Sec. 15. Sec. 17. Sec. 18. June 22, 1874. It shall be the duty of any officer or person employed in the customs-revenue service of the United States, upon detection of any violation of the customs laws, forthwith to make complaint thereof to the collector of the district, whose duty it shall be promptly to report the same to the district attorney of the district in which such frauds shall be committed. Immediately upon the receipt of such complaint, if, in his judgment, it can be sustained, it shall be the duty of such district attorney to cause investigation into the facts to be made before a United States commissioner having jurisdiction thereof, and to initiate proper proceedings to recover the fines and penalties in the premises, and to prosecute the same with the utmost diligence to final judgment. Whenever, for an alleged violation of the customsrevenue laws, any person who shall be charged with having incurred any fine, penalty, forfeiture, or disability other than imprisonment, or shall be interested in any vessel or merchandise seized or subject to seizure, when the appraised value of such vessel or merchandise is not less than one thousand dollars, shall present his petition to the judge of the district in which the alleged violation occurred, or in which the property is situated, setting forth, truly and particularly, the facts and circumstances of the case, and praying for relief, such judge shall, if the case, in his judgment, requires, proceed to inquire, in a summary manner into the circumstances of the case, at such reasonable time as may be fixed by him for that purpose, of which the district attorney and the collector shall be notified by the petitioner, in order that they may attend and show cause why the petition should be refused. The summary investigation hereby provided for may be held before the judge to whom the petition is presented, or if he shall so direct, before any United States commissioner for such district, and the facts appearing thereon shall be stated and annexed to the petition, and, together with a certified copy of the evidence, transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall thereupon have power to mitigate or remit such fine, penalty, or forfeiture, or remove such disability, or any part thereof, if, in his opinion, the same shall have been incurred without willful negli gence or any intention of fraud in the person or persons incurring the same, and to direct the prosecution, if any shall have been instituted for the recovery thereof, to cease and be discontinued upon such terms or conditions as he may deem reasonable and just. It shall not be lawful for any officer or officers of the United States to compromise or abate any claim of the United States arising under the customs laws, for any fine, penalty, or forfeiture incurred by a violation thereof; and any officer or person who shall so compromise or abate any such claim, or attempt to make such compromise or abate ment, or in any manner relieve or attempt to relieve from such fine, penalty, or forfeiture, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall suffer imprisonment not exceeding ten years, and be fined not exceeding ten thousand dollars. Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect any Jan. 22, 1875. authority, power, or right which might theretofore have been lawfully exercised by any court, judge, or district attorney of the United States to obtain the testimony of an accomplice in any crime against, or fraud upon the customs-revenue laws, on any trial or proceeding for a fine, penalty, or forfeiture under said laws, by a discontinuance or dismissal, or by an engagement to discontinue or dismiss any proceedings against such accomplice. Provided, however, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall have power to remit any fines, penalties, or forfeitures, or to compromise the same, in accordance with existing law. June 22, 1874. Sec. 19. Whenever any application shall be made to the Secretary Sec. 20. of the Treasury for the mitigation or remission of any fine, penalty, or forfeiture, or the refund of any duties, in case the amount involved is not less than one thousand dollars, the applicant shall notify the district attorney and the collector of customs of the district in which the duties, fine, penalty, or forfeiture accrued; and it shall be the duty of such collector and district attorney to furnish to the Secretary of the Treasury all practicable information necessary to enable him to protect the interests of the United States. 187. Limitation of time. Whenever any goods, wares, and merchandise shall have been entered and passed free of duty, and whenever duties upon any imported goods, wares, and merchandise shall have been liquidated and paid, and such goods, wares, and merchandise shall have been delivered to the owner, importer, agent, or consignee, such entry and passage free of duty and such settlement of duties shall, after the expiration of one year from the time of entry, in the absence of fraud and in the absence of protest by the owner, importer, agent, or consignee, be final and conclusive upon all parties. June 22, 1874. Sec. 21. No suit or action to recover any pecuniary penalty or Sec. 22. forfeiture of property accruing under the customs revenue laws of the United States shall be instituted unless such suit or action shall be commenced within three years after the time when such penalty or forfeiture shall have accrued: Provided, That the time of the absence from the United States of the person subject to such penalty or forfeiture, or of any concealment or absence of the property, shall not be reckoned within this period of limitation. June 22, 1874. Sec. 25. R. S., 3094. 