DODGE V. UKITED STATES.
449
nses them in Rev. St. 1874, § 2505, including in the free list "cow or kine pox, or vaccine virus." The decision of the circuit court is affirmed. DODGE et al. v. UNITED STATES. (Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. January 8, 1898.) No. 42.
1
CUSTOMS DUTIES-CLASSIFICATION-RUJ,ES OF INTERPRETATION.
In construing provisions of the tariff laws, such as paragraph 558 of the act of 1894, which provides for "moss, seaweeds, and vegetable substances, crude or unmanufactured, not otherwise specially provided for in this act," the principle of "noscitur a sociis" is to be applied, so as to confine the concluding general words to vegetable substances of the same kind with those specifically enumerated. Ingersoll v. Magone, 4 C. C. A. 150, 53 Fed. 1008, distinguished.
2. SAME-CAMPHOR OIL.
Camphor oil, in its crude state, which is a heavy, oily liquid, obtained from the same tree a.s crude gum camphor (the two being mixed together without any chemical connection, and separated merely by drainage), was not dutiable as "camphor, crude," under paragraph 429 of the act of 1894, or as "moss, seaweeds, and vegetable substances" not otherwise provided for, under paragraph 558, or as "drugs, slich as barks, beans, berries," etc., not edible, and not advanced in manufacture, under paragraph 470; and the same having been classified by the collector under paragraph 60, which provides for distilled, essential, expressed, and rendered oils, etc., as against a protest naming only said paragraphs 429, 470, and 558, held, that such classification must be affirmed. 77 Fed. 602, affirmed.
This is an appeal by the importers from a decision of the circuit court, Southern district of New York, affirming a decision of the board of general appraisers which affirmed a decision of the collector of the port of New York. Albert Comstock, for appellants. Henry D. Sedgwick, Jr., for the United States. Before LACOMBE and SHIPMAN, Circuit Judges. LACOMBE, Circuit Judge. The record is not entirely clear as to how the article here imported is obtained. It comes from the same tree from which comes the crude camphor of commerce,-the whitish, translucent, crystalline, volatile substance which is well known to everyone as "camphor" or "gum camphor." The article in question is a dark-brown, heavy, oily liquid; and, as obtained from the tree, the crude gum camphor and this brown liquid are mixed together without any chem.ioal connection. They are separated merely by drainage. It may be inferred from the testimony that these products thus jointly presented are obtained by some process of distillation from the chopped-up wood of the tree,-that they are not mere exudations; but upon this point the evidence is unsatisfactory, being entirely heal'Say; and, indeed, it is not necessary to determine such question in this case. The evidence does establish the proposition that they are different SUbstances; that neither of the two is produced from the other; that neither can by any process be transformed into the other. From the crude gum camphor, refined camphor is made, 84 F.-29
84 FEDERAl.. REPORTER.
ana froni the brown liquId is inamifactured refined oHof camphor. Theboaro of appraisers found that the "merchandise is camphor oil, sometimes commercially known as 'heavy oil of camphor,' and is the crude article from which refined camphor oil is distilled." The evidence abundantly sustains this finding. The collector classified the importation for duty under paragraph 60 of the tariff act of August 23, 1894, which provides for "products or preparations known as alkalies, alkaloids, distilled oils, essential oils, expressed oils, rendered oils and all combinations. of the foregoing." The importers protested, claimingfree entry under one or the other of three paragraphs in the same act,-429, 470, and 558. Two other paragraphs (lO! and 16t) were included in the protest, but have been abandoned on the argument. It will be necessary to determine only the question whether the importation is within the terms of either of these three paragraphs. If it be not, it is immaterial to inquire how otherwise it should be classified. The importer can be heard only in support of the claims specified in his protest. Paragraph 558 refers to "moss, seaweeds, and vegetable substances, crude or unmanufactured, not otherwise specially provided for in this act." Under the familiar principle of "noscitur a sociis," this vague general phrase, "vegetable substances, crude or unmanufactured," should be restricted to such vegetable substances as are ejusdem generis with the substances specifically enumerated in tl:!is paragraph. It certainly was not the intention of this court in Ingersoll v. Magone, 4 C. C. A. 150, 53 Fed. 1008; to abrogate a rule of construction so well settled, so long established, and so convenient as this. In that case a noun of highly-specific designation, which originally covered one class of articles, had gradually, in popular speech, acquired a meaning broad enough to include another and somewhat similar class. The decision in Ingersoll v. Magone must be limited closely to the facts then before the court. This crude camphor oil presents no points of resemblance to mosses or seaweeds, and is not to be classified under paragraph 558. Paragraph 470 reads as follows: "470. Drugs, such as barks, beans, berries, balsams, buds, bulbs, bulbous roots, excrescences, fruits, flowers, dried fibers, dried insects, grains, gums and gum resin, herbs, leaves, ,lichens, mosses, nnts, roots and stems, spices. vegetables, seeds aromatic, seeds of morbid growth, weeds, and woods used expressly for dyeing; any of the foregoing drugs which are not edible. and which have not been advanced in value or condition by refining or grinding. or by other process of manufacture, and not specially provided for in this act."
