164 
WAREHOUSES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 
the warehouse, the fees for which storage are much lower and lhe 
facilities for handling goods much better than at the warehouse of 
the custom-house proper. A list of articles permitted to be stored 
and the charges for their storage is appended herewith.® Nothing 
can be removed from the bonded section except in the presence of the 
inspector designated to assess duties and supervise the removal of 
merchandise. 
The two warehouses in which the State allows merchandise in 
transit in bond to be stored are very old buildings, situated on the 
water front and having piers extending out sufficiently to allow 
lighters and small craft to go alongside. According to the State 
regulations a warehouse to be bonded must make a petition to and 
be recognized as such by the State treasury. There is further 
required the entry in a book of the number, weight, and marks of all 
merchandise entering and departing from the warehouse. This book 
has been paged and initialed by an official appointed for such service. 
The State levies a tax on all exports, and in order that merchan 
dise originating in other States and coming here in transit for ship 
ment shall be tree from this tax it is necessary that documents from 
the point of origin showing quantity, weight, and marks be pre 
sented ; that the merchandise be stored in one of these two ware 
houses until ready for shipment, and that an inspector of the State 
custom-house verify the merchandise at the warehouse at the time 
of embarkation. 
About the only articles that come to Bahia in bond for export are 
rubber, hides, and skins. These are simply stored until ready for 
shipment, as any manipulation whereby quality is improved would 
subject the merchandise to the State tax collected on “ products of 
other States benefited while in Bahia.” 
There is no separate portion in these warehouses for merchandise 
in transit, which in reality is not bonded and does not need to be, as 
it can not leave here until it has either paid duty or passed State 
inspection, though I understand that the law is to be amended so as 
to require separate compartments and guards for such merchandise. 
It is impossible to ascertain the cost of the Federal warehouse, 
which is the newest; the others are very old, have been added to or 
altered from time to time, and most of them would need to be almost 
rebuilt to be put in first-class condition. It is impossible also to form 
any idea of the receipts and expenditures, as the warehouses are oper 
ated by private concerns which would refuse to divulge their business. 
All nationalities are treated alike in these warehouses, and in the 
State warehouses the American firms, who are the largest exporters 
of transit merchandise (hides, skins, and rubber), fare like the rest. 
II. W. Fukniss, Consul. 
Bahia, Brazil, August 26, 1904. 
SANTOS. 
(From United States Consul Johnson, Santos, Tira~il.) 
There are no warehouses for storage of merchandise in transit or 
in bond at this port. All goods imported at Santos pass from the 
« On file in the Bureau of Statistics. Department of Commerce and Labor.