United States v. Realty Co United States v. Gay

• Decision Date: 25 May 1896
• Docket Number: 869,Nos. 870,s. 870
• Citation: 16 S.Ct. 1120,163 U.S. 427,41 L.Ed. 215
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. REALTY CO. UNITED STATES v. GAY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

163 U.S. 427

16 S.Ct. 1120

41 L.Ed. 215

UNITED STATES

v REALTY CO.

UNITED STATES

v. GAY.

Nos. 870, 869.

May 25, 1896.

Sol. Gen. Conrad and Asst. Atty. Gen. Whitney, for the United states.

Joseph H. Choate, Thomas J. Semmes, and Charles F. Manderson, for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice PECKHAM delivered the opinion of the court.

These are writs of error to the circuit court of the United States for the Eastern district of Louisiana. The actions were brought in that court, under the section of the act approved March 3, 1887 (24 Stat. 505, c. 359), commonly known as the 'Tucker Act.' Both actions were brough to obtain payment of moneys by reason of the legislation of congress in regard to sugar bounties. The court below in each case gave judgment for the plaintiffs therein, and the government by writ of error brings the cases here for review.

The legislation out of which the question arises is as follows: By the act approved October 1, 1890, known as the 'Tariff Act of 1890' (26 Stat. 567, c. 1244), which act is entitled 'An act to reduce the revenue and equalize duties on imports, and for other purposes,' congress legislated upon the subject of the tariff, and in that act paragraphs 231, 232, 233, and 235, Schedule E, 'Sugar' (on page 583), read as follows:

'231. That on and after July 1, 1891, and until July first, nineteen hundred and five, there shall be paid, from any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, under the provisions of section 3689 of the Revised Statutes, to the producer of sugar, testing not less than ninety degrees by the polariscope, from beets, sorghum, or sugar cane grown within the United States, or from maple sap produced within the United States, a bounty of two cents per pound; and upon such sugar testing less than ninety degrees by the polariscope, and not less than eighty degrees, a bounty of one and three-fourths cents per pound, under such rules and regulations as the commissioner of internal revenue, with the approval of the secretary of the treasury, shall prescribe.

'232. The producer of said sugar to be entitled to said bounty shall have first filed prior to July first of each year with the commissioner of internal revenue a notice of the place of production, with a general description of the machinery and methods to be employed by him, with an estimate of the amount of sugar proposed to be produced in the current or next ensuing year, including the number of maple trees to be tapped, and an appliance for a license to so produce, to be accompanied by a bond in a penalty, and with sureties to be approved by the commissioner of internal revenue, conditioned that he will faithfully observe all rules and regulations that shall be prescribed for such manufacture and production of sugar.

'233. The commissioner of internal revenue, upon receiv- ing the application and bond hereinbefore provided for, shall issue to the applicant a license to produce sugar from sorghum, beets or sugar cane grown within the United States, or from maple sap produced within the United States at the place and time with the machinery and by the methods described in the application; but said license shall not extend beyond one year from the date thereof.'

'235. And for the payment of these bounties the secretary of the treasury is authorized to draw warrants on the treasurer of the United States for such sums as shall be necessary, which sums shall be certified to him by the commissioner of internal revenue, by whom the bounties shall be disbursed, and no bounty shall be allowed or paid to any person licensed as aforesaid in any one year upon any quantity of sugar less than five hundred pounds.'

In 1894 congress passed another act in relation to the tariff, which act was received by the president on the 15th of August, and became a law on the 28th of August, 1894, without his approval. Such act is entitled 'An act to reduce taxation, to provide revenue for the government, and for other purposes.' 28 Stat. 509, c. 349. Paragraph 182, Schedule E, 'Sugar,' p. 521, reads as follows:

'Schedule E—Sugar. 182. That so much of the act entitled 'An act to reduce revenue equalize duties, and for other purposes,' approved October first, eighteen hundred and ninety, as provides for and authorizes the issue of licenses to produce sugar, and for the payment of a bounty to the producers of sugar form beets, sorghum or sugar cane grown in the United States, or from maple sap produced within the United States be, and the same is hereby, repealed, and hereafter it shall be unlawful to issue any license to produce sugar or to pay any bounty for the production of sugar of any kind under the said act.'

