Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 13.djvu/271



of the said particulars shall forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred dollars, to be recovered with costs of suit.

. And be it further enacted, That in addition to the duties payable for licenses herein provided, there shall be levied, collected, and paid on all spirits that may be distilled and sold, or distilled and removed for consumption or sale, of first proof, on and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and prior to the first day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, a duty of one dollar and fifty cents on each and every gallon; and on and after February first, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, a duty of two dollars on each and every gallon. And all spirits which may be in the possession of the distiller, or in public store or bonded warehouse, on either the first day of July or February aforesaid, no duty having been paid thereon, shall be held and treated as if distilled on those days respectively, and said duty shall be paid by the owner, agent, or superintendent of the still or other vessel in which the said spirits shall have been distilled, within five days after the time of rendering the accounts of spirits so chargeable with duty, required to be rendered by law. And the said duties shall be a lien on the distillery used for distilling the same, with the stills, vessels, fixtures, and tools therein, and on the lot or tract of land whereon the said distillery is situated, until the said duty shall be paid: Provided, That the duty on all spirits shall be collected at no lower rate than the basis of first proof, and shall be increased in proportion for any greater strength than the strength of first proof: Provided, further, That any person who shall distil spirits and use the same in the manufacture of any other article, without having taken out a license and paid such duties as are prescribed by law in relation thereto, shall, in addition to all other penalties and forfeitures, be liable to pay one hundred per centum additional duties thereon.

. And be it further enacted, That the term first proof used in this act and in the laws of the United States shall be construed, and is hereby declared to mean, that proof of a liquor which corresponds to fifty degrees of Tralle's centesimal hydrometer, adopted by regulation of the Treasury Department, of August twelfth, eighteen hundred and fifty, at the temperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit's thermometer. And in levying duties on liquors above and below proof, the table contained in the manual for inspectors of spirits, prepared by Professor McCulloch, under the superintendency of Professor Bache, and adopted by the Treasury Department, shall be used and taken as giving the proportions of absolute alcohol in the liquids gauged and proved according to which duties shall be levied, until otherwise ordered by the Secretary of the Treasury, who is hereby authorized to adopt such hydrometers and prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to insure a uniform system of inspection and gauging of spirits subject to duties throughout the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That every person who shall be the owner of any still, boiler, or other vessel, used, or intended to be used, for the purpose of distilling spirituous liquors, as hereinbefore provided, or who shall have such still, boiler, or other vessel under his superintendence, either as agent for the owner or on his own account; and every person who shall use any still, boiler, or other vessel, as aforesaid, either as owner, agent, or otherwise, shall, from day to day, make true and exact entry, or cause to be entered in a book to be kept for that purpose, the number of gallons of spirits distilled, and also the number of gallons placed in warehouse, and also the number sold, or removed for consumption or sale, and the proof thereof; which book shall always be open in the daytime, (Sundays excepted,) for the inspection of the said assessor, assistant assessor, collector, deputy collector, or inspector, who may take any minutes, memorandums, or transcripts thereof; and shall render to said assessor or assistant assessor, on the first, eleventh, and twenty-first