Otis McAllister & Co. v. United States

9 Cust. Ct. 229, 1942 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 792
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedOctober 30, 1942
DocketC. D. 699
StatusPublished

This text of 9 Cust. Ct. 229 (Otis McAllister & 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
Otis McAllister & Co. v. United States, 9 Cust. Ct. 229, 1942 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 792 (cusc 1942).

Opinion

DalliNGee, Judge:

This is a suit against the United States, arising at the port of San Francisco, brought to recover certain customs duties alleged to have been improperly exacted on a particular importation of wire netting. Duty was levied thereon at the rate of 60 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 397 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by Presidential proclamation promulgated under section 336 of said act and published in T. D. 44605, which proclamation increased the rate of duty on woven wire fencing and woven wire netting from 45 to 60 per centum ad valorem.

It is claimed that this imported wire netting is not woven and therefore is not within the scope of said Presidential proclamation, but is dutiable at but 45 per centum ad valorem under said paragraph 397 as a manufacture of metal not specially provided for.

At the first hearing, held at Seattle on November 10, 1941, the plaintiff offered in evidence the testimony of Paul J. Giese, an importer of - steel products, including hexagonal wire netting from Germany, since 1926. He described the process of manufacturing such wire netting in Germany during the years 1928, 1936, and 1938. In connection with his testimony, a certain blueprint and a photograph were marked illustrative exhibits A and B for identification.

[231]*231According to this witness’ testimony, in the manufacture of the wire netting described by him there is only one set of wires used, namely, single vertical strands coming up from the bottom of the producing machine.

On cross-examination the witness testified that this kind of netting might be called “lock-twist” netting; and that there is another kind of wire netting that is actually woven in the same way as cloth, having both warp and weft wires, the weft crossing the warp by means of a shuttle.

At the second hearing, held at San Francisco on November 26, 1941, the plaintiff offered in evidence the testimony of Raymond W. Nolan, a clerk in the office of the appraiser of merchandise at San Francisco, who testified that the wire netting covered by the testimony of the witness Giese in Seattle was not similar to that involved in the instant case, a sample of which was admitted in evidence as plaintiff’s exhibit 1. At the conclusion of this witness’ testimony, on motion of counsel for the Government the testimony of the witness Giese was stricken from the record.

The plaintiff then offered in evidence the testimony of Ralph A. Bonnett, associated with the firm of Otis, McAllister & Co. of San Francisco, who testified in part as follows:

Q. If you will assume please that the merchandise which Otis, McAllister & Co., imported, and which is covered by this Protest No. 996995-G, was when imported, in the same form as Exhibit 1, will you state whether in your opinion such merchandise, that is foreign goods must have been made by the same process as Exhibit 1? — A. I would say it was.
Q. Will you then please describe to the best of your ability this process which you have referred to that you observed at the California Wire Cloth Corporation, in Oakland? — A. The process consists of the assembly of a number of parallel wires in a machine, and every alternate wire being in the form of a long coil in a tube, and as the wires progress through the machine these alternating coils in the tubes revolve around stationary wire that is going along side of it, thus forming the loops on the stationary wires and the interlacing.
Q. Referring to Exhibit 1, can you observe that some of the wires are as you have stated been wrapped or possibly twisted around other wires? — A. Yes.
* * * * * * *
Q. When this product was being made, did you observe whether or not any wires or wire material was moving or placed at right angles to any other wire?— A. I believe the whole process is merely an interweaving of these parallel wires as they run through the machine.
Q. Except for that interweaving, are the wires run in the same direction?— A. Yes.

The Government then offered in evidence the testimony of six witnesses. The first, John S. Hawley, superintendent of the California Wire Cloth Corporation, of Oakland, Calif., since August 1939, testified that his company manufactured wire netting similar [232]*232to that represented by exhibit 1, in various sizes. He then testified in part as follows:

Q. * * * You say there are two sets of wires? — A. Yes.
Q. Do they have in your plant specific names? — -A. Yes.
Mr. Tuttle. I object to,that as immaterial, whether wires have any specific names.
Judge Dallinger. Objection overruled.
Mr. Tuttle. Exception.
By Mr. O’Donnell:
Q. Would you mind giving the names of these two sets of wires that are used in the manufacture of an article such as Exhibit 1, in this case? — A. Those are known at our plant as warp and filling wires.
*******
Judge Dallinger. Do you consider all of the various kinds of wire netting you make, as woven wire netting?
The Witness. Yes.
Judge Dallinger. No matter how they are made?
The Witness. All netting is considered as woven wire netting.
Judge Dallinger. In other words, all wire netting in your opinion is woven wire netting?
’The Witness. Yes.
By Mr. O’Donnell:
Q. On what type of machines is merchandise like Exhibit 1, made? — A. On a netting loom.
Q. Would you mind describing the manufacture of merchandise like Exhibit 1, referring to the two sets of wires by name, and the various parts of the machine by name, as you go along? — A. Approximately 60 per cent of the wires are fed in either from spools or from a coil of wire, the coil being in a bundle. These wires are fed underneath the roller at the base of the machine and are stationary. They cannot be twisted without becoming untwisted, in as much as they are fastened both at the top and bottom. They-are fastened by going through at the bottom and going into the cloth at the top. Approximately 50 per cent of the wires are formed on a bobbin coiling machine. Long coils are inserted in the top. They are loose, and can be moved. Those are the filling wires, and they can be moved back and forth between what we call the warp wires, and as they are moved from one wire to the other they twist as they cross each wire. That makes a twist motion. After that twist has been made it is pulled up over a peg roller and wound into the package and taken off the machine.

Two photographs of the machine described by the witness were then admitted in evidence as defendant’s illustrative exhibits A and B.

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Bluebook (online)
9 Cust. Ct. 229, 1942 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 792, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/otis-mcallister-co-v-united-states-cusc-1942.