188. Bonded warehouses. The Secretary of the Treasury shall, from time to time, make such regulations as he may deem necessary for the conduct and management of the bonded warehouses, gen eral-order stores, and other depositories of the imported merchandise throughout the United States; all regulations or orders issued by collectors of customs in regard thereto shall be subject to revision, alteration, or revocation by him; and no warehouse shall be bonded and no generalorder store established without his authority and approval. And it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, in granting permits to establish general-order warehouses, to require such warehouse or warehouses to be located contiguous, or as near as may be, to the landing places of steamers and vessels from foreign ports; and no officer of the customs shall have any personal ownership of, or interest in, any bonded warehouse or general-order store. Public cartage of merchandise in the custody of the Government shall be let after not less than thirty days' notice of such letting to lowest responsible bidder giving sufficient security, and shall be subject to regulations approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. 189. Oaths of masters and owners, Nothing contained in this Title [R. S., 2517-3094] shall be construed to exempt the masters or owners of vessels from making and subscribing any oaths required by any laws of the United States not immediately relating to the collection of the duties on the importation of merchandise into the United States. PART XV.-ENTRY OF MERCHANDISE. 215. Entry of merchandise for different port of destination. 216. Comparison of cargo and manifest. 217. Collection of duties. 218. Permit to deliver. 219. Preliminary entry and unlading. 220. Illegal unlading. 221. Special permit to unlade by night. 223. Supervision of unlading. 225. Weighing, gauging, and measuring. 228. Returns of unlading of cargo. 231. Unlawful removal of bonded mer- 232. Transportation in bond. 233. Transportation to special ports. 234. Immediate delivery. 235. Immediate transportation. 236. Salvage of merchandise. 239. Fraudulent importation of mer- 240. Bribery and solicitation of bribes. 241. Express packages. 242. Liens for freight or general average. The word "merchandise," as used in this Title [R. S., R. S., 2766. 2517-3129], may include goods, wares, and chattels of every description capable of being imported. The word "port," as used in this Title [R. S., 2517-3129], R.S., 2767. may include any place from which merchandise can be shipped for importation, or at which merchandise can be imported. The word "master," as used in this Title [R. S., 2517- R. S., 2768. 3129], may include any person having the chief charge or command of the employment and navigation of a vessel. In cases where the forms of official documents, as prescribed by this Title [R. S., 2517-3129], shall be substantially complied with and observed, according to the true R. S., 2769. R. S., 2770. R. S., 2771. R. S., 2772. R. S., 2774. intent thereof, no penalty or forfeiture shall be incurred by a deviation therefrom. 191. Ports of entry. It shall not be lawful to make entry of any vessel which shall arrive within the United States, from any foreign port, or of the cargo on board such vessel, elsewhere than at one of the ports of entry designated in chapter one [R. S., 2517-2612] of this Title [R. S., 2517-3129]; nor to unlade the cargo, or any part thereof, elsewhere than at one of the ports of delivery therein designated, except that every port of entry shall be also a port of delivery. This section shall not prevent the master or commander of any vessel from making entry with the collector of any district in which such vessel may be owned, or from which she may have sailed on the voyage from which she shall then have returned. [For list of ports of entry and delivery see paragraph 458.] Vessels which are not vessels of the United States shall be admitted to unlade only at ports of entry established by law; and no such vessel shall be admitted to make entry in any other district than in the one in which she shall be admitted to unlade. 192. Vessels bound to port of delivery. The master of every vessel bound to a port of delivery only, in any district, shall first come to at the port of entry of such district, with his vessel, and there make report and entry in writing, and pay all duties required by law, port fees and charges, before such vessel shall proceed to her port of delivery. Any master of a vessel who shall proceed to a port of delivery contrary to such directions shall be liable to a penalty of five hundred dollars, to be recovered with costs of suit. 193. Report and declaration of master. Within twenty-four hours after the arrival of any vessel, from any foreign port, at any port of the United States established by law, at which an officer of the customs resides, or within any harbor, inlet, or creek thereof, if the hours of business at the office of the chief officer of the customs at such port will permit, or as soon thereafter as such hours will permit, the master shall repair to such office, and make report to the chief officer, of the arrival of the vessel; and he shall, within forty-eight hours after such arrival, make a further report in writing, to the collector of the district, which report shall be in the form, and shall contain all the particulars required to be inserted in, and verified like, a manifest. Every master who shall neglect or omit to make either of such reports and declarations, or to verify any such declaration as required, or shall not fully comply with the true intent and meaning of this |