The first three words of this paragraph are manifestly transposed for convenience of alphabetical arrangement. The edumeration given is: "Such drugs as barks, beans, berries, etc." U. S. v. McSorley, 13 C. C.A. 15, 65 Fed. 492. If the merchandise in question here be a drug,-and the evidence is not entirely persuasive to that conclusion,-it certainly is not a drug "such 3.S barks, .beans, berries," or any of the other varieties of drug included in the enumeration, and therefore it is not within the provisions of paragraph. 470. Paragraph 429 reads, "Camphor, crude." Whatever this importation be, it is certainly not crude camphor. As the judge who heard the cause in the circuit court expressed it:
WIEBUSCH & HILGER V. UNITED STATES.
451
"It comes with crude camphor from the tree, and Is separated from the camphor crystals by drainage. * * * 'Camphor, crude,' implies what may become camphor refined. This, * * * although it may be called 'camphor oil,' because of its origin, contains no camphor, and can never become camphor. It is not In fact, nor is called, camphor, crude."
In this conclusion we entirely concur. The decision of the circuit court is affirmed. WlEBUSCH & HILGER, Limited, v. UNITED STATES. (Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. No. 52. CuSTO)!S DUTIES TAPES. INTERPRETATION OF LAWS CLASSIFICATION ]<IEASURING
January 7, 1898.)
The tariff act of 1883 provides, In paragraph 334, for "brown and 'bleached linens, ducks, canvas, * * * handkerchiefs, lawns, or other manufactures of flax, jute, or hemp, * * * not specially enumerated or provided for." Paragraph 336 provides for "flax or linen thread, twine, and pack thread, and all manufactures of flax * * * not specially enumerated or provided for." Held, that these paragraphs were to be construed by the rule of "noscitur a sociis," so as to confine the concluding general descriptive terms to articles of like kind with those enumerated; that the former paragraph was therefore confined to woven fabrics capable of being measured by the square yard, and the latter to spun and twisted goods; and, hence, that the former covered measuring tapes mounted for use, which were woven with a warp and filling, in complete widths, with selvages.
This is an appeal from a decision of the circuit court, Southern district of New York, affirming a decision of the board of generol appraisers which reversed a decision of the collector of the port of New York. 78 Fed. 807. The articles In question are measuring tapes, mounted for use. The tapeb are woven with a warp and filling, in complete widths, with selvages, and are not spun or twisted. After the weaving, the surfaces are treated with paint, or similar composition, and. marked with letters and figures. They are then rolled up in leather cases, with metal adjuncts. The collector classified them under paragraph 216 of the tariff act of 1883, as manufactures in part of metal. It appears that flax is the component material of chief value, and for that reason the board reversed the collector; their decision being, to that extent, acquiesced in by both sides. The board (and the circuit court) held that the articles were dutiable under paragraph 336. The importer claims that they are covered by paragraph 334.
Everit Brown, for appellant. Jas. T. Van Rensselaer, for the United States. Before LACOMBE and SHIPMAN, Circuit Judges. LACOMBE, Circuit Judge. The two paragraphs in question are as follows: "334. Brown and bleached linens, ducks, canvas, paddings, cot-bottoms, diapers, crash, huckabacks, handkerchiefs, lawns, or other manufactures of flax, jute. or hemp, or of wMch flax, jute, or hemp shall be the component material of chief value, not specially enumerated or provided for in this act, thirty-five per centum ad valorem." "336. Flax or linen thread, twine, and pack thread. and all manufactures of flax, or of which flax shall be the component material of chief value, Dot