contract relations with the United States, for the performance of any work or the supplying of any materials or property for the use of or for the account of the United States shall, within thirty days after a request of the Commissioner therefor, file with the Commissioner a true and correct copy of every such contract, undertaking, or agreement. Whoever fails to comply with such request of the Commissioner shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than one year or both. The Commissioner shall (when not violative of the technical military or naval secrets of the Government) have access to all information and data relating to any such contract, undertaking, or agreement, in the possession, control or custody of any department, bureau, board, agency, officer or commission of the United States, and may call upon any such departments, bureau, board, agency, officer or commission for a full statement and description of any allowance for amortization, obsolescence, depreciation or loss, or of any valuation, appraisal, adjustment or final settlement, made in pur• suance of any such contract, undertaking, or agreement. Sec. 1409. That unless otherwise herein specially provided, this Act shall take effect on the day following its passage. ACT OF JUNE 13, 1898 (30 STAT. 454), AS AMENDED BY ACT OF MARCH 2, 1901 (31 STAT. 940).1 Sec. 13. That any person or persons who shall register, issue, sell, or transfer, or who shall cause to be issued, registered, sold, or transferred, any instrument, document, or paper of any kind or description whatsoever mentioned in Schedule A of this Act, without the same being duly stamped, or having thereupon an adhesive stamp for denoting the tax chargeable thereon, and canceled in the manner required by law, with intent to evade the provisions of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both, in the discretion of the court; and such instrument, document, or paper, not being stamped according to law, shall be deemed invalid and of no effect: Provided, That hereafter, in all cases where the party has not affixed to any instrument the stamp required by law thereon at the time of issuing, selling, or transferring the said bonds, debentures, or certificates of stock or of indebtedness, or any instrument, document or paper of any kind or description whatsoever mentioned in Schedule A of this Act, and he or they, or any party having an interest therein, shall be subsequently desirous of affixing such stamp to said instrument, or, if said instrument be lost, to a copy thereof, he or they shall appear before the collector of internal revenue of the proper district, who shall, upon the payment of the price of the proper stamp required by law, and of a penalty of ten dollars, and, where the whole amount of the tax de 1 These provisions are referred to in Chapter 45 on the Stamp Tax. noted by the stamp required shall exceed the sum of fifty dollars, on payment also of interest, at the rate of six per centum, on said tax from the day on which such stamp ought to have been affixed, affix the proper stamp to such bond, debenture, certificate of stock or of indebtedness or copy, or instrument, document, or paper of any kind or description whatsoever mentioned in Schedule A of this Act, and note upon the margin thereof the date of his so doing, and the fact that such penalty has been paid; and the same shall thereupon be deemed and held to be as valid, to all intents and purposes, as if stamped when made or issued: And provided further, That where it shall appear to said collector, upon oath or otherwise, to his satisfaction, that any such instrument has not been duly stamped, at the time of making or issuing the same, by reason of accident, mistake, inadvertence, or urgent necessity, and without any wilful design to defraud the United States of the stamp, or to evade or delay the payment thereof, then and in such case, if such instrument, or, if the original be lost, a copy thereof, duly certified by the officer having charge of any records in which such original is required to be recorded or otherwise duly proven to the satisfae tion of the collector, shall, within twelve calendar months after the making or issuing thereof, be brought to the said collector of internal revenue to be stamped, and the stamp tax chargeable thereon shall be paid, it shall be lawful for the said collector to remit the penalty aforesaid and to cause such instrument to be duly stamped. And when the original instrument, or a certified, or duly proven copy thereof, as aforesaid, duly stamped so as to entitle the same to be recorded, shall be presented to the clerk, register. recorder, or other officer having charge of the original record it shall be lawful for such officer, upon the payment of the fee legally chargeable for the recording thereof, to make a new record thereof, or to note upon the original record the fact that the error or omission in the stamping of said original instrument has been corrected pursuant to law; and the original instrument or such certified copy, or the record thereof, may be used in all courts and places in the same manner and with like effect as if the instru ment had been originally stamped: And provided further, That in all cases where the party has not affixed the stamp required by law upon any such instrument issued, registered, sold, or transferred at a time when and at a place where no collection district was established, it shall be lawful for him or them, or any party having an interest therein, to affix the proper stamp thereto, or, if the original be lost, to a copy thereof. But no right acquired in good faith before the stamping of such instrument, or copy thereof, as herein provided, if such record be required by law, shall in any manner be affected by such stamping as aforesaid. Sec. 14. That hereafter no instrument, paper or document required by law to be stamped, which has been signed or issued without being duly stamped, or with a deficient stamp, nor any copy thereof, shall be recorded or admitted, or used as evidence in any court until a legal stamp or stamps, denoting the amount of tax, shall have been affixed thereto, as prescribed by Sec. 15. That it shall not be lawful to record or register any instrument, paper, or document required by law to be stamped unless a stamp or stamps of the proper amount shall have been affixed and cancelled in the manner prescribed by law; and the record, registry, or transfer of any such instruments upon which the proper stamp or stamps aforesaid shall not have been affixed and cancelled as aforesaid shall not be used in evidence. TABLE OF CASES Murphy, 109 U. S. 558 [References are to pages.] Abbott v. St. John, 40 Can. Sup. Ct. 597 246 531 841 529 196 ..... Cl. 306 140 J. L. 119.... Alkan v. Bean, 23 Int. Rec. 351. Allen v. Pullman's Palace Car · Co., 139 U. S. 658...... . . . . Altheimer & Rawlings Investment Co. v. Allen, 246 Fed. 270 Altheimer & Rawlings Investment Co. v. Allen, 248 Fed. 688.... 499 518 857 286 359 855 46 216 Fed. 83.........147, 729, 849 Apthorpe v. Peter Schoenhofen Brewing Co., 80 L. T. R. 395. 187 847 748 Billings v. United States, 232 States, 247 U. S. 116........ 432 |