Stanley Doggett, Inc. v. United States

10 Cust. Ct. 161, 1943 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 723
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 6, 1943
DocketC. D. 744
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 10 Cust. Ct. 161 (Stanley Doggett, 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
Stanley Doggett, Inc. v. United States, 10 Cust. Ct. 161, 1943 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 723 (cusc 1943).

Opinion

Walker, Judge:

The importation at bar is described on the consular invoice accompanying the entry papers as “Vegetable Logwood Extract” and has been termed by one of the plaintiff’s witnesses a “modified logwood extract.” The exact method of preparation of the product involved has not been shown, but it appears to be undisputed that similar products are prepared by precipitating logwood extract with a combination of sodium bichromate and ferrous sulphate, the precipitate being oxidized in some manner, either by subjecting it to a current of air, or chemically, after which the material is filtered and dried.

Logwood is a wood that grows in South and Central America and in the West Indies, and is sometimes called “Campeachy wood,” no doubt due to the fact that its discovery was in the vicinity of the Gulf of Campeachy in Central America. The wood, which is very heavy and sinks in water, was first found by the Spaniards who followed Columbus in 1500, they having discovered that it colored water black.

There is a coloring principle in the wood known as haematoxylin. The evidence discloses that in preparing logwood extract the wood is chipped, the chips are placed in an extractor and subjected to steam [163]*163and water, in which the coloring principle is extracted in a thin liquor, which is evaporated to any desired consistency.

It appears that in the manufacture of logwood extract a certain portion of it oxidizes on contact with the air, but that in order to use the coloring principle therein, haematoxylin, as a color it is necessary to oxidize it completely, which , is done by the use of nitrate of soda and acetic acid, by the use of potassium biphromate, or by blowing air through it. Haematein is the oxidation product of haematoxylin.

A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the imported product, as shown by exhibit 1, reveals that it contains 21.54 per centum of chromium oxide, 0.45 per centum of iron oxide, and the balance, of about 78 per centum, logwood extract.

It was classified and assessed with duty by the collector of customs under the provisions of paragraph 70 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which read as follows:

Par. 70. Chrome yellow, chrome green, and other colors containing chromium, in pulp, dry, or ground in or mixed with oil or water, 25 per centum ad valorem.

The protest claims that it should be rightly classified under the provisions of paragraph 38 of the same act, which read as follows:

Par. 38. Extracts, dyeing and tanning: Chestnut, cutch, chlorophyll, divi-divi, fustic, hemlock, logwood, mangrove, myrobalan, oak, Persian berry, quebracho, sumac, saffron, safflower, saffron cake, valonia, wattle, and other extracts, decoc-tions, and preparations of vegetable origin used for dyeing, coloring, staining, or tanning, not specially provided for, and combinations and mixtures of the foregoing articles in this paragraph, 15 per centum ad valorem: Provided, That no article containing alcohol shall be classified for duty under this paragraph.

or, in the event it be deemed the proof is not sufficient therefor, under paragraph 71, which reads as follows:

Par. 71. Gas black, lampblack, and all other black pigments, by whatever name known, dry or ground in or mixed with oil or water, and not specially provided for, 20 per centum ad valorem.

The rule of statutory construction known as the rule of ejusdem generis and certain legislative history are invoked by plaintiff in support of the claim that the' merchandise is not properly classifiable under paragraph 70, sufra. While there dqes not seem to be any question but that the merchandise represented by exhibit 1 is a color containing chromium, dry, it is pointed out that exhibit 1 is not of the class or character of colors particularly enumerated, viz, chrome yellow and chrome green, in that the coloring principle in the merchandise at bar is vegetable in character, while the coloring principle in chrome yellow and chrome green is mineral.

In our view plaintiff has not established such a difference in character between the article at bar and the particular articles enumerated in paragraph 70, supra, as would exclude the former from classification under the general words “other colors containing chromium” [164]*164by the application of the rule. Aside from the single difference of the kind of coloring principle already referred to, which would not appear to be so vital an element of character as would substantially differentiate the article at bar from the class of the particular colofs named in paragraph 70, the article at bar has other elements of similarity to such colors. It would appear from the record that it has similar uses, or, at least, no difference of use was established, and it was apparently produced by a method similar to that by which chrome yellow is produced, i. e., by precipitation resulting from the addition of a solution of a base to an acid solution.

In his opening statement counsel for the plaintiff said:

* * *. The chromium oxide and the iron oxide [found in the article at bar! are mordants in fixing the coloring matter in logwood extract to the various materials that are colored, dyed, or stained with this color. That is the purpose of the chromium and the iron oxide in the merchandise at bar. * * *.

This statement does not seem to be borne out by the record. It appears from the testimony adduced that when the merchandise at bar is used in dyeing a separate mordant is necessary.

Nor does examination of the legislative history of the paragraph tend to support _ the contention of the plaintiff. The immediate predecessor of the existing paragraph 70 was paragraph 72 of the Tariff Act of 1922, which was, word for word, identical in language. The predecessor of paragraph 72 of the Tariff Act of 1922 was paragraph 54 of the Tariff Act of 1913, which reads as follows:

Chrome yellow, chrome green, and all other chromium colors in the manufacture of which lead and bichromate of potash or soda are used, in pulp, dry, or ground in or mixed with oil or water, 20 per centum ad valorem.

It will be at once seen that the present provision, as well as paragraph 72 of the Tariff Act of 1922, contains a somewhat broader “basket” provision than the foregoing.

In the Summary of Tariff Information, 1920, prepared for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives at the time the revision of the Tariff Act of 1913 was under consideration, at page 102, under the heading “General Information” relating to paragraph 54, supra, and the subheading “Description and uses,” we note that chrome yellow, chrome green, and chrome red are discussed, as well as zinc yellow, which, under Abstract 37062, T. D. 35000, was held by this court to be dutiable under paragraph 61 of the act of 1913, providing for pigments containing zinc, rather than under paragraph 54, supra.

It appears very likely that the abstract decision referred to, as well as Abstract 37081 (T. D. 35020), relating to oxide of chromium, containing no lead or potassium or sodium bichromate, which was held to be dutiable under paragraph 63 of the same act, providing for [165]*165paints, colors, pigments, etc., rather than under paragraph 54, supra, had much to do with the subsequent revision of the chromium color provision.

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Related

Protests 39599-K of Stanley Doggett, Inc.
12 Cust. Ct. 227 (U.S. Customs Court, 1943)

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Bluebook (online)
10 Cust. Ct. 161, 1943 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 723, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stanley-doggett-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1943.