If the circumstances should warrant such a course, the authority which
withholds such privileges from any of the places mentioned in the law of
1880 can confer the same without the aid of a new statute. This position
is sustained by an opinion of the Attorney-General, dated in February,
1885.
If the legislation now proposed should become operative, the privileges
extended to the city of Omaha would still be subject to the proviso
attached to the seventh section of the law of 1880, and such newly
granted privileges would be liable to immediate withdrawal by the
Secretary of the Treasury.
Thus, if the design of this bill is to restore to the city named the
privileges permitted by the law of 1880, it seems to be entirely
unnecessary, since the power of such restoration is now fully vested
in the Treasury Department. If the object sought is to bestow such
privileges entirely free from the operation of the proviso above
recited, the language of the bill does not accomplish that result.
I understand that the Government has not now at Omaha "the necessary
officers for the appraisement of merchandise and the collection of
duties," which by such proviso are necessary in order to secure to any
place the advantages of immediate transportation. In the absence of such
officers the proposed legislation would be nugatory and inoperative.