Meyer v. Cadwalader

• Decision Date: 08 December 1891
• Citation: 49 F. 32
• Parties: MEYER et al. v. CADWALADER, Collector. [1]
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

49 F. 32

MEYER et al. v. CADWALADER, Collector. ^[1]

United States Circuit Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

December 8, 1891

This was a motion by plaintiffs for a new trial in an action at law to recover an excess of duty alleged to have been exacted on hat . trimmings. Reported, 49 F. 26. The grounds of the motion were that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence, and that, during the progress of the trial statements had been publicly made on behalf of defendant calculated to prejudice the minds of the jury. In support of the latter ground, various newspaper articles and reports were relied on. Of these, the two following published during the trial in leading daily newspapers, will serve as illustrations:

'The Twenty-Million Raid on the Treasury-- Special Agent Hanlon Tells Some of Its Inner History-- the Twelve Contested Samples under Close Scrutiny-- Silks, Dress Trimmings Ruchings, Linings, and Almost Everything Else Imported, Asked to be Classified as Hat Trimmings, to the Great Loss of the Government.

'There was much comment in mercantile circles yesterday over the verdict in the celebrated Hat-Trimmings Case, decided on Friday against the government. The prompt notice of government officials that the case would be appealed was not a surprise to the victors in the first stage of the warfare while those who had battled to save the government millions of dollars were confident that the verdict would not stand. Among those who, officially, have given the subject under dispute the gravest study, is Special Agent Marcus Hanlon. He plainly showed yesterday how earnest he was in his endeavor to prove that the suits of the importers were such as should not secure verdicts for them from intelligent jurymen, and concerning the cases now on trial, said: 'I am only too glad to give my views, as I think that the people should know all of the facts in this attempt to loot the United States treasury. The issue is simply a question of fact,-- whether the goods were chiefly used for making or ornamenting hats. There is no question of law involved; all such questions having been raised in the case that was decided on Friday there are twelve samples in the case now on trial. Samples Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are ribbons; No. 1 being cotton-back velvet ribbons, the same as those in the Langfeldt Case, and cannot be seriously claimed by the importers as hat trimmings. In fact, they have said that they would abandon them.'

'MYSTERIES TO BE EXPOSED.

'Being asked if he meant to imply that the ribbons which were the subject of the supreme court's decision in the Langfeldt Case were not hat trimmings, notwithstanding the decision, Mr. Hanlon said: 'I do, most assuredly; and the jury in that case found that they were not chiefly used for making or ornamenting hats. It was one of the many mysteries that have occurred in these hat-trimming litigations, which I will expose when this case is decided.' The second sample in the present case is of silk and cotton binding ribbons, chiefly used for binding blankets. The third is a plain black satin velvet ribbon, seventeen to twenty-six lines, or about one and a half to two inches wide, almost exclusively used for dress trimmings, as every woman in America knows. Of course, an infinitesimal quantity may be used for trimming ladies' hats.

'SOME GAUZY EXCUSES.

'The next class of goods consists of samples 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. No. 4 is a silk guipure gauze, about eighteen inches wide, chiefly used for dress purposes, as every dressmaker can testify, but considerable of it is used occasionally, when fashion dictates, for hat materials or trimmings; but that is not anything like its chief use. Sample No. 5 is silk and wool crepes, almost exclusively used for dress purposes. The same applies to samples 6 and 8, which are silk crepons and crepes, nineteen and nineteen and a half inches wide. I do not think a fashionable dressmaker can be found in the United States to testify that these are used to any extent for trimming or making hats. They are well-known dress materials, beyond a question. Sample No. 7 is thirty-six inch crepe lisse, a well-known article, principally used for making ruchings; and it is an audacious thing for any person to claim they are chiefly used for hat trimmings.

'MR. TREMAINE' S CHANGE OF HEART.

'Sample No. 9 is white and colored satins, seventeen and one-half to twenty-four inches wide. Almost every man and woman knows that these goods are chiefly used for linings or dress purposes, and the small percentage of these importations used in lining men's hats gives no warrant for importers to claim that their chief use is for hat trimmings. In fact, Mr. Tremaine, the chief lawyer for the hat-trimming syndicate, told Mr. Corbett, assistant appraiser at New York, (at least, so Mr. Corbett has repeatedly told me,) that, just before the board of local appraisers decided that they were hat trimmings, Mr. Tremaine stated that the importers did not claim, nor did they expect to have, colored satins seventeen and one-half to twenty-four inches wide classed as hat materials; but he now comes here, and will vigorously contest that they are. Samples Nos. 10, 11, and 12 are common chappe plushes and velvets. No. 10 is an eighteen-inch plush; the chief use being for dresses and dress trimmings and manufacturing purposes, such as albums, etc. No. 11 is fifteen and one-half, sixteen, and eighteen inch colored velvets, chiefly used for dresses and dress purposes, scarcely ever used either as hat materials or trimmings, except a small quantity for children's hats. The same applies to sample No. 12, which is fifteen and one-half, sixteen, and eighteen inch black velvets; being always used for dress trimmings and dress purposes. Mr. Hanlon says that regarding satins, velvets, and plushes the government will present overwhelming evidence from every leading dry-goods house, from Chicago to Boston, that they are not chiefly used for hat trimmings.

' It must be remembered,' concluded the special agent, 'that this is not a fight of the treasury department alone to protect the United States treasury, as every citizen of the United States is as much interested as the government. At the same time, I want to be distinctly understood that if Meyer and Dickinson can find people to prove that these twelve samples, or any of them, are chiefly used for hat trimmings, they can rely on it that I will give them all of the aid in my power to obtain their money."

'The Customs Decisions-- Millions of Dollars Recovered from the Government on Technical Errors in Tariff Laws-- Costly Hat-Trimming Cases-- Sharp Attorneys Who Prosecute Claims on Contingent Fees-- The Claimant Sometimes Gets Fifty Per Cent., and Sometimes Even Less.

'In the Hat-Trimming Case there was no question of the intent of the law-making power. Under the act of March 3, 1883, hat trimmings were made dutiable at twenty per cent.,...