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THE MARINE RECORD. OCTOBER I0, I90I. al LITTLE KNOWN CITATIONS USEFUL IN REVISING TREASURY TAXES. Items concerning tonnage taxes, and taxes for dry- -dock- ing vessels as ‘‘supposedly “Gncident to repairs’ in Canadian ports, are among the current topics. Does the phraseology of any statute make it the sole privilege of any executive of- ficer to decide what is ‘‘due process of law?” For instance the Act of July 5, 1884, section 3, reads: “On all questions ‘of interpretation relating to the collection of tonnage tax, and to, the refund of such tax when collected illegally, the Com- missioner of Navigation’ 8 decisions shall be final.’’ If any such commissioner should send a wagon some dark night into the country and stealthily ‘‘collect’’ a ton of hay from a sleeping farmer, and call it ‘“‘tonnage tax,” the judicial branch of the national government would perceive and de- cree that the jurisdiction of any Treasury. official could be enquired into in all matters, and. where the abyss between power to tax and lack of it was not so yawning as in the il- lustration given. Treasury officers may be asked to revoke their own ‘‘final’’ decisions on the ground of some want of jurisdiction. Asa ‘Secretary is the regular constitutional organ of the Presi- dent and rules and orders promulgated through him must be received as acts of the Executive and as such binding” (22 Op. 57); and as there is ‘‘almost absolute necessity of having uniform rules of decision in all questions of law in analogous cases” (5 Op. 97);—the President’s decision in Navy and War Department cases, may, in ‘analogous cases’’ in the Treasury be cited. One objection to reconsidering a decision is its having been rendered during a prior administration. Certain Navy and Wat Department rulings override this objection. The Navy Register of Jan. 1, 1870, p. 122, recites that ‘Pay- thaster Edw. Bellows was ‘dismissed Jan 28, 1869.’ There- after his name is.found no more on Navy Registers until that of July 1, 1880, p. 31, when he is inscribed as being on ‘“‘waiting orders,” from ‘‘Jan. 28, .1869,”” (11 years,) which was entitled, ‘‘Date of his present order or leave.”’ trom 1869 to 1880, over II years, he was represented as having been dismissed from the Navy. Navy Department because it admitted that it had no power to remove him from therollsin 1869. And yet the question upon which the Department’s lack of power in 1869 was said to depend, was exceedingly narrow. Bellows was found guilty by a court-martial, Nov. 7, 1868, of embezzlement, ‘“and sentenced to make good to the Government the money of, which the Government was defrauded by him and to be dismissed.’’ The finding was forwarded from South America to the Secretary of the Navy, not disapproved by the officer, ordering the, court. On Jan, 28, 1869, the Secretary wrote Mr. Bellows: ‘‘In consequence of the facts apvearing upon the record of the court-martial you are dismissed” It requires no, great stretch of imagination to call this an approval of the recommendation of the court-martial that Bellows be dismissed. But the Navy. Department held on reviewing the case Io years later, that the Secretary’s letter “does not profess to be the approval of the court-martial; it indicates an intent’ to exercise the. power of dismissal which did not then exist, and not an intent to approve and to direct to be carried into execution, the sentence of the court-martial.” (16 Op. 312). Under sec. 1624 (Art. 53) and 1547 R. S., Bellows’ sentence of dismissal had both to be confirmed’’ and ordered by the President to be ‘‘carried into execution, ”» just as a jury’s verdict; after being approved by the court must be followed by the judge’s own personal orders to execute such sentence as the statute authorizes. Sec. 261 of the Regulations designated in Smith v, Whitney, 116 U. S. 180. In 1868, Lieut. Leavy was by direction ‘of the President: retired from active service on pay. In 1869 by direction of the ensuing. President the order retiring him from active service was amended so as to wholly retire him and his name was directed to be omitted from the Army Register. In1878 the latter’ order ‘‘wholly retiring’? was declared yoid. The Attorney-General i in 1888, held (19 Op. 209) ‘the President had power, upon the finding, to place the officer on the retired list either with his pay or to wholly retire him. Having once acted under that power it was exhausted. (19 Ct. Cl. 528; 88 Ill. 470 to 475.) ‘The order of the President ‘wholly retiring’ was void for want of authority.’? In this case it will be observed that the Department twice revised its own decisions though during former administrations, The Supreme Court, in deciding that Major Runkle was ‘on the retired list”though Army Registers did not confess it (122 U. S. 555), substantially held that the War Depart- He was restored by the ment could and should have revised its own erroneous action during a past administration and obeyed the law. As Senator Lodge has frequently written in his magazine histories, ‘‘“Nothing is settled until it is settled right.” GEORGE F. ORMSBY. ~ Washington, D. C. si » z oe <a : aliens EASTERN FREIGHTS,. eters Funch; Edye & Co., New York, furnish the RECORD with the following eastern freight report. Whilst the volume of business transacted during the week has been on a much larger scale than has been the case recently, the rates obtained in most instances indicate little or nochange. The only charter reported for