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of it. By the legislative appropriation act of July 31, 1894 (chap. 174, sec. 8), it was provided as follows:

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may

"The head of any executive department apply for and the Comptroller of the Treasury shall render his decision upon any question involving a payment to be made by (him) or under (him), which decision, when rendered, shall govern the Auditor and the Comptroller of the Treasury in passing upon the account containing said disbursement."

Inasmuch as the claim in question is one which can under this legislation be referred to the Comptroller of the Treasury, it is deemed inexpedient for the Attorney-General to consider it. This has been the practice adopted by this Department in similar matters since the passage of the act of July 31, 1894. (See 21 Opin., 178.)

The papers are herewith returned.

Very respectfully,

JOHN W. GRIGGS.

The SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

WAR-REVENUE ACT-EXPORT BILLS OF LADING.

The war-revenue act of June 13, 1898 (30 Stat., 459), requires the payment of a stamp tax of 1 cent, under the clause headed "Express and freight," upon bills of lading, receipts, manifests, and other similar documents issued by railroad companies for the receipt of goods to be transported by rail from any place within the United States to Canada or Mexico; but no tax is payable thereon under the clause relating to goods exported from a port or place in the United States to any foreign port or place.

In maritime jurisprudence, a "bill of lading" signifies a memorandum or acknowledgment in writing, signed by the captain or master of a ship or other vessel, that he has received in good order on board of his ship or vessel, therein named, at the place therein mentioned, certain goods therein specified, which he promises to deliver in good order, the dangers of the sea excepted, at the place therein appointed, for the delivery of the same to the consignee therein named, or to his assigns, he or they paying freight for the same.

A "charter party," in its primary meaning, was a contract for the letting of the whole or part of a ship for the conveyance of goods in consideration of the payment of freight.

The word "export," in its earliest sense, meant the carrying out of goods from one country into a foreign country by means of a ship.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

January 2, 1900. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of December 19, 1899, submitting for my opinion the following questions:

"(1) As to whether export bills of lading issued by carriers covering goods exported from the United States to Canada by railroad cars are taxable under Schedule A, act of June 13, 1898, at the rate of 10 cents for each shipment, or at the rate of 1 cent.

"(2) Whether the same ruling applicable to Canadian exports by railroad would also apply to exports by railroad from the United States to Mexico, another contiguous foreign territory."

The answer to these interrogatories depends upon the determination as to which of two clauses of the war-revenue act of 1898 governs the taxation of bills of lading for goods exported by railroads from places within the United States to Canada or Mexico. The two clauses referred to are the following:

"A. Bills of lading or receipt (other than charter party) for any goods, merchandise, or effects, to be exported from a port or place in the United States to any foreign port or place, ten cents."

"B. Express and freight: It shall be the duty of every railroad or steamboat company, carrier, express company, or corporation, or person whose occupation is to act as such, to issue to the shipper or consignor or his agent, or person from whom any goods are accepted for transportation, a bill of lading, manifest, or other evidence of receipt and forwarding for each shipment received for carriage and transportation, whether in bulk or in boxes, bales, packages, bundles, or not so enclosed or included; and there shall be duly attached and canceled, as in this act provided, to each of

said bills of lading, manifests, or other memorandum, and to each duplicate thereof, a stamp of the value of one cent," etc.

Upon a broad and general interpretation of the language of these provisions the ordinary freight receipts or bills of lading issued by railroad companies evidencing the receipt of goods to be transported from the United States to any place in Canada or Mexico would be taxable under either clause. Because, such manifests or receipts as are referred to and as are usually issued by railroad companies upon the receipt of freight for transportation are, within the broader meaning of the term, bills of lading, and therefore would be taxable under Clause A. They are also undoubtedly within the class of instruments included within Clause B. There being, therefore, a necessity of determining by legal construction which clause of the war-revenue act is intended to cover this particular kind of instruments, we must resort to the ordinary rules of interpretation and seek to discover otherwise than by a resort to the broadest and most general meaning of the words, the particular clause of the act which the will of Congress intended should apply.

