You will regard the following as the construction to be given to these several statutes until otherwise advised:

All vessels arriving from adjacent foreign territory-using the term vessel in the sense given it in section 3, Revised Statutes-are to be provided with manifests. Those only are to be required to enter and clear as vessels which are licensed or enrolled or registered.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 21, 1880.

SIR: The Department is in receipt of your letter of the 19th instant, further reporting on the appeal (4655ƒ) of Wm. Whiteside from your decision assessing duty at the rate of 63 cents per square yard and 15 per cent. ad valorem on certain colored cotton doylies imported, per "Circassia," December 1, 1879, which the appellant claims to be dutiable at the rate of 35 per cent. ad valorem.

It appears that the said doylies, which are imported in pieces containing one dozen each, are colored cotton fabrics, irregularly woven with a sort of twill, and with yarns colored, in part, before weaving, containing over 100 and under 200 threads to the square inch, weighing over five ounces to the square yard, and costing under twenty-five cents per square yard. Referring, therefore, to Department's ruling of November 4, 1879 (Synopsis 4285), under which the said goods are liable to the rate of duty assessed by you, your decision is affirmed. Very respectfully, By order:

COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, New York.

H. F. FRENCH,

Assistant Secretary.

(4402.)

Peso of Cuba-Value.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 21, 1880.

SIR: This Department is in receipt of your letter of the 15th of November last, transmitting the appeal (4038ƒ) of A. Dessommes from

your decision valuing at one dollar the peso of Cuba, in which currency an invoice of cigars imported, per "Chase," from Havana October 27, 1879, was made out.

The appellant claims that the peso is worth 92 cents in money of the United States. The value of the Cuban peso was fixed by the Director of the Mint, January 1, 1875, at 925 cents, which valuation was adopted by the Department in its circular of that date, and in its decisions dated July 17, 1875 (Synopsis 2350), and February 19, 1876 (Synopsis 2671), respectively.

In the estimate of the Director for the present year he does not include the peso, but the Department has directed no change in its valuation.

It is the practice at other ports to attach the value specified above, and no good reason is perceived why the same practice should not obtain at your port. You are therefore instructed to take measures to repay the duties levied on the difference between a valuation of the coin in the present case at 92 cents, and the valuation of one dollar attached by you, and, if necessary, to forward a certified statement for a refund of the duties levied in excess.

The same course will be pursued in regard to the following appeals submitted by you, involving the same question, viz:

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 24, 1880.

SIR: The Department is in receipt of your letter of the 16th instant, inclosing four declarations of artists, accompanying invoices of mar-. ble figures imported into your port, which describe these articles as professional productions of a sculptor, all of which certificates are certified by the consul in the ordinary way. An examination of the certificate given by Sulisse Bocci shows that he declares himself to be a professional sculptor of alabaster, residing at Leghorn. The figures covered by some of the invoices submitted appear to be copies of statues, and a number of copies of one statue are covered by one in

voice. The question presented, therefore, is whether these certificates are sufficient to entitle the articles covered thereby to admission as statuary under the law and Decision No. 3942. Schedule M of the Revised Statutes provides for a duty of 10 per cent. ad valorem on statuary, but declares that the term statuary as used in the laws now in force imposing duties on foreign imports 'shall be understood to include the professional productions of a sculptor or of a statuary only. In Decision 3942 (Synopsis) it was said, whether the work of completing a statue "is done by the manual labor of the artist in his own studio abroad or by other persons under his direction, it is the opinion of the Department that the statue is still the professional production of the artist making the model.” And in Decision 4266 (Synopsis) the phrase "professional production" is held to include only the productions of artists as distinguished from mechanics or artisans. "If it be the production of a professional statuary or sculptor in the sense above defined, it is statuary within the intent of the law. On the other hand, if it be but a mere mechanical copy, however perfect, of Phidias or Praxiteles or other ancient artists, it is not the professional production of a statuary or sculptor, but it is to be regarded as a manufacture of marble, subject to a duty of 50 per cent. ad valorem."

