S. Handal & Sons, Inc. v. United States

7 Cust. Ct. 6, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1329
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 30, 1941
DocketC. D. 521
StatusPublished

This text of 7 Cust. Ct. 6 (S. Handal & Sons, Inc. 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
S. Handal & Sons, Inc. v. United States, 7 Cust. Ct. 6, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1329 (cusc 1941).

Opinion

KiNCHeloe, Judge:

This is an action brought by the plaintiff against the action of tbe collector of customs at the port of New York in assessing certain increased duties on cotton handkerchiefs by virtue of the Presidential proclamation set forth in T. D. 48337.

Upon the trial of this case at New York on April 10, 1940, it was requested, and consented to, that the appearance of Barnes, Richardson & Colburn be noted as associate counsel for the plaintiff, at which time the protest was limited to the items of cotton handkerchiefs wherever they appear on the invoices covered by the two entries in question.

Paragraph 918 of the Tariff Act of 1930 provides for handkerchiefs, as follows:

Par. 918. Handkerchiefs * * * wholly or in chief value of cotton, finished or unfinished, not hemmed, shall be subject to duty as cloth; hemmed or hemstitched, 10 per centum ad valorem, in addition.

The said handkerchiefs were therefore not only classified for duty as cotton cloth under the provisions of paragraph 904 of said act of 1930, according to condition and average yarn number, but were assessed with duty at the increased basic rate or rates thereon under said Presidential proclamation, plus 10 per centum additional duty under said paragraph 918, as hemmed.

The plaintiff claims in effect that the Presidential proclamation contained in said T. D. 48337 can have no application to cotton handkerchiefs, because it was not the subject of that proclamation, and because no notice was given to manufacturers of ■ handkerchiefs by the Tariff Commission when it was about to hold hearings under section 336 of the Tariff Act of 1930.

The question before us is therefore one of law as to whether or not. the notice of investigation by the Tariff Commission given pursuant to section 336 of said Tariff Act of 1930, and the proclamation of the President increasing the rate or rates of duty on certain cotton cloth under paragraph 904, could include cotton handkerchiefs.

Section 336 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which is the so-called flexible tariff provision, provides that upon a resolution of either or both Houses of Congress, or under'other circumstances not here applicable, the Tariff Commission shall investigate the differences in the cost of’ production of any domestic article and of any like or similar foreign article. It further provides that the said Commission shall hold hearings and give reasonable public notice thereof, and shall offer reasonable opportunity for parties interested to be present to produce evidence, and to be heard at such hearings. It further provides that the Commission, after said hearings, shall report to the President the [8]*8results of its investigation, and that the President may then by proclamation approve changes in rates of duty upon the merchandise •covered by such investigation.

Senate Resolution 104, 74th Congress, First Session, as reported in Congressional Record, -volume 79, part 5, at page 4680, provided as follows:

Resolved, That the United States Tariff Commission is directed, under the .authority conferred by section 336 of the Tariff Act of 1930, and for the purposes of that section, to investigate the differences in the costs of production of the following domestic article and of any like or similar foreign articles: Cotton manufactures, included in paragraphs 903 and 904 of such act.

Pursuant to said resolution, the United States Tariff Commission ■gave notice of an investigation and hearings, which said notice was published in the weekly Treasury Decisions, and which reads in part as follows (exhibit 1):

The United States Tariff Commission on this 2d day of April, 1935, under and by virtue of the powers granted by law and pursuant to the rules and regulations •of the- Commission, and in accordance with Senate Resolution 104¡ 74th Congress, and Section 336 (a), (2), of Title III of the Tariff Act of 1930, hereby orders an investigation, for the purposes of said Section 336, of the differences in costs of production of, and of all other facts and conditions enumerated in said section with respect to, the following article described in paragraphs 903 and 904 of Title I of said Tariff Act, namely, cotton cloth being wholly or in part the growth •or product of the United States, and of and with respect to like or similar articles wholly or in part the growth or product of competing foreign countries.

Thereafter the said Tariff Commission in Report No. 112, which is marked in evidence herein as exhibit 2, reported to the President of the United States, under date of April 17, 1936, the result of its findings, and thereafter the President, by virtue of the authority vested in bim by said section 336 of the Tariff Act of 1930, promulgated the following proclamation under date of May 21, 1936, published as T. D. 48337, which in part reads as follows:

Now, therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by sec. 336 (c), Title III, Part II, of the said Act do hereby approve and proclaim increases in the rates of duty expressly fixed in Paragraph 904 (b) of Title I of the said Act ■on cotton cloth, bleached, containing yarns the average number of which exceeds number 30 but does not exceed number 50, from 13 per centum ad valorem and, in addition thereto, for each number, thirty-five one-hundredths of 1 per centum .ad valorem, to 18% per centum ad valorem and, in addition thereto, for each number, one-half of 1 per centum ad valorem; and increases in the rates of duty •expressly fixed in Paragraph 904 (c) of Title I of the said Act on cotton cloth, printed, dyed, or colored, containing yarns the average number of which exceeds number 30 but does not exceed number 50, from 16 per centum ad valorem and, in addition thereto, for each number, thirty-five one-hundredths of 1 per centum ad valorem, to 22% per centum ad valorem and, in addition thereto, for each number, one-half of 1 per centum ad valorem.

[9]*9Upon these facts the plaintiff contends (1) that the notice of hearing set forth, supra, and the report to the President by the Tariff Commission (exhibit 2), does not comprehend cotton handkerchiefs such as are the subject of this suit, and (2) that the proclamation of the President, supra, does not in terms or by necessary implication cover cotton handkerchiefs.

The Government contends on its part that the notice of hearings by the Tariff Commission and the report of the Tariff Commission to the President and the proclamation, of the President all contemplate cotton cloth dutiable under paragraph 904 of the Tariff Act of 1930, and that as cotton handkerchiefs have been made dutiable as cotton cloth they necessarily come within the said proclamation.

A case very analogous to the case at bar is that of William A. Foster & Co., Inc. v. United States, 26 C. C. P. A. 59, T. D. 49599. In that case the merchandise consisted of colored cast polished plate glass, unsilvered, which was classified for duty under paragraph 222 of the Tariff Act of 1922 at 22 cents per square foot as specified in a Presidential proclamation made pursuant to the flexible tariff provisions of section 315 (a) of that act, dated January 17, 1929, and reported as T. D. 43157, and, in addition thereto was assessed with a 5 per centum ad valorem rate of duty under the provisions of paragraph 224.

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Bluebook (online)
7 Cust. Ct. 6, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1329, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/s-handal-sons-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1941.