Perkins-Goodwin Co. v. United States

28 Cust. Ct. 131, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 15
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 18, 1952
DocketC. D. 1399
StatusPublished

This text of 28 Cust. Ct. 131 (Perkins-Goodwin 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
Perkins-Goodwin Co. v. United States, 28 Cust. Ct. 131, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 15 (cusc 1952).

Opinion

Johnson, Judge:

The merchandise in question, invoiced as “Un-. bleached Mixed Pulp (Sulphite 50% — Groundwood 50%),” was as-; sessed for duty by the collector at the rate of 20 per centum ad valorem, under paragraph 1558 of the Tariff Act of 1930. The plaintiff claims, that the merchandise is free of duty under paragraph 1716 or paragraph 1750.

At the trial it was orally stipulated and agreed between counsel for; both sides as follows:

Mb. McQuaid: * * *
>{: if: ;jc ‡ #
The merchandise was imported in the form of sheets, and is a mixture composed of 50 percent chemical wood pulp, that is, unbleached sulphite fibers, and 50 per-1 cent mechanically ground wood pulp.
The merchandise was manufactured on machines used for the manufacture of wood pulp. During a trial run of new drying machinery sheets of mechanical pulp broke off as they passed through the driers. In view of this difficulty the, sheets were strengthened by mixing chemical pulp with mechanical pulp at the pre-drying stage. This was accomplished by the opening of a valve to infuse the chemical pulp mash into the mechanical pulp mash. The resulting product was the merchandise in question. 4
I understand that the foregoing stipulation is agreeable to the Government’s' attorney.
Mb. Vitale: The Government so agrees, your Honor, please, to those facts.I
Me. McQuaid: I understand further that he will offer in evidence a chemist’s. report of this importation. In addition-
Me. Vitale: The Government will consent that the Government chemist’s, report, laboratory report number E 8453, dated June 26, 1947, New York, be adr mitted into evidence, having the same force and effect as if the chemist had testi-^ lied in person.
[132]*132Judge Cline: It hasn’t been offered, Mr. Vitale; he just said he thought you would. Are you offering it?
Ms. McQuaid: It was my understanding that counsel for Government would offer it.
Me. Vitale : I think this would be the proper time to do it, your Honor, please, . in that we have already agreed to certain facts, and I think this supports those facts that have been agreed to.

The report was admitted in evidence as exhibit 1. Also, the official Government sample was admitted in evidence as exhibit 2. An illustrative sample of wood pulp, which was wholly chemical, was admitted in evidence as exhibit 3, and a sample of wood pulp, illustrating that which was wholly mechanical, was admitted in evidence as exhibit 4.

Gerard Larocque, a chemical engineer, testified on behalf of the plaintiff that wholly mechanical wood pulp is one of the raw materials used as a component of practically all the cheaper papers and paper-boards, but that it is not a material that can be used by itself in the making of papers, having to be mixed in varying proportions with chemical wood pulp. As an example, the witness stated that a mixture of 70 parts of the chemical wood pulp and 30 parts of the mechanical wood pulp is used in making some papers. Other mixtures vary in proportion, as the quality increases, until there is no mechanical wood pulp used, it being entirely chemical. The witness also stated that the imported merchandise, which was composed of a 50-50 mixture of the two, would be more difficult to use than wood pulp, which was wholly mechanical or wholly chemical, for the reason that there would have to be a recalculation and an adjustment of the proportions.

The witness also testified that wood pulp, whether it is wholly chemical or wholly mechanical, is used chiefly as paper stock. He described wood pulp as consisting of fibers of wood and nothing else. That is to say, the product, whether wholly chemical or wholly mechanical, is solely vegetable fibers, the same being the ultimate particle which constitutes the sheet of paper. His definition of fiber, from the paper-making viewpoint, is a small cell that can be seen with the naked eye, like a short hair, coming either from wood, or from rags, or from grasses. The witness also stated that there was little doubt in his mind that in 1930 the term “paper stock” meant fiber stock suitable for the manufacture of paper.

John J. McDonald, assistant sales manager of the pulp division of Brown Co., manufacturer of pulp and paper, and a chemist dealing with chemical wood pulp, testified on behalf of the Government that wood-pulp fibers chemically produced were longer than the wood-pulp fibers mechanically produced. The witness stated that from his experience in paper stock, the wood pulp in question would not be considered throughout the trade in the United States as paper stock. He considered that the term “paper stock” included all old papers of [133]*133all kinds; that paper stock meant old papers; that rags would be rag stock; and that old gunny sacks would be rope fiber. In the opinion of this witness, old gunny cloth, waste rope, and waste bagging would not be considered paper stock, nor would that term include grasses of any type. The witness was of the opinion, however, that the term “fibers,” in its common meaning, would apply to wood pulp and the mixture in question, because wood pulp basically is fibers, wood pulp being a term used for a collection of fibers of one type or another.

Donald A. Fraser, in business of selling wood pulp for the Soundview Pulp Co., with 28 years’ experience, testified on behalf of the Government that he was familiar with the production of wood pulp. In his opinion, the term “paper stock” at or prior to June 17, 1930, in the trade and commerce of the United States, covered old papers and not wood pulp, but he admitted that the term “fibers,” as such, could include mechanically ground and chemically ground wood pulp, although ground wood pulp was referred to in the purchase and sale thereof as ground wood and never as fibers, and chemical wood pulp was generally referred to as unbleached sulphite, or bleached sulphite, or bleached sulphate.

The witness also testified that waste rope is not paper stock; that waste bagging is not paper stock; and that burlap bagging or gunny bags are not paper stock. The witness was also of the opinion that in the ordinary meaning of the term “fibers,” wholly chemical wood pulp would not consist solely of fibers “unless you get technical about it.” The witness clarified his statement by testifying that wholly chemical wood pulp, besides the fibers, includes a certain amount of lignin left in the fiber when it is cooked, and that mechanically ground wood pulp, besides the fibers, includes all that there is in the wood, there being more lignin in ground wood than in the sulphite. The witness was-also of the opinion that the wood pulp in question could not be used in its imported condition in the same manner as chemically ground wood pulp.

The paragraphs of the Tariff Act of 1930 at issue in this case provide as follows:

Par. 1558. That there shall be levied, collected, and paid on the importation of all raw or unmanufactured articles not enumerated or provided for, a duty of 10 per centum ad valorem, and on all articles manufactured, in whole or in part, not specially provided for, a duty of 20 per centum ad valorem.
TITLE II — FREE LIST
Par. 1716.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 Cust. Ct. 131, 1952 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perkins-goodwin-co-v-united-states-cusc-1952.