International Granite & Marble Corp. v. United States

28 Cust. Ct. 245, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 32
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 15, 1952
DocketC. D. 1416
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 28 Cust. Ct. 245 (International Granite & Marble Corp. 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
International Granite & Marble Corp. v. United States, 28 Cust. Ct. 245, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 32 (cusc 1952).

Opinion

MollisoN, Judge:

The plaintiffs herein entered at the port of New York certain merchandise described on the invoice as “Rough sawn slabs Rosered Granite.” Duty was assessed thereon at the rate of 30 per centum ad valorem under the provision in paragraph 234 (a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the trade agreement with Finland, T. D. 48554, for—

Granite suitable for use as monumental, paving, or building stone, not specially provided for:
Hewn, dressed, pointed, pitched, lined, or polished, or otherwise manufactured * * *.

By its protest herein the plaintiffs claim the said merchandise to be properly dutiable at the rate of 12% per centum ad valorem under the provision in the same paragraph, as modified by the said trade agreement, for — ■

Granite suitable for use as monumental, paving, or building stone, not specially provided for:
Unmanufactured, or not dressed, pointed, pitched, lined, hewn, or polished * * *.

There is no question that the merchandise involved is, in fact, granite suitable for use as monumental, paving, or building stone, and the sole question appears to be whether it shall take classification as such granite “manufactured” or “unmanufactured.”

The method of production of the granite at bar is likewise not in dispute. Large, rough blocks of granite were quarried in Sweden. These were sent to Belgium where each was placed under a gang saw which sawed the block into slabs, approximately %ths to 1 inch thick. The slabs are the imported merchandise and their condition is represented by plaintiff’s illustrative exhibit 1, which exhibits two fairly smooth, [247]*247sawn faces, and rough, irregular edges. According to the record, a gang saw consists of saw blades in a steel frame, which, either by-swinging or by straight operation, and in conjunction with sand under pressure, do the sawing.

The plaintiffs rely upon the decision of this court in the case of C. J. Tower & Sons v. United States, 24 Cust. Ct. 353, Abstract 53963, involving sawed travertine stone slabs which were produced in the same manner, i. e., by gang sawing of large quarried blocks, as were the sawed granite slabs here in issue. The sawed travertine stone slabs there involved were held to be properly classified under the provision in paragraph 234 (b) of the Tariff Act of 1930 for—

Travertine stone, unmanufactured, or not dressed, hewn, or polished, * * *,

rather than under the provision in paragraph 234 (c) of the same paragraph for — ■

* * * stone suitable for use as monumental or building stone * * *, not specially provided for, hewn, dressed, or polished, or otherwise manufactured, * * *.

Much of the evidence offered in the case at bar had to do with hewing, dressing, pointing, pitching, and lining operations. According to the record, these are hand operations, and the first of them, hewing, appears to be related to the cutting of stone to shape or desired dimensions, while the remaining operations have to do with the placing of a desired surface or finish upon stone. There is no question but that, the granite slabs in question were not hewn, dressed, pointed, pitched, or lined, but it is claimed on the part of the defendant that the gang-sawing operation produced a finish upon two surfaces of the granite equal to that which would have been obtained had all or some of the processes of hewing, dressing, pointing, pitching, lining, or polishing been performed on the granite. It is, therefore, contended on the part, of the defendant that the granite was “otherwise manufactured,” and consequently dutiable as assessed.

Upon motion of counsel for the plaintiffs the record in the case of C. J. Tower & Sons v. United States, supra, was incorporated as part, of the record herein. It is manifest from a reading of that record and comparing the same with the remainder of the evidence introduced in the case at bar that a situation existed in connection with the sawn surfaces of the travertine slabs which was different from that which obtained in connection with the sawn surfaces of the granite slabs at bar. It clearly appears that the sawn surfaces of the travertine slabs involved in the Tower case were not finished in any degree or usable in then- imported condition and that the said surfaces required finishing operations, to wit, rubbing, honing, or polishing, or a combination thereof, before they could be used in any application.

There is, however, ample competent evidence in the case at bar that, so far as the sawn surfaces of the granite slabs in issue were concerned, they were usable in their imported condition — in other [248]*248words, that the process of sawing had placed upon the slabs of granite two finished or partly finished surfaces and that the slabs, for use in certain fairly common applications, required no further processing save cutting the edges to size. Further operations upon the sawn surfaces, such as polishing, it appears would be required only if such a more advanced surface was desired by the user, but it was not necessary to the use of the granite in other applications.

It would appear from the record as a whole that the process of gang sawing travertine stone into slabs does not produce a cutting or a finish comparable to the result which obtains when granite is gang-sawed into slabs. This may be due to the fact that travertine stone is a much softer stone than granite (Tr. p. 26), and by its nature requires different treatment. Whatever the reason, however, we do not consider the decision in the Tower case to be applicable to or controlling in the determination of the issues in the case at bar.

It was established herein that in the process of advancing granite from its crude state to the condition in which it will ultimately be used, it is necessary (1) to cut to size or shape, and (2) to finish the surface where desired. There is no question but that as imported the edges of the granite slabs in the case at bar had not been cut to size or shape, but it would appear that the sawing of the two faces of the slabs to within / inch of size, as indicated in the record, constituted the equivalent of hewing so far as the faces were concerned. Hewing being a hand-tooled operation, it would appear to be doubtful that the faces could have been brought as close to size by such hand operation as they were by the gang-sawing operation, so that it would appear that the gang sawing was superior, if not equivalent to hewing.

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Related

Selectile Co. v. United States
68 Cust. Ct. 176 (U.S. Customs Court, 1972)
Gould Monument Works v. United States
44 Cust. Ct. 107 (U.S. Customs Court, 1960)
C. J. Tower & Sons v. United States
35 Cust. Ct. 134 (U.S. Customs Court, 1955)
Bruce Marble & Granite Works v. United States
33 Cust. Ct. 362 (U.S. Customs Court, 1954)

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Bluebook (online)
28 Cust. Ct. 245, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 32, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-granite-marble-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1952.