Nathan Clifford

“ By the true construction of the act, therefore, every collector is required to include in his quarter-yearly account, as directed in the first part of the section, all sums received by him for rent and storage of goods, wares, and merchandise, stored in the public stores, for which rent is paid beyond the rents paid by him as collector; and if, from such accounting, the aggregate sums received from that source exceed two thousand dollars, he is directed and required to pay the excess into the Treasury, as part and parcel of the public money. ”

“ To suppose that the new maximum applies to the collectors of the non-enumerated ports, would be to impute an absurdity to the act, for the reason, that under no possible state of things can such collectors lawfully retain, hold, or receive, more than five thousand dollars as their annual salary or compensation, from all the sources of emolument recognised and prescribed by the two acts. It may be five thousand dollars, or it may be much less than three thousand dollars, according to the state of the importations and the amount received from rent and storage. ”

“ One of those regulations was, that whenever the emoluments of any collector, for seven enumerated ports, after deducting the necessary expenses incident to the office, should exceed four thousand dollars, the excess should be paid into the Treasury, for the use of the United States. By the tenth section, it was also provided, that whenever the emoluments of any other collector of the customs should exceed three thousand dollars, after deducting such expenses, the excess should be paid into the Treasury, for the same purpose. ”