CHAPTER X.

SOME IMPORTANT POWERS OF CONGRESS.

I. NATIONAL FINANCES.

The Power of Taxation.—­When we speak of the finances of a country, we mean its revenues and expenditures.  Revenues have their origin chiefly[20] in taxation, and the power vested in Congress by virtue of which taxes are imposed and collected is found in the following clause: 

Article I, Section 8, Clause 1. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.

[Footnote 20:  Considerable sums are derived by our National government from the sale of public lands.  See Chapter on Territories and Public Lands.]

Duties on Imports.—­The two forms of taxes relied upon by the United States for its revenues are (1) duties and (2) excises.[21] A duty is a tax levied upon goods that are imported into the United States.[22] The merchant doing business in New York, for example, cannot obtain possession of the goods he has imported until the officers of the custom-house at that port have examined the invoice, or the list of articles in each package, with their prices; and the officers may examine the goods, also, to see if they correspond in amount and quality to the statements of the invoice.  The importer then pays to the collector of the port of New York the amount of the duty levied on his importation.

[Footnote 21:  The terms duties and imposts have nearly the same meaning.]

[Footnote 22:  Duties on exports are prohibited in Section 9, Clause 5, of Article I:  No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State.]

Kinds of Duties.—­These are of two kinds. (1) Specific duties are fixed amounts levied on certain units of measurement of commodities, as the pound, yard, or gallon.  Under the tariff law of 1909 the duty on tin-plate was one and two-tenths cents for each pound. (2) Ad valorem duties are levied at a certain rate per cent on the value of the articles taxed.  The law of 1909 laid a duty of 60 per cent on lace manufactures.

     On some articles both kinds of duties are levied.  Under the law
     just mentioned, the duties on carpets and rugs were 10 cents per
     square foot and 40 per cent ad valorem in addition.

Passengers on steamships coming from foreign countries are required to declare what dutiable goods they have among their baggage, each person being allowed to enter $100 worth of goods free of duty.  Upon landing, their baggage is examined; trunks and valises are opened, and in suspected cases the persons of travelers are searched for concealed dutiable goods.  The temptation to undervaluation and to smuggling, in order to escape