Resorting, therefore, to other parts of the same act, we find the following provisions, which may be cited as tending to shed some light upon the question:

"C. Charter party: Contract or agreement for the charter of any ship, or vessel, or steamer, or any letter, memorandum, or other writing between the captain, master, or owner, or person acting as agent of any ship, or vessel, or steamer, and any other person or persons, for or relating to the charter of such ship, or vessel, or steamer, or any renewal or transfer thereof, if the registered tonnage of such ship, or vessel, or steamer, does not exceed three hundred tons, three dollars," etc.

"D. Manifest for custom-house entry or clearance of the cargo of any ship, vessel, or steamer for a foreign port, 'If the registered tonnage of such ship, vessel, or steamer does not exceed,"" etc.

"E. Passage ticket, by any vessel from a port in the United States to a foreign port, if costing not exceeding thirty dollars, one dollar," etc.

"F. Provided, That the stamp duties imposed by the foregoing schedule on manifests, bills of lading, and passage tickets shall not apply to steamboats or other vessels plying between ports of the United States and ports in British North America."

The phrase "bills of lading" and the words "port," "export," etc., are derived from the maritime law and originally related exclusively to matters connected with navigation and shipping. A bill of lading, in maritime jurisprudence, signifies a memorandum or acknowledgment in writing, signed by the captain or master of a ship or other vessel, that he has received in good order on board of his ship or vessel therein named, at the place therein mentioned, certain goods therein specified, which he promises to deliver in good order, the dangers of the sea excepted, at the place therein appointed, for the delivery of the same to the consignee therein named, or to his assigns, he or they paying freight for the same. This was the primary meaning of the term. A charter party was a contract for the letting of the whole or part of a ship for the conveyance of goods in consideration of the payment of freight. So, also, in its earliest use, the word "export" meant the carrying out of goods from one country into a foreign country by means of a ship. Modern methods of business and transportation have made the use of receipts or manifests in the nature of bills of lading applicable to transportation by carriers by land, and such receipts or manifests are now frequently described as bills of lading. In the same way, goods are now frequently exported by railroad cars as well as by vessels.

It is obvious that when the act in question refers to the subject of charter parties and fixes the tax thereon, as well as when it refers to manifests for custom-house entry or clearance of the cargo of any ship, vessel, or steamer for a foreign port, or to passage tickets by any vessel from a port in the United States to a foreign port, it is referring exclusively to matters within the realm of maritime law and is dealing only with vessels engaged in the foreign trade. In my judgment it was in the same sense that Clause A, referring to bills of lading for goods to be exported from a port or place in the United States to any foreign port or place,

was intended to be considered. This conclusion is derived from several considerations:

1. Clause B, under the title of "Express and freight," has fully and specifically covered the taxation of manifests or receipts issued for goods received for transportation by railroad companies. There can be no question but what in. every case of a shipment by rail from any point in the United States, either to another point in the United States or to a point out of the United States, the company is bound to issue a receipt under the express and freight clause and to place thereon a 1-cent stamp. In all instances where goods are received for transportation by rail in the United States some part of the carriage must be through our own territory, and certainly for that portion of the carriage a stamped receipt is necessary under Clause B. It would also seem to be necessary to hold, if Clause A is applicable to such cases, that an additional stamp of 10 cents must be placed upon the receipt or manifest in case the goods are to be transported to a place outside the United States; but unless the language of the act positively requires it, it will not be held that Congress intended to impose duplicate taxation upon this branch of business. A meaning will be sought for that will give reasonable and adequate effect to each clause, so that each can have full and complete operation within its own sphere of application. Such a result we obtain from a construction which restricts Clause A to a maritime sense as referring only to transportation by vessels in the foreign trade, exclusive of all ports of British North America.

2. The war-revenue acts of 1862 and 1864 contained a clause in precisely the same language as Clause A under consideration; nevertheless, the Treasury Department never attempted by virtue of that provision to impose a stamp tax upon railroad companies transporting goods to Canada by rail during the whole period those acts remained in force. This was not because the Department was not desirous of imposing, if possible, a revenue tax upon railroad freight. receipts; for it appears that several attempts were made by the Internal-Revenue Office to subject such receipts to taxation under other clauses of the acts of 1862 and 1864, though unsuccessfully. The fact that during the whole

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