Graemiger Bros. v. United States

12 Cust. Ct. 48, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 6
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedFebruary 2, 1944
DocketC. D. 829
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 12 Cust. Ct. 48 (Graemiger Bros. 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
Graemiger Bros. v. United States, 12 Cust. Ct. 48, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 6 (cusc 1944).

Opinion

Laweence, Judge:

This case was originally decided adversely to plaintiff (9 Cust. Ct. 212, C. D. 696). It is again before us as the result of a rehearing, and has been resubmitted upon a stipulation placing in evidence four illustrative exhibits, as well as the original record herein.

The mechanism in controversy was advisorily returned by the appraiser as an “Old & Used Textile Finishing Machine.” The collector classified it under the provision in paragraph 372 of the Tariff Act of 1930 for “all other textile machinery, finished or unfinished, not specially provided for,” and levied duty thereon at the rate of 40 per centum ad valorem.

The protest of plaintiff invokes the following claims under said act for rates of duty lower than that assessed:

1. 35 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 353 as articles having as an essential feature an electrical element or device, or parts thereof, finished or unfinished.

2. 27% per centum ad valorem under paragraph 372 as machines or parts thereof not specially provided for.

3. 25 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 372, by virtue of the trade agreement with the United Kingdom (74 Treas. Dec. 253, T. D. 49753).

4. 25 or 27% per centum ad valorem under paragraph 353, by virtue of said trade agreement.

While all of said claims were pressed when the cáse was first decided, nevertheless, plaintiff, in its brief, now stresses only the claims that the merchandise is dutiable at the rate of 27% per centum ad valorem under paragraph 372 as a machine or parts thereof not specially provided for, or, at the same rate of duty under paragraph 353, as modified by said trade agreement, as—

Machines having as an essential feature an electrical element or device and which would be dutiable under paragraph 872, Tariff Act of 1930, if of a kind which could be designed to operate without such electrical element or device * * * [50]*50all the foregoing, not specially provided for, finished or unfinished, wholly or in chief value of metal, and not provided for heretofore in any item numbered 353 in this schedule.

However, none of the other claims in the protest has been specifically abandoned.

The only testimony submitted herein is that of Frederick A. Ramig, who appeared for plaintiff. He stated that since 1930 he has been president of the plaintiff-corporation; that his duties relate to “management, importation, buying and selling”; and that the imported mechanism is a “cutting machine, scallop-cutting machine.” He produced a picture, received in evidence as illustrative exhibit 1, representing the machine set up ready for operation.

Based upon 40 years’ familiarity with these machines in the United States and Europe, the witness testified in substance that cotton cloth, which has been bleached, finished, and mercerized, is then embroidered into the form or shape of scalloped handkerchiefs in the piece. In that condition the cloth is fed into a machine like the one before us, which cuts the handkerchiefs on two of the embroidered or scalloped edges; that “the machine can cut out four sides, but we find it more advantageous to cut the other two sides by hand, as we would have to stop the machine too frequently.” As imported the machine had bolted thereon an electric motor which furnishes the operating power.

The four exhibits introduced by plaintiff on the retrial are marked in evidence as plaintiff’s illustrative exhibits A, B, C, and D, respectively, and consist of—

A — a piece of cotton cloth, bleached, finished, and mercerized, in the condition as purchased by plaintiff.

B — a portion of A after it has been embroidered on an embroidery machine which establishes the identity of the handkerchiefs in the piece.

C — a portion of B after it has been cut by the scallop-cutting machine in controversy.

D — one of the handkerchiefs after it has been completely finished by cutting C by hand.

It is clear from the evidence that the imported machine does not completely cut apart the handkerchiefs. It cuts but two of the scalloped sides of the handkerchiefs in the piece, leaving the other two sides to be cut by hand.

On these facts we shall proceed to determine whether the importation is properly dutiable at the rate of 40 per centum ad valorem under said paragraph 372 as textile machinery not specially provided for, as classified by the collector, or at one of the lower rates claimed by plaintiff.

In our former decision (C. D. 696, supra) we stated that — •

* * *. The present situation is somewhat like that involved in the case of United States v. Asten Hill Mfg. Co., 25 C. C. P. A. 123, T. D. 49243. There the [51]*51machines in question made complete belts for use in paper-making machines. As stated in the syllabus to said decision:
The fact that the belts are completed articles, ready for use, when they leave the loom, and not belting, does not exclude the loom from classification as textile machinery. The provision for textile machinery is sufficiently comprehensive. to •cover all textile machinery not otherwise specially provided for * * *. Citing Whitlock Cordage Co. case, supra. [Italics quoted.]

Wo accordingly held that the collector properly classified the importation as textile machinery.

Upon a more mature consideration of the facts and a careful study •of leading authorities on the subject, particularly the case of Whitlock Cordage Co. v. United States, 13 Ct. Cust. Appls. 656, T. D. 41490 (decided in March 1926), we are of opinion that the instant machine may not properly be classified as textile machinery. That case arose under the Tariff Act of 1922, in which appeared for the first time a provision for "textile machinery.” One of the questions presented was, did the provision cover rope-making machinery? The appellate court said:

The “breaker card,” the “third and finishing drawing frame,” and the “regulating gill spinning frame” are used in the manufacture of yarn, which is a textile material, and, therefore, they, and the parts therefor, are included within the provision for all other textile machinery. The “24-spindle patented twister” is used in twisting the yarn into strands, and the strands into rope. Its function is to manufacture a textile material into a product which is not a textile, either within the strict definition of that term, or within the broader construction here placed upon the statute. Nor does it process or otherwise make textile materials available for textile uses. We are of opinion that such machinery is not textile machinery, and that it was not intended to be included within the provisions therefor.

Under that ruling, mechanisms which do not manufacture textile material, or process or otherwise make it available for textile uses, have been consistently denied tariff classification as textile machinery in subsequent litigation arising under the Tariff Acts of 1922 and 1930, the pertinent provisions being substantially the same in each act.

Four years later the same court decided Passaic Worsted Co. et al. v. United States, 17 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 459, T. D. 43916, a case which also arose under the act of 1922.

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Bluebook (online)
12 Cust. Ct. 48, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graemiger-bros-v-united-states-cusc-1944.