No. 440.
Mr. Evarts to Mr. Lowell.

No. 98.]

Sir: On receipt of your dispatch No. 110, of the 30th ultimo, in relation to the return to Madrid of certain packages of La Ilustracion Española? and “La Moda Elegante,” which has been sent by mail to the United States, on account of non-payment of the duties thereon, inquiry on the subject was made of the Postmaster-General.

His reply, dated 20th instant, states that the packages, being regarded as dutiable, were returned in conformity with the construction given to the postal-union treaty by the international bureau at Berne, to the effect that duties may not be collected upon dutiable matter sent by mail within the limits of the union.

A copy of the letter of the Post-Office Department, with its accompanying circular, explanatory of the rules adopted in the matter, is herewith transmitted for your information.

I am, &c.,

WM. M. EVARTS.
[Page 933]
[Inclosure in No. 98.]
No. 47322.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th instant, inclosing a copy of a dispatch, dated the 30th ultimo, from the minister of the United States in Spain relative to the return to that country of certain packages containing dutiable matter sent by mail to the United States, and to inform you, in reply, that as the general postal-union treaty, under the provisions of which all postal exchanges between this country and Spain are conducted, stipulates that any article whatever liable to custom duties shall not be admitted for conveyance by the post, such articles received by mail from postal-union countries as are pronounced by the customs officers to be subject to duty in the United States, are returned as undeliverable matter to the country of origin.

This practice is based upon a construction by the international bureau at Berne that the provisions of the treaty do not authorize the collection of customs duties on articles sent by mail within the limits of the postal union, and that the postal administrations which cannot deliver such articles sent to them from postal-union countries, are required to return them immediately, through the respective offices of exchange.

Under our customs-revenue laws the only books which are absolutely free of duty are those which have been printed and manufactured more than twenty years, and pamphlets, periodicals, and other like publications for the personal use of the party to whom they are addressed; and the regulations of the Treasury Department provide for the free admission through the mails, in the discretion of the collector of customs, of books valued at less than one dollar, and of photographs, in limited numbers, of private individuals for their own use or for distribution to relatives or personal friends.

The illustrated periodicals referred to by Mr. Lowell in his dispatch were, no doubt, pronounced by the customs officers detailed to inspect the foreign mails received at New York to be subject to duty, and were for that reason returned to the country of origin.

The order of the Treasury Department directing the admission through, the mails free of duty of packages of periodicals not exceeding the weight of 1,000 grams (2 pounds 3 ounces), which Mr. Lowell mentions as having read an American newspaper, was issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, under date of June 18, 1878, in consequence of complaints made to this department, that customs officers at New York were returning to countries of origin, as subject to duty, all newspaper’s and periodicals received in the mails from abroad; and the subsequent instruction from the Treasury Department, published in a circular issued from this department on the 5th instant, a copy of which is herewith inclosed, resulted from further efforts by this department to obtain from the Treasury some fixed rule defining clearly the limits within which the discretionary power of customs officers would be exercised in remitting duties on articles valued at not, more than one dollar. It was deemed important for the information of the public that the Treasury regulations should specify what books, periodicals, &c., not exceeding the value of one dollar, would be permitted to pass in the mails free of duty; but as all books, periodicals, &c., printed and manufactured less than twenty years are by our revenue laws subject to duty, the Secretary of the Treasury did not feel warranted in issuing any more definite regulations on the subject than those contained in his letters published in the inclosed circular, which authorizes the delivery through the mails free of duty, of unsealed packages of newspapers and periodicals not exceeding in weight 1,000 grams, when intended mainly for the personal use of the party to whom they are addressed, and when not sent as merchandise for trade and profit, and which also states that it may be presumed that the discretionary power of customs officers, to remit duties on books not exceeding one dollar in value, will not be exercised in regard to books except in the case of single copies of books transmitted through the mail for the use of private persons, sent in good faith for that purpose.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAS. N. TYNER,
Acting Postmaster-General.
[Inclosure in Mr. Tyner’s letter.]

[Official.]

In order that postmasters and the public may be fully informed relative to the regulations and instructions issued by the Treasury Department for the treatment by collectors of customs of dutiable books, newspapers, &c., imported in the mails from [Page 934] foreign countries, copies of the following documents are, by direction of the Postmaster-General, annexed hereto, viz:

1.
Treasury circular No. 61, relative to newspapers imported through the mails.
2.
Letter from the Acting Secretary of the Treasury to the Postmaster General, dated August 28, 1878, inclosing copy of letter addressed to the collector of customs at New York, under date of August 24, 1878, prescribing limitations under which importations of dutiable books and newspapers may be made through the mails.
3.
Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Postmaster-General, dated September 2, 1878, in explanation of the Treasury rules which permit custom officers to exercise a discretion as to admitting free of duty any articles of merchandise which have not a dutiable value of over one dollar.

It should also be stated that, as any article whatever subject to customs duties is by the provisions of the general postal union treaty declared to be unmailable, any unsealed packet received from countries of the postal union, which is pronounced by officers of the customs to be subject to customs duties, is returned immediately to the country of origin through the post-offices of exchange.

JOSEPH H. BLACKFAN,
Superintendent.