bristles, regulus of anatomy, unwrought clay, unwrought buhrstones and the bark of the cork tree.

MARCH 4, 1808.

An act to allow the importation of old copper, saltpetre and sulphur free of duty.

JULY 1, 1812.

An act "for imposing additional duties upon all goods, wares and merchandise imported from any foreign port or place, and for other purposes." This act increased the duties one hundred per cent.; also an additional duty of ten per cent. on goods imported in foreign vessels.

FEBRUARY 25, 1813.

An act to impose a duty on the importation of iron wire.

JULY 29, 1813.

An act laying a duty on imported salt, granting a bounty on pickled fish exported and allowances to certain vessels employed in the isheries.

FEBRUARY 5, 1816.

An act to continue in force the act of July 1, 1812, and for other (urposes. This act also imposed an added duty of forty-two per cent. after June 30, 1816, until a new tariff of duties should be established by law.

FEBRUARY 9, 1816.

An act to continue in force the act of July 29, 1813.

APRIL 27, 1816.

An act to regulate the duties on imports and tonnage.

APRIL 20, 1818.

An act to increase the duties on iron in bars and bolts, iron in pigs, castings, nails and alum.

MARCH 3, 1819.

An act to regulate the duties on certain wines.

MAY 22, 1824.

An act to amend the several acts imposing duties on imports.

MAY 19, 1828.

An act in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports.

MAY 20, 1830.

An act to reduce the duties on coffee, tea and cocoa.

MAY 29, 1830.

An act to reduce the duty on molasses and to allow a drawback on spirits distilled from foreign materials. Also an act to reduce the duty on salt.

JULY 14, 1832.

An act to alter and amend the several acts imposing duties on imports.

MARCH 2, 1833.

An act "to modify the act of the fourteenth of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and all other acts imposing duties on imports." This great and important measure, commonly called the Compromise act, provided: "That from and after the thirtyfirst day of December, 1833, in all cases where duties are imposed on foreign imports by the act of the fourteenth day of July, 1832, or by any other act, shall exceed twenty per centum on the value thereof, one-tenth part of such excess shall be deducted; from and after the thirty-first day of December, 1835, another tenth part thereof shall be deducted; from and after the thirty-first day of December, 1837, another tenth part thereof shall be deducted; from and after the thirty-first day of December, 1839, another tenth part thereof shall be deducted; and from and after the thirty-first day of December, 1841, one-half of the residue of such excess shall be deducted; and from and after the thirtieth day of June, 1842, the other half thereof shall be deducted."

SEPTEMBER 11, 1841.

An act relating to duties and drawbacks.

AUGUST 30, 1842.

An act "to provide revenue from imports, and to change and modify existing laws imposing duties on imports, and for other purposes."

JULY 30, 1846.

An act reducing the duty on imports and for other purposes.

MARCH 3, 1857.

An act reducing the duty on imports and for other purposes.

MARCH 2, 1861.

An act to provide for the payment of outstanding treasury notes, to authorize a loan, to regulate and fix the duties on imports and for other purposes.

AUGUST 5, 1861.

An act "to provide increased revenue from imports, to pay interest on the public debt and for other purposes." This act, which levied a direct tax on the states and territories, provided, also, for an income tax, believed to be the first ever levied by the United States government. The tax was three per cent. per annum on the excess of income over eight hundred dollars.

DECEMBER 24, 1861.

An act to increase the duties on tea, coffee and sugar.

JULY 14, 1862.

An act "increasing, temporarily, the duties on imports and for other purposes.'

MARCH 13, 1863.

An act "to modify existing laws, imposing duties on imports and for other purposes.

JUNE 30, 1864.

An act to increase duties on imports and for other purposes.

MARCH 3, 1865.

An act "amendatory of certain acts imposing duties upon foreign importations."

JULY 28, 1866.

An act to protect the revenue and for other purposes.

MARCH 2, 1867.

An act to provide revenue from imported wool and for other purposes.

FEBRUARY 3, 1868.

An act "to provide for the exemption of cotton from internal tax.” This act also provided that cotton imported from foreign countries on and after November 1, 1868, should be exempt from duty.

FEBRUARY 24, 1869.

An act regulating the duties on imported copper and copper ores.

JULY 14, 1870.

An act "to reduce internal taxes and for other purposes." This duties on numerous articles named, and also

act also reduced the

increased the free list.

MAY 1, 1872.

An act repealing the duty on tea and coffee.

JUNE 6, 1872.

An act "to reduce duties on imports, and to reduce internal taxes, and for other purposes."

MARCH 3, 1873.

An act to amend the act of June 6, 1872.

FEBRUARY 8, 1875.

An act to amend existing customs and internal revenue laws and for other purposes.

MARCH 3, 1875.

An act "to further protect the sinking fund, and provide for the exigencies of the government." This act increased the duties on imported molasses, sugars, etc.

JULY 1, 1879.

An act to put salts of quinine and sulphate of quinine on the free list.

MARCH 3, 1883.

An act to reduce internal revenue taxation and for other purposes.

OCTOBER 1, 1890.

An act to reduce the revenue and equalize duties on imports, and for other purposes. Popularly known as the "McKinley Bill."

AUGUST 15, 1894.

An act to reduce taxation, to provide revenue for the government and other purposes. Popularly known as the "Wilson Bill."

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG.

WHI

HILE the American colonies were yet a part of the British empire, it was but natural that the standard under which their militia moved, and that floated over their public places, was that of Great Britain, and, although minor modifications were at times made, the retention of the "union," with its two crosses of St. Andrew and St. George, marked all of them as essentially British. Yet all through the colonial period the real looseness of the tie between the colonies and the mother country was marked by a growing disposition to the use of individual colonial flags. The Connecticut troops in 1775 had their own standard, with the colony's motto, "Qui transtulit sustinet." The standard of New York was marked by a black bearer; but probably all had the British "union" in some form, since the colonists at first claimed to be loyal subjects of the king, resisting only the usurpations of parliament and the ministry. It is not certain whether there was any flag in the American lines at Bunker Hill, and certainly none was captured by the British. One tradition is that there was a red flag bearing the legend, "Come if you dare:" another that the legend was, "An appeal to heaven;" and another that the flag was blue with a white union, containing the upright red cross and the pine tree. When hostilities had actually broken out, congress had so many pressing things to think of that it made no effort to fix upon a National standard, and the growth of our flag may be regarded rather as a matter of natural evolution than set design. At first the captains of privateers and the military commanders-general followed their own fancy in the use of a flag, or adopted that in use by their own state. The results may be divided into two classes-"pine tree flags" and "rattlesnake flags," the former belonging rather to New England, while the latter had some approach