be upon the value of
the article at the place of shipment, or, where it is practicable,
a specific duty, graduated according to quantity, as ascertained by
weight or measure. All our duties are at present _ad valorem_. A
certain percentage is levied on the price of the goods at the port
of shipment in a foreign country. Most commercial nations have found it
indispensable, for the purpose of preventing fraud and perjury, to make
the duties specific whenever the article is of such a uniform value in
weight or measure as to justify such a duty. Legislation should never
encourage dishonesty or crime. It is impossible that the revenue
officers at the port where the goods are entered and the duties paid
should know with certainty what they cost in the foreign country. Yet
the law requires that they should levy the duty according to such cost.
They are therefore compelled to resort to very unsatisfactory evidence
to ascertain what that cost was. They take the invoice of the importer,
attested by his oath, as the best evidence of which the nature of the
case admits. But everyone must see that the invoice may be fabricated
and the oath by which it is supported false, by reason of which the
dishonest importer pays a part only of the duties which are paid by the
honest one, and thus indirectly receives from the Treasury of the United
States a reward for his fraud and perjury. The reports of the Secretary
of the Treasury heretofore made on this subject show conclusively that
these frauds have been practiced to a great extent. The tendency is to
destroy that high moral character for which our merchants have long been
distinguished, to defraud the Government of its revenue, to break down
the honest importer by a dishonest competition, and, finally, to
transfer the business of importation to foreign and irresponsible
agents, to the great detriment of our own citizens. I therefore again
most earnestly recommend the adoption of specific duties wherever it
is practicable, or a home valuation, to prevent these frauds.

I would also again call your attention to the fact that the present
tariff in some cases imposes a higher duty upon the raw material
imported than upon the article manufactured from it, the consequence of
which is that the duty operates to the encouragement of the foreigner
and the discouragement of our own citizens.

For full and detailed information in regard to the general condition
of our Indian affairs, I respectfully