10. The United States Secret Service is analyzing the redemption procedures of fraudulently altered United States paper money and coins. Possible elimination of procedures in the Counterfeit Forgery Section will reduce paperwork throughout the Service.

11. The Office of the Treasurer of the United States is programming for higher speed electronic equipment. They plan to install IBM 705 Model 3 in the Check Payment and Reconciliation Division during the second quarter of fiscal 1960 to replace the present system.

Bureau of the Comptroller of the Currency

The Bureau of the Comptroller of the Currency is responsible for the execution of laws relating to the supervision of national banking associations. Duties of the office include those incident to the formation and chartering of new national banking associations, the examination of all national banks, the establishment of branch banks, the consolidation of banks, the conversion of State banks into national banks, recapitalization programs, and the issuance of Federal Reserve notes.

Changes in the condition of active national banks

The total assets of the 4,606 active national banks in the United States and possessions on June 23, 1958, amounted to $122,469 million, as compared with the total assets of 4,654 banks amounting to $112,792 million on June 6, 1957, an increase of $9,677 million during the year. The deposits of the banks in 1958 totaled $110,407 million, which was $9,112 million more than in 1957. The loans in 1958 were $50,902 million, exceeding the 1957 figure by $2,342 million. Securities held totaled $45,286 million, an increase of $5,676 million during the year. Capital funds of $9,476 million were $732 million more than in the preceding year.

1 More detailed information concerning the Bureau of the Comptroller of the Currency is contained in the separate annual report of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Abstract of reports of condition of active national banks on the date of each report from June 6, 1957, to June 23, 1958

Total liabilities and capital accounts. 112, 791, 970 116, 487, 862 120, 522, 640 117, 242, 136

9,475, 654

122, 468, 815

Summary of changes in number and capital stock of national banks

The authorized capital stock of the 4,602 national banks in existence on June 30, 1958, consisted of common stock aggregating $2,870 million, and preferred stock aggregating $3.5 million. The common stock of the 4,647 national banks in existence a year earlier amounted to $2,709 million and preferred stock to $3.8 million. During the year charters were issued to 20 national banks having an aggregate of $6.5 million of common stock. There was a net decrease of 45 in the number of national banks in the system by reason of voluntary liquidations, statutory consolidations and mergers, conversions to and mergers or consolidations with State banks under the provisions of the act of August 17, 1950 (12 U. S. C. 214), and one receivership. More detailed information regarding the changes in the number and capital stock of national banks in the fiscal year 1958 is shown in the following table.

Organizations, capital stock changes, and liquidations of national banks, fiscal year

The Bureau of Customs is responsible for the assessment and collection of duties and taxes on imported merchandise and baggage; prevention of smuggling, undervaluations, and frauds on the customs revenue; apprehension of violators of the customs and navigation laws; entry and clearance of vessels and aircraft; issuance of documents and signal letters to vessels of the United States; admeasurement of vessels;

collection of tonnage taxes on vessels engaged in foreign commerce; supervision of the discharge of imported cargoes; inspection of international traffic; control of the customs warehousing of imports; determination and certification for payment of the amount of drawback due upon the exportation of articles produced from duty-paid or taxpaid imports; enforcement of the antidumping and export control acts; regulation of the movement of merchandise into and out of foreign trade zones; and enforcement of the laws and regulations of other Government agencies affecting imports and exports.

Collections

Revenue collected by the Customs Service during the fiscal year 1958 totaled nearly $1,122 million, the largest in history. Compared with $1,059 million collected in 1957, there was an increase of nearly 6 percent. In addition to customs collections the total included certain internal revenue taxes for the Internal Revenue Service and some collections for other Government agencies.

Customs collections alone amounted to almost $806 million, an increase of 5.9 percent over the $761 million collected in 1957. They consisted of duties, tonnage taxes, fees, and fines and penalties for the violation of customs and navigation laws, etc. There was again a substantial increase in collections by Customs of internal revenue taxes on imported liquors, wines, perfumes, etc., which amounted to $316 million, 6 percent more than the $298 million collected in 1957. Of the customs collections more than $799 million were derived from duties (including import taxes) levied on imported merchandise. The source of duty collections by type of entry is shown in table 88. The tables showing collections by tariff schedules and countries and values of dutiable imports which are usually included in this report (tables 86 through 90 in the 1957 report) are omitted this year because of technical difficulties. It is expected that they will be published in the next Annual Report.