It follows, therefore, that works in marble and the like are not statuary, admissible at 10 per cent. duty, unless they are imported as the work of a professional sculptor who originally designed them. Copies by a marble-worker of the designs of others, however well finished, are no more his professional production than is a poem the production of the printer.

It is in favor of the professional artistic skill of the artist who first embodied his conception in material form that the law makes a discrimination, admitting his productions at 10 per centum, while mere manufactures of marble, however skillful, are required to pay 50 per centum.

It is probable, from inspection of the invoices, that most of the works included in these invoices are copies of well-known works of art, cut by mere artisans, who can make no claim to originality. Indeed, the invoices describe several copies of the same work in a single item. It is probable, therefore, that the declaration of the artist and certificate of the consul do not use the phrase "professional production" or "professional sculptor" in the sense in which it is defined by the Depart

It becomes, therefore, the duty of the customs officers, although the declaration and certificate may be prima facie evidence, to go be

yond them and ascertain, by any means in their power, how the imported articles are to be classified, and to what rate of duty they are subject. The fact, and not the prima facie evidence furnished by the importer, will be the guide of the customs officers as to their duty. If they shall think proper to assess the duty upon these invoices as manufactures of marble, it will be a question of fact to be settled by a court and jury whether they are subject to that rate of duty or less, and in the trial of that fact the declaration and certificate would not be conclusive.

The papers submitted are herewith returned.
Very respectfully,

COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, Philadelphia, Pa.

H. F. FRENCH,

Assistant Secretary.

(4404.)

Cambric neck-ties embroidered with silk-Duty on.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 26, 1880. SIR: This Department is in receipt of your letter of the 19th instant, reporting further upon the appeal (4630 ƒ) of Messrs. Mills & Gibb from your decision assessing duty at the rate of 60 per cent. ad valorem on - certain so-called cambric neck-ties embroidered with silk imported by them, per "Silesia," July 29, 1879, and classified as ready-made clothing, silk chief value.

The appellants claim that the merchandise should be classified as manufactures of cotton embroidered with silk, dutiable at the rate of 35 per cent., under Schedule M.

The appraiser reports that the ties are to be worn around the neck; are composed of cotton (38 per centum in value) embroidered with silk (62 per centum in value) to a sufficient extent to control their classification, and are commercially known as silk-embroidered cambric ties.

It having been decided by the Supreme Court in Smyth vs. Fiske and in Department's instructions dated the 6th ultimo that ties are not subject to duty under the provision in Shedule H for ready-made clothing, the Department is of opinion that the appeal is well taken, and that the articles should have been treated as dutiable at the rate of 35 per cent. ad valorem, under the provisions of Shedule M for manu

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factures of cotton, linen, or silk, if embroidered or tamboured in the loom or otherwise, by machinery or with the needle, or other process, not otherwise provided for."

You will readjust the entry accordingly, and take the usual measures for a refund of the duties levied in excess.

The samples inclosed by you are returned herewith.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 27, 1880.

Considerable misapprehension exists in relation to the issue of marine documents, &c., to barges, canal-boats, and other vessels of like character; and the following rulings are published to place the subject in the proper light and to render the practice uniform at all ports:

MARINE DOCUMENTS.

Under section 4385, Revised Statutes, and the acts of April 18, 1874, and June 30, 1879, the Department holds that the following classes of these vessels are exempt from taking out marine documents:

1. Boats and lighters, decked and not masted, employed within the harbor of any town or city.

2. All canal-boats or boats employed wholly upon canals or the internal waters of a State, which are not engaged in trade with contiguous foreign territory.

3. All barges or boats without sails or internal motive-power of their own, employed in part upon canals or the internal waters of a State, and not engaged in trade with contiguous foreign territory.

4. All barges or boats without sails or internal motive-power of their own, plying on rivers or lakes of the United States, which are not engaged in trade with contiguous foreign territory, and which do not carry passengers.

The following classes of these vessels are not included in the operation of these laws, and must be documented:

a. Barges and other boats which are provided with sails or internal