Garlock Packing Co. v. United States

11 Cust. Ct. 142, 1943 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3038
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedOctober 20, 1943
DocketC. D. 812
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Cust. Ct. 142 (Garlock Packing Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Garlock Packing Co. v. United States, 11 Cust. Ct. 142, 1943 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3038 (cusc 1943).

Opinion

Keefe, Judge:

This controversy involves importations of certain engine packing, styles numbered 4 and 6. Duty was assessed thereon at 30 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 216 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as amended.' The plaintiff claims that the merchandise is properly dutiable at 20 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1501 (b) and the United Kingdom Trade Agreement, T. D. 49753. By way of amendment it is further claimed that it is dutiable at 20 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1501 (a) as modified by the United Kingdom Trade Agreement, T. D. 49753, as manufactures of yarn, cord, etc., of asbestos, or of asbestos and any other spinnable fiber, with or without wire; or at 25 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1501 (d).

The controversial paragraphs, as far as are here pertinent, together with amendments, provide as follows:

■ Pab. 216 * * * and articles or wares composed wholly or in part of carbon or graphite, wholly or partly manufactured, not specially provided for, 45 per centum ad valorem.
Amended by trade agreements with the Republic of France (T. D. 48316) and with the United Kingdom (T. D. 49753) to read:
216 Articles or wares composed wholly or in part of carbon or graphite, wholly or partly manufactured, not specially provided for - 30% ad val.
Par. 1501. (a) Yarn, slivers, rovings, wick, rope, cord, cloth, tape, and tubing, of asbestos, or of asbestos and any other spinnable fiber, with or without wire, and all manufactures of any of the foregoing, 40 per centum ad valorem.
(b) Molded, pressed, or formed articles, in part of asbestos, containing any binding agent, coating, or filler, other than hydraulic cement or synthetic resin, 25 per centum ad valorem.
*******
(d) All other manufactures of which asbestos is the component material of chief value, 25 per centum ad valorem.
Amended by the trade , agreement with the United Kingdom (T. D. 49753) to read:.
1501 (a) Yarn, slivers, rovings, wick, rope, cord, cloth, tape, and tubing, of asbestos, or of asbestos and any other spinnable fiber, with or without wire, and all manufactures of any of the foregoing 20% ad val.
1501 (b) Molded, pressed, or formed articles, in part of asbestos, containing any binding agent, coating, or filler, other than hydraulic cement or synthetic resin , 20% ad val.

[144]*144At the trial the examiner testified that styles 4 and 6-were composed in chief value of asbestos yarn and that his advisory classification thereof as articles in part of graphite was in accordance with instructions of the Treasury Department contained in T. D. 48907 (5).

The plaintiff contends that the merchandise herein is more specifically provided for under paragraph 1501 (a) as all manufactures of asbestos yarn, or under (d) as all other manufactures of which asbestos is the component material of chief value, inasmuch as paragraph 1501 in subparagraph (a) (d) does not contain the modifying clause “not specially provided for.” That subparagraph (a) is more specific than subparagraph (d) because “a” includes only manufactures in chief value of yarn, whereas “ d” provides for other manufactures of asbestos, not specifically named in subparagraph (a).

The Government contends that the question is not whether the provision for manufactures in whole or in any part is more specific than manufactures in chief value of, but whether articles or wares, wholly or in part of graphite is more specific than manufactures of which asbestos is the component material of chief value. That the words “not specifically provided for” in paragraph 216 do not reduce the specificity of a provision which would, in the absence of such qualifying phrase, otherwise be of more limited application.

The abstract of Treasury Decisions published in T. D. 48907 (5) provides as follows:

(5) Asbestos and graphite manufactures. — Articles such as packings, pressed sheets, and gaskets, in chief value of asbestos and in part of graphite, dutiable under paragraph 216 of the Tariff Act of 1930 or item 216 of the French Trade Agreement (T. D. 48316) at appropriate rate, rather than under paragraph 1501 (d) of the Tariff Act of 1930. Such articles should be regarded as in part of graphite if graphite has been used as ingredient and constitutes 2 percent or more by quantity of the article. In the absence of specific information to the contrary, less than 2 percent graphite considered negligible, and articles of character described containing less than 2 percent of graphite dutiable under paragraph 1501 (d), Tariff Act of 1930. Bureau letter to collector of customs, New York, N. Y„ March 19, 1937.

The only issue in this case is the relative specificity between the provisions of paragraph 216 and paragraph 1501 (a) and (d). As between paragraphs 1501 (a) and 1501 (d) the provision for “aE manufactures of any of the foregoing,” to" wit, yarn of asbestos, paragraph 1501 (a) has been held to be more specific than the general provision in paragraph 1501 (d) for “All other manufactures of which asbestos is the component material of chief valúe.” In Hill v. United States, 26 C. C. P. A. 295, C. A. D. 31, the merchandise consisted of certain dryer felts or belts of varying lengths and widths, composed of cotton yarns and asbestos yarns, the asbestos yarns being composed of asbestos, cotton yarns, and cotton fibers, and were classified as manufactures of asbestos and any other spinnable fiber. There our appellate court stated:

[145]*145Paragraphs 1501 (a), 1501 (b), 1501 (c), and 1501 (d) appear in “Schedule 15— Sundries,” and each of such paragraphs deals with asbestos articles or articles in part of asbestos. In 1501 (a) there is no limitation that asbestos shall be the component of chief value. Standing alone, the paragraph does not seem to require that the asbestos shall be the component of chief value of an article composed “of asbestos and any other spinnable fiber,” or of a “manufacture” therefrom.
It is noted that paragraph 1501 (b) (under which appellant made claims that were abandoned in the appeal to us) provides for certain articles “in part of asbestos,” as does paragraph 1501 (c). The articles so provided for in those paragraphs broadly are manufactures, although that term is not used. This may account for the phraseology of paragraph 1501 (d) “all other manufactures.”
However that may be, the question confronting us here is whether paragraph 1501 (d) may be given effect without interpreting the language which may be paraphrased to read “manufactures of asbestos and any other spinnable fiber” to mean that such manufactures must be wholly or substantially wholly of asbestos alone.
It seems quite clear that by the use of the word “other” in paragraph 1501 (d) Congress meant to provide for manufactures which were not provided for in any of the preceding paragraphs of the schedule. Paragraph 1501 (a) has no limitation with respect to value or chief value. The articles therein provided for may be composed wholly of asbestos or partly of asbestos and any other spinnable fiber.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 Cust. Ct. 142, 1943 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 3038, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garlock-packing-co-v-united-states-cusc-1943.