returns and payment thereof to the commissioner of internal revenue. (Decis. No. 98.)

CANDY AND CONFECTIONERY, page 72.

As to the effect of the amendment of March 3, the commissioner decides

1. That all articles of sugar-candy or confectionery which were usually sold by weight at the time of the passage of said act (March 3, 1863), or which shall not exceed the value of forty cents per pound at the time of sale, must be taxed by the pound, even though the manufacturer may have made sales without specifying the weight in the bills rendered to the purchaser.

2. The phrase "or when sold otherwise than by the pound," is construed to refer to articles of ornament, whose value does not depend so much upon the weight of the material used, as upon the taste and skill exhibited in the manufacture.

COAL OIL, page 68.

The commissioner has decided that whenever a distillate is removed, and the quantity shall have been reported to the collector of the district to which the removal is made, and a certificate thereof given by said collector, and transmitted to the collector of the district from which the removal is made, the bond required by a former decision shall be canceled. (Decis. No. 92.)

OILS, page 147.

The commissioner decides that oil manufactured, without distillation, from paraffine and benzole will be subject to a duty of three per cent, ad valorem. Coal illuminating oil, manufactured by the distillation or redistillation of benzole, paraffine, or other bituminous substances, is subject to a duty of ten cents per gallon. (Decis. No. 96.)

AGREEMENTS, page 192

In reply to a question put to the commissioner, whether the stipulations and agreements in writing, which lawyers in the course of their practice are obliged frequently to give-e. g. as to mode of trial, the examination of witnesses, &c.-are subject to stamp duty, the acting commissioner refers to the schedule, and marks Agreements. It is doubtless, therefore, the opinion of the bureau that such papers require a five-cent stamp.

PRODUCTS OF IRON FOUNDERIES.

The commissioner has made the following decisions with reference to the taxes imposed upon the various products of iron founderies: I. All steam-engines, whether marine, locomotive or stationary, are subject to a duty of 3 per centum, ad valorem.

II. Cast-iron shafting is liable in all cases to a specific duty of $1 50 per ton under the act of March 3, 1863. Wrought iron shafting, if held to be a manufacture within the meaning of Decision No. 71, is liable to a tax of 3 per centum, ad valorem,