Thompson Hayward Chemical Co. v. United States

27 Cust. Ct. 69, 1951 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 810
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJuly 20, 1951
DocketC. D. 1350
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 27 Cust. Ct. 69 (Thompson Hayward Chemical 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
Thompson Hayward Chemical Co. v. United States, 27 Cust. Ct. 69, 1951 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 810 (cusc 1951).

Opinion

Johnson, Judge:

This action involves the classification of certain merchandise invoiced as pyretosin No. 18, a pyrethrum extract. It was in the form of a liquid. The collector assessed duty thereon at the rate of 20 per centum ad valorem under the provisions of paragraph 1558 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as a nonenumerated manufactured article. The plaintiff' claims that the merchandise is dutiable at the rate of 10 per centum ad valorem under the provisions of paragraph 34, as a natural and uncompounded drug, advanced, or as pyrethrum flowers, natural and uncompounded, advanced, at the same rate of duty under paragraph 35, or at the same rate under paragraph 1558, as a nonenumerated unmanufactured article.

[70]*70At the trial only one witness testified on behalf of the plaintiff. The Government did not call any witnesses. This witness had not seen the merchandise prepared in the country of production, which was Japan. Since he was neither a chemist nor a druggist, his statement that the imported product was prepared in the same manner as in the United States was given little weight in identifying the same. All the court had to rely upon was the report of the United States Customs Laboratory to the effect that the imported product was pyrethrum extract in a petroleum distillate. Upon such a state of facts, the court found that the merchandise was not natural and uncompounded, and therefore not classifiable under either paragraph 34 or 35, as claimed. The method of production not being shown, it was not established to be an unmanufactured article. Therefore, the assessment of the collector was upheld as being made under the proper classification. (See Thompson Hayward Chemical Co. v. United States, 16 Cust. Ct. 19, C. D. 978.)

Within the time prescribed by law, counsel for the plaintiff moved for a rehearing of the cause upon the ground that under the rules of the court, in force at the time of trial, the judge who heard the case upon circuit was required to write and participate in the decision. Inasmuch as that rule had been previously superseded without publication, and the case inadvertently had been sent to and decided by a judge of the third division to whom it had not been assigned, the motion was granted and the cause restored to the docket for all purposes.

When again coming on for trial, counsel for the plaintiff, under the rules of the court prevailing at the time of trial, moved for amendment of the protest, without objection, by the addition of the claims that the merchandise is free of duty under paragraph 1669, as inedible crude drugs, natural and uncompounded, not advanced in condition, or under paragraph 1602, as crude pyrethrum flowers, natural and uncompounded, not advanced .in condition. ...

The paragraphs of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. O.- §§ 1001 and 1201), under which the merchandise was assessed and, such as are relied upon by the plaintiff, provide as follows:

Pak. 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.
Pak. 34. Drugs, such as * * * flowers, * * * and all other drugs of vegetable or animal origin; any of the foregoing which are natural and un-compopnded drugs and not edible, and not specially provided for, but which are advanced in value or condition by shredding, grinding, chipping, crushing, or any other process or treatment whatever beyond that essential to the proper packing of the drugs and the prevention of decay or deterioration pending manufacture, •10 per centum ad valorem: Provided, That the term “drug” wherever used in this Act shall include only, those substances having therapeutic or medicinal proper[71]*71ties and chiefly used for medicinal purposes: And provided further, That no article containing alcohol shall be classified for duty under this (paragraph.
Pak. 35. * * * pyrethrum or insect flowers; all the foregoing which are natural and uncompounded, but which are advanced in value or condition by shredding, grinding, chipping, crushing, or any other process or treatment whatever beyond that essential to proper packing and the prevention of decay or deterioration pending manufacture, 10 per centum ad valorem: Provided,, That no article containing alcohol shall be classified for duty under this paragraph.
TITLE II — FREE LIST
Par. 1602. * * * pyrethrum or insect flowers, all the foregoing which are natural and uncompounded and are in a crude state, not advanced in value or condition by shredding, grinding, chipping, crushing, or any other process or treatment whatever beyond that essential to proper packing and the prevention of decay or deterioration pending manufacture: Provided, That no article containing alcohol shall be admitted free of duty under this paragraph.
Par. 1669. Drugs such as * * * flowers * * * and all other drugs of vegetable or animal origin; all the foregoing which are natural and uncompounded drugs and not edible, and not specially provided for, and are in a crude state, not advanced in value or condition by shredding, grinding, chipping, crushing, or any other process or treatment whatever beyond that essential to the proper packing of the drugs and the prevention of decay or deterioration pending manufacture: Provided, That no article containing alcohol shall be admitted free of duty under this paragraph.

Two witnesses testified on behalf of the plaintiff. The Government called no witnesses. George E. Beavers, the assistant chemist in the United States Customs Laboratory at the port of New Orleans, testified that he analyzed the merchandise at issue herein. The object of his analysis was to identify the pyrethrum in petroleum distillate. He testified that pyrethrum is a chemical compound and also that the petroleum distillate is a combination of chemical compounds. The compound extracted from the pyrethrum flower is chrysanthemum monocarboxylic acid, and consists of a chemical compound natural to the pyrethrum flower. The petroleum distillate used in the extraction process does not become a part of the chemical compound with the extracted pyrethrum and there is no chemical combination between the two compounds. They form merely a physical mixture and the pyrethrum had not become compounded.

Lindley S. De Atley, laboratory director and manager of the manufacturing department of the Thompson Hayward Chemical Co., a chemist, testified that his company manufactures drugs and industrial ajid agricultural chemicals. According to this witness, the bible of the pyrethrum industry is a book entitled “Pyrethrum Flowers” written by Dr. C. B. Gnadinger, general manager of one of the largest pyrethrum producers, and former chief of the Minneapolis Bureau of Chemistry of the United States Department of Agriculture. The book was marked in evidence as illustrative exhibit 2.

[72]*72The witness identified the pyrethrum used in the chemical industry as a daisylike flower, and also the name of products prepared from that flower, and testified that it is known to the botanist as chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium, the principal variety used as a drug.

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Bluebook (online)
27 Cust. Ct. 69, 1951 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 810, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompson-hayward-chemical-co-v-united-states-cusc-1951.