By another act of congress, approved March 2, 1895, entitled 'An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896, and for other purposes' (28 Stat. 910, 933, c. 189), congress enacted as follows:

'Bounty on Sugar. That there shall be paid by the secretary of the treasury to those producers and manufacturers of sugar in the United States from maple sap, beets, sorghum or sugar cane grown or produced within the United States who complied with the provisions of the bounty law as contained in Schedule E of the tariff act of October first, eighteen hundred and ninety, a bounty of two cents a pound on all sugars testing not less than nine y degrees by the polariscope, and one and three-fourths cents per pound on all sugars testing less than ninety and not less than eighty degrees by the polariscope, manufactured and produced by them previous to the twenty-eighth day of August, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and upon which no bounty has previously been paid; and for this purpose the sum of two hundred and thirty-eight thousand two hundred and eighty-nine dollars and eight cents is hereby appropriated, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

'That there shall be paid to those producers who complied with the provisions of the bounty law as contained in Schedule E of the tariff act of October first, eighteen hundred and ninety, by filing the notice application for license, and bond therein required, prior to July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and who would have been entitled to receive a license as provided for in said act, a bounty of eight-tenths of a cent per pound on the sugars actually manufactured and produced in the United States testing not less than eighty degrees by the polariscope, from beets, sorghum or sugar cane grown or produced within the United States during that part of the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, comprised in the period commencing August twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, both days inclusive; and for this purpose the sum of five million dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated; provided, that no bounty shall be paid to any person engaged in refining sugars which have been imported into the United States, or produced in the United States, upon which the bounty herein provided has already been paid or applied for.

'The bounty herein authorized to be paid shall be paid upon the presentation of such proofs of manufacture and production as shall be required in each case by the commissioner of internal revenue, with the approval of the secretary of the treasury, and under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the commissioner of internal evenue, with the approval of the secretary of the treasury.

'And for the payment of such bounty the secretary of the treasury is authorized to draw warrants on the treasury of the United States for sums as shall be necessary, which sums shall be certified to him by the commissioner of internal revenue, by whom the bounty shall be disbursed, and no bounty shall be allowed or paid to any person as aforeasid upon any quantity of sugar less then five hundred pounds.'

Under the provisions of the appropriation made in the last above-named act of congress, the defendant in error in each of the above cases sues for the money claimed by it and him for the manufacture of sugar under the circumstances stated in the petition in each case. They are test cases. The Realty Company is one of a class coming under the terms of the appropriation to those who had manufactured a certain class of sugar previous to the 28th day of August, 1894, and upon which no bounty had previously been paid. The allegation in the petition of the company showed that it had, between the 1st day of July, 1893, and the 30th day of June, 1894, under the provisions of the act of 1890, produced and manufactured, at the places stated, the amount of sugar mentioned in the petition, and that it was entitled to receive from the defendant the bounty thereon mentioned in the act, which, it was alleged, amounted to the sum of $5,576.97. The repeal of the bounty clause in the act of 1890 by the act which took effect on the 28th of August, 1894, and which prohibited the payment of bounties thereafter, prevented the company from obtaining the money on the warrant which had been issued to it prior to that date. There were comparatively few persons coming under the class in which the company stood, and the appropriation made for the payment of that class was a little less than $250,000.

The plaintiff in the other suit, Mr. Gay, is one of a class coming under the second portion of the act of 1895, he being among those who complied with the provisions of the bounty act as contained in Schedule E of the act of October 1, 1890, by duly filing notice of application for license and bond as therein required, and who would have been entitled to receive a license as provided for in said act, and a bounty of eight-tenths of a cent per pound on the sugars actually manufactured by him according to the provisions of such act during that part of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1895,...