No. 1.
To the consular officers of the United States
in Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Austria, and
Germany.
Washington, March 18, 1878.
Gentlemen: The Secretary of the Treasury has represented to the Department, in a letter dated the 12th instant, the desirability of supplying the appraisers at the principal custom-houses in the United States, promptly and regularly, with trustworthy information respecting the prices of the productions of your several districts. It is stated that of some classes of staple goods no sales are made in the foreign markets to merchants in this country, but that all such goods are consigned by the foreign manufacturers to their agents in the United States for sale; and that in such cases, where the goods pay an ad-valorem duty, it is believed to be the practice to invoice them below the true market value abroad. This mode of consignment, instead of actual sale, is reported to be increasing annually, and the revenue is defrauded of large sums by manufacturers who thus escape the payment of the lawful duties, and at the same time inflict serious injury upon American industries.
To obviate, in some measure, these difficulties, it is recommended that the consular officers at the principal commercial centers of Europe should be instructed to transmit, at least twice a month, directly to the appraisers at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, San Francisco, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Saint Louis, or to such ports as receive the bulk of the goods invoiced at their several offices, and also, through this Department, to the Treasury Department, a statement showing the prices at which actual sales are made to other countries of the leading articles of export to the United States, without regard to the values stated in the invoices that pass through the consulate. If printed prices-current can be obtained, they should also be sent to the appraisers, and, if not, the information should be sought from the best sources available. In the case of staple goods, such as black silks, ribbons, velvets, gloves, woolens, &c., it is desirable that the statements should embrace full information respecting the value of raw materials, the cost of labor, and the whole cost of manufacture.
In approving these recommendations and suggestions, the Department takes occasion to enjoin upon you a careful attention to them, and that full and painstaking compliance with them which the importance of the subject is deemed to demand.
I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant,
Assistant Secretary.