grain shows a further decline of 134d per quarter from the last rate paid from the -A lantic ports. Future business in this direction A TREASURY DECISION. MASTERS AND MATES. Masters and mates of sail vessels and barges of over 100 tons not entitled to act as such on sail vessels ~ over 700 tons not carrying passengers. ‘TREASURY DEPARTMENT, October I, I90I. Sir: -This department is in receipt of your communication of the 25th ultimo, in which, referring to the act of Decem- ber 21, 1898, ‘‘requiring masters and chief mates of sail ves- sels.of over 700 tons, and all other vessels and barges of over 100 tons burden carrying passengers for hire’’, if a master or mate holding only a license to act in such capacity on vessels of over I00 tons, carrying passengers for hire, can under that ‘license act in like capacity on vessels over 700 tons when not carrying passengers for hire?”’ In reply, you are informed that as distinctly different forms of licenses are required upon sail vessels of 700 tons QUARTERLY SHIPBUILDING RETURNS. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF NAVIGATION, September 30, 1901. The Bureau of Navigation reports 393 sail and steam vessels of 68,395 gross tons built in the usdioe States and officially. numbered Sat the quarter ended September 30, 1901, as follows: ‘ WooD. STEEL. ~ TOTAL, SAIL. STEAM SAIL STEAM. No Gross. No. Gross. No Gross. No Gross. No. Gross. Atlanticiand: Gulbis ifccsee we. sa 174 |. 17,756 74 6,669 I 235 +2, b2 15,498 261 40,158 Porto Rico ics. shictieccaunn «aay I iene Se CR ee ee Ao eerie ote ymniicoraee ene 7 PACIDR, satesges wane os go's Cpleie Milg a Ws alates 14 8,272 16 B3G5 llc sire Lepeaieiscs bien tei kiue |esmeie mn cate 30 10,667 Great akegi se ce Giectes m ene clei: 5 149 36 TOAQ ewer escent 8 12,240 49 14,038 Western Rivers.......... 0.0 eee 6/' ‘114 44 HOGG? Siiwate Jae Nl. kesettcele cs 2 43 52 3,525 Total ashen wee Bek mes aia talons 200 | 26,298 | 170 | 14,081 ne 235 22 27,781 393 | 68,395 During the ‘corresponding quarter ended September 30, 1g00, 308 sail and steam vessels of 88,790 gross tons were built in the United States and officially numbered, as follows: WOOD. STEEL TOTAL, SAIL, STEAM SAIL STEAM No. Gross. No. Gross. No Gross. No Gros3. No. Gross. Atlantic and Gulf................ 129 18,880 51 4,095 3 3,360 if 10, 192 190 | 36,527 PACINGie ccna s Meld av ripepaciers Io 6,748 16 so 5) Gah aden Yeveal wacacets croc a 293 28 10,902 Great; Lakes. otic cu iiutalele werete 5 108 18 » 482 I 2,790 8 33,677 32 37,057 Western Rivers ..............---. 16 297 42 AsOOT Alec e EN Akos Reevets’ eligceyaieell apteteee ops aie 58 4,304 Totals wits: secsisk watew oes ee 160 26,033 127 12,445 4 6,150 17 44,162 308 | 88,790 MONTHLY SHIPBUILDING RETURNS. The Bureau of Navigation reports 139 vessels of 20,065 gross tons were built in the United States and officially bihats bered during the month of September, IgoI, as follows: WOOD. STEEL, TOTAL, SAIL STEAM SAIL STEAM : No Gross No Gross. No Gross. No. Gross. No. Gross. Atlantic and Gulf........0.0005.. 75 4,654 29 S1SGGRat hy Smee 908 Io 8 Portop Rico’ mists acne. sade cielo I CRU acl RRR ORCI Spor Hepoc de ted Cas ae 3 ae eels - queer PACING ie fe oes vie aia es iieucna eras 6 4,048 3 ASO Mises cues esate seaises nl Gomeks iaiel pene saath 28 Great Wakes a a are eee ss 2 42 I OT cp caerecs7si [iain vase cot oars eter cel er avare areas A ae Western Rivers. 1) coc ere eee eee inese eee. 17 gal oy 6 a eared Inirintirouiried fees scab (eicns Mena 17" 979 TRotalicmaun:. .rwlawe wees ss 84 8,751 | 50 Bs AOOisi il isreyetal | anecde ace farsi 5 5,908 139 20,065 The largest steel steam vessels included in these figures are: Denver,. 4,549 gross tons, built at Wilmington, Del., owned by Harlan & Hollingsworth Co. is entirely neglected and there is little or no indication of any demand for grain tonnage. The few fixtures reported for cotton from the Atlantic Coast is evidence of the tardy movement of this staple and business seems only practicable ona ‘‘hand to mouth’’ basis. There has been a little more activity in chartering for deals at improved rates which, however, are counteracted by-the restriction relative to carry- ing of deck loads late in the season. The few charters reported for timber are mostly at slightly reduced figures: Further business has also been consummated for the carrying of coals from this coast at rates ruling for some little time past. With the exception of a further decline in case of petroleum ratesto the far Hast, the market for sail tonnage remains quiet and barely settled in the absence of business of conse- quence. : Grain to Liyerpool 134 cents, London or Glasgow 2 cents, Rotterdam Amsterdam 4 cents. and over from those issued to masters and mates of vessels and barges of 100 tons and over, carrying passengers for hire, persons holding masters’ and mates’ licenses for the vessels last described could not act on sail vessels of 700 tons and upward, except after passing successfully the examina- tion required of officers of such vessels, and having their licenses indorsed by the local inspectors to that effect. Respectfully, O. L. SPAULDING, Acting Secretary. Mr. WM. H. THORNLEY, San Francisco, Cal. ep cai gee THE steamer Lucania, which sailed from New York on Sept. 21 for Liverpool and arrived there on Sept. 27, reports having communicated for two hours with the steamer Cam- pania in midocean by means of the wireless telegraphy. Many messages are reported to have been exchanged up toa distance of 65 miles.