Edgar Allen Steel Co. v. United States

16 Ct. Cust. 26, 1928 WL 28007, 1928 CCPA LEXIS 30
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedApril 9, 1928
DocketNo. 2969
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 16 Ct. Cust. 26 (Edgar Allen Steel Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edgar Allen Steel Co. v. United States, 16 Ct. Cust. 26, 1928 WL 28007, 1928 CCPA LEXIS 30 (ccpa 1928).

Opinions

Smith, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

Steel bars containing over six-tenths of 1 per centum tungsten were assessed with the appropriate rate of duty prescribed by paragraph 304 of the Tariff Act of 1922 and also with an additional duty of 72 cents per pound under paragraph 305 of said act, which reads, in part, as follows:

305. In addition to the rates of duty provided for in this schedule on steel in all forms and shapes, by whatever process made, and by whatever name designated, whether cast, hot or cold rolled, forged, stamped, or drawn, containing more than six-tenths of 1 per centum of nickel, * * * tungsten, molybdenum, or any other metallic element used in alloying steel, there shall be levied, collected, and paid 8 per centum ad valorem: * * * Provided, * * * That an additional cumulative duty of 65 cents per pound on the molybdenum •content in excess of six-tenths of 1 per centum, and .72 cents per pound on the tungsten content in excess of six-tenths of 1 per centum shall be levied, collected, •and paid on any material provided for in paragraph 304 containing molybdenum and tungsten. (Italics not quoted.) (The proviso recited is the second proviso to the paragraph.)

The importer protested that the steel bars contained tungsten only, not molybdenum and tungsten, and that therefore the merchandise was not subject to the additional rate of duty. The United States •Customs Court overruled the protest and the importer appealed.

Does the second proviso of paragraph 305 apply to any of the materials provided for in paragraph 304 which do not contain both •molybdenum and tungsten, is the sole question presented by this appeal.

The Government contends that the proviso above quoted which •makes the additional duty applicable to “any material provided for in paragraph 304 containing molybdenum and tungsten” should be construed as if it read: “any material provided for in paragraph 304 containing molybdenum or tungsten.” In support of that contention, the Government cited the opinion of General Appraiser Fischer in the matter of the protest of Robert K. Greaves & Co., T. D. 40005. That opinion states that molybdenum and tungsten were separately discussed and investigated by the Ways and Means Committee of the House and the Finance Committee of the Senate, whereas many of the other well-known steel alloys were treated more or less collectively. The general appraiser. also points out that the hearings before both committees disclose that steels of which molybdenum is an alloy have uses and purposes separate and distinct from steels which contain tungsten; that molybdenum steel is used for structural parts of machines such as automobiles, airplanes, trucks, tractors, and other things requiring a maximum of strength and [28]*28toughness, whereas tungsten steel is employed in the manufacture of tools and high-speed tools, the tungsten content of which ranges from 2 to 18 per centum.

From those facts and the fact that tungsten and molybdenum are separately provided for in paragraph 302, the opinion deduces the conclusion that the words “containing molybdenum and tungsten,” if not mere surplusage, must be regarded as having been added out of an abundance of precaution, inasmuch as to hold otherwise would do violence to the very purpose and intent of the whole proviso and defeat the consistently expressed will of the lawmakers.

We find ourselves unable to sustain the contention of the Government or to agree with the conclusion reached in the Greaves case. The contention of the Government and the reasoning of the learned judge who wrote the opinion in the Greaves case can be sustained, if at all, only on the assumption that there are no steels produced containing both tungsten and molybdenum and that when molybdenum is used in the manufacture of steel, tungsten is not used. That assumption, however, is not supported by the record. Engel-stadt, a witness for the importer, testified that he was engaged in the steel and iron business and that he handled steel containing tungsten, steel containing molybdenum, and steel containing both tungsten and molybdenum. Indeed, the importer offered to prove that molybdenum was introduced into steel for the purpose of increasing its toughness, that tungsten was added for the purpose of giving to steel higher head-resisting qualities, that tungsten was not a substitute for molybdenum, and that molybdenum was not a substitute for tungsten. The importer, although he was not allowed to make good his offer, nevertheless proved by the unimpeached and uncontradicted testimony which was admitted in evidence that there is a steel containing tungsten only, a steel containing molybdenum only, and a steel containing both tungsten and molybdenum. That testimony establishes that there is a steel to which the proviso, just as it was enacted, is applicable.

The first part of paragraph 305 imposes an additional duty of 8 per centum ad valorem on steel which contains six-tenths of 1 per centum of tungsten and 8 per centum ad valorem on steel which contains more than six-tenths of 1 per centum of molybdenum. The second proviso to that paragraph subjects the steel materials enumerated in paragraph 304 which contain molybdenum and tungsten to a cumulative duty of 65 cents per pound on the molybdenum content in excess of six-tenths of 1 per centum, and 72 cents per pound on the tungsten content in excess of six-tenths of 1 per centum. That cumulative duty was imposed on a steel which possessed not only the desirable characteristics produced by the addition of molybdenum but also the heat-resisting and self-hardening [29]*29in air qualities conferred by the addition of tungsten. See “Tungsten,” New Standard Dictionary. As steel of that kind was certainly a more costly and probably a much higher grade of steel than a steel containing only one of the alloying metallic elements, it was assessed with a higher rate of duty than the less processed and simpler product.

There is absolutely nothing in the proviso or in the tariff or other laws from which it could be fairly or properly deduced that the words “containing molybdenum and tungsten” were thrown into the statute as a precaution or as mere surplusage. Neither is there any sound reason for believing that Congress intended to use the word “or” instead of the word “and, ” in said phrase. In fact, if Congress had actually uked the word “or” it would, in terms at least, have excluded from the operation of the second proviso a distinct, particular class of commercial steel which by the use of the word “and” was expressly subjected to the high, additional cumulative duty therein prescribed.

The language in the second proviso of paragraph 305 is not ambiguous and will result in no absurdity or conflict with any other part of the statute, if given the definite meaning which its words clearly import. The courts are, therefore, bound to determine the intention of Congress by the language which was actually used and have no right to give any meaning to such language other than that conveyed by the words, terms, or expressions in which the legislative will was expressed. United States v. Marx, 1 Ct. Cust. Appls. 152, 155; Paulina v. United States, 7 Cranch 52, 60; Lewis v. United States, 92 U. S. 618, 621; Thornley v. United States, 113 U.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
16 Ct. Cust. 26, 1928 WL 28007, 1928 CCPA LEXIS 30, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edgar-allen-steel-co-v-united-states-ccpa-1928.