Franklin Sugar Refining Co. v. United States

• Decision Date: 22 March 1907
• Docket Number: 63 (1,809).
• Citation: 153 F. 653
• Parties: FRANKLIN SUGAR REFINING CO. v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

153 F. 653

FRANKLIN SUGAR REFINING CO. v. UNITED STATES.

No. 63 (1,809).

United States Circuit Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

March 22, 1907

William M. Stewart, Jr., for importers.

J Whitaker Thompson, U.S. Atty., and Jasper Yeates Brinton Asst. U.S. Atty.

J. B McPHERSON, District Judge.

This petition seeks to review the decision of the Board of General Appraisers, sustaining the collector of the port of Philadelphia in classifying 3,500 bags of beet sugar imported by the Franklin Sugar Refining Company, as below No. 16 Dutch standard in color, and imposing duty accordingly. These bags were part of five cargoes brought to the port in June and July, 1898, the details being as follows:

1,000 bags out of 40,148 bags, carried by the Strathtay.

1,000 ' ' ' 60,000 ' ' ' ' Brazilia.

500 ' ' ' 27,500 ' ' ' ' St. George.

500 ' ' ' 19,993 ' ' ' ' Sophie Rickmers.

500 ' ' ' 36,728 ' ' ' ' Planet Mercury.

The importer's direction to the shippers was that all the sugar must be under No. 16 Dutch standard in color, and the rest of the five cargoes conformed to this direction. The bags in question, however, were reported by the government officials to be above this standard, and, accordingly, the higher rate of duty prescribed by paragraph 209 of the tariff act of July 24, 1897 (Act July 24, 1897, c. 11, Sec. 1, Schedule E, 30 Stat. 168 (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1647)) was imposed. That paragraph is in part as follows (2 Supp.Rev.St. 662):

'Sugars not above number sixteen Dutch standard in color, * * * testing by the polariscope not above seventy-five degrees, ninety-five one-hundredths of one per cent. per pound, and for every additional degree shown by the polariscopic test, thirty-five one thousandths of one cent per pound additional, and fractions of a degree in proportion; and on sugar above number sixteen Dutch standard in color, and on all sugar which has gone through a process of refining, one cent and ninety-five hundredths of one cent per pound.'

This paragraph requires all imported sugar to be first subjected to the test of visual inspection, in order that its color may be compared with the color known as 'No. 16 Dutch standard.' If the color is lighter, or higher, than this standard-- or if the sugar has gone through a process of refining, an alternative which need not now be considered-- a duty of one cent and ninety-five hundredths of a cent per pound is to be imposed. If the sugar is of the same color as the standard, or darker or lower, the polariscope test is to be applied and lower rates of duty are to be imposed. The present dispute is, therefore, essentially a dispute of fact. If the bags in question were below the standard color, the importer has been charged too much. If they were above the standard, the collector and the Board were right, and their action should stand.

The opinion of the Board, affirming the classification of the collector, is as follows (Somerville and Hay, Appraisers):

'The question in these cases is whether the sugar under consideration is below or above No. 16 Dutch standard. The sugar was imported in the year 1898. The hearing took place at Philadelphia December 5, 1905.

'The testimony shows that the examination of the samples made at the time the sugar was imported showed that they were above 16 Dutch standard, and the entries were liquidated by the collector upon this basis. The importers introduced samples which had been in their possession between seven and eight years.

'The evidence shows that beet sugar changes its color and becomes darker with the lapse of time. While the evidence shows that these samples of the importers were under 16 Dutch standard, it does not, in our opinion, justify us in authorizing the collector to assess duty based upon the condition of the sugar at the time of the hearing, for the reason, as we

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