In 1958 considerably less than one-half of all imports into the United States were duty free and included some commodities imported free for Government stockpile purposes or authorized by special acts of Congress for free entry although dutiable under the Tariff Act of 1930, or taxable under the Internal Revenue Code such as copper and iron and steel scrap. The 55 percent which was dutiable constituted the basis of customs duties on imports.

Collections of customs duties were at a higher level during each month of this fiscal year than at any time in customs history.

By customs districts. Of the 45 customs districts in which collections are covered into the Treasury of the United States, all but 11 reported larger customs collections than in 1957. The collections for each customs district are shown in table 89.

Extent of operations

Vehicles and persons entering.-More than 39 million vessels, aircraft, automobiles, buses, trains, and other vehicles entered our harbors or crossed our borders during the fiscal year 1958, bringing over 137%1⁄2 million persons, and more than 26 million persons walked across our borders. All were subject to customs inspection.

The number of various types of vehicles and the number of persons entering the United States during 1957 and 1958 is shown in table 91,

479641-59--7

and the number of aircraft and passengers arriving in districts where this mode of travel is most prevalent is shown in table 92.

Entries of merchandise.-Imports into the United States reached a record peak in fiscal 1958. Formal entries of merchandise (consumption and warehouse and rewarehouse entries) exceeded 1 million for the third consecutive year; the 1,175,271 entries filed were 5.3 percent more than in 1957. Informal entries and baggage declarations covering both mail importations and other shipments valued at less than $250 rose 3.2 percent over 1957 to an alltime record of 3,776,940. All other types of entries showed similar increases. The number of each type of entry filed during the past 2 fiscal years is shown in table 90.

Drawback transactions.-Drawback, which is allowed on the exportation of merchandise manufactured from imported materials and for certain other export transactions, usually amounts to 99 percent of the customs duties paid at the time the goods are entered. More than 95 percent of the drawback allowed in 1957 was due to the export of products manufactured from imported raw materials. The principal imported materials used in manufactured exports in 1958 were iron and steel semimanufactures; tobacco, unmanufactured; watch movements; petroleum and products; aluminum; sugar; paper and manufactures; cotton cloth; lead ore, waste, pigs and bars; and tungsten ore.

Tables 93 and 94 show the drawback transactions for the fiscal years 1957 and 1958.

Appraisement of merchandise (including Customs Information Exchange). The number of invoices and packages examined by appraisers' personnel continued to increase in fiscal 1958. There were

1,822,000 invoices filed in 1958, compared with 1,774,000 during 1957, an increase of 2.7 percent. Packages examined in 1958 totaled 1,375,000, a slight increase over those in 1957. Appraising officers from Washington headquarters, with the assistance of personnel selected from various field offices, aided ports throughout the country to reduce the backlog of unappraised invoices. During 1958, this backlog decreased from 190,000 to 176,000, or by 7 percent.

The valuation provision of the Customs Simplification Act of 1956 (19 U. S. C. 1402) became effective February 27, 1958. The effect of this provision on appraisement operations cannot yet be evaluated fully because of the short time it has been in existence.

The Bureau of Customs worked closely with the Office of the Secretary in preparing necessary background and statistical material for presentation to Congress in connection with the proposed amendment to the Antidumping Act of 1921. The bill amending the act, passed by the House of Representatives during the first session of the 85th Congress, was considered by the Senate during the second session and was enacted August 14, 1958, as Public Law 85-630.

Thirteen complaints of dumping under the Antidumping Act were received during the fiscal year 1958 as compared with 41 received in 1957. The probable cause for the decrease in the number of complaints was the pending legislation amending the act. Twenty-five dumping cases were disposed of during the year, leaving 26 cases

Revised.