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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
An Important Decision.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
In the matter of the protest of Lowman &
Hanford Stationery and Printing Company
against the decision of the Collector of Customs
at Port Townsend, Wash., as to the rate and
amount of duties chargeable on certain cat gut
strings for. musical instruments imported by
that firm in September last, the General Ap-
praisers of the Treasury Department have ren-
dered the following decision :
The merchandise covered by the protest con-
sists of violin and banjo strings made of catgut,
and was assessed for duty by the collector at 25
per cent, ad valorem, under paragraph 326^ of
the tariff act of August 28th, 1894, which reads
as follows:
" 326^. Musical instruments or parts there-
of (except pianoforte actions and parts thereof),
Strings for musical instruments not otherwise
enumerated, cases for musical instruments, pitch
pipes, tuning forks, tuning hammers and metro-
nomes, 25 per cent, ad valorem."
The importers claim the articles to be free of
duty under paragraph 431 of said tariff act,
which places on the free list "catgut, whipgut
or wormgut, unmanufactured, or not further
manufactured than in strings or cords.''
Paragraph 351 of the same act (1894) imposes
a duty of 25 per cent, ad valorem also on '' manu-
factures of . . . catgut, or whipgut, or worm-
gut, . . . or of which these substances or
either of them is the component material of chief
value, not specially provided for therein.
The articles in question are '' manufactures of
catgut." They are also "catgut not further
manufactured than in strings, " and are, further-
more, '' strings for musical instruments.'' They
might, therefore, be properly classified under
either of the said three paragraphs in the absence
of the other two, and the question is how to
harmonize the three paragraphs so as to arrive
at the intent of Congress which is supposed to
be expressed in the law. In construing these
paragraphs due weight must be given to the
well-settled rule that the more specific descrip-
tion of the merchandise must prevail over the
more generic one. (Arthur v. Lahey, 96 U. S.,
112.) Also, that a well-established commercial
designation is to prevail over the common de-
signation of an article, if the two are different
one from the other. (Robertson v. Soloman,
130 U. S., 412.)
It will become necessary to resort to a brief
review of tariff legislation on this subject in order
to make our conclusion clear.
The tariff act of March 3d, 1883, contains the
following provisions :
Par. 488. " All strings of catgut, or any other
like material, other than strings for musical in-
struments, 25 per cent, ad valorem."
Par. 671. (Free List.) " Catgut strings, or gut
cord, for musical instruments."
THE
Par. 672. (Free List.) " Catgut or whipgut,
unmanufactured.''
Prior to 1883 catgut strings for musical in-
struments weie made free under various tariff
acts from 1832 to 1842, after which they were
made dutiable at from 15 to 20 per cent, ad
valorem until the tariff act of 1874 was passed,
when they were again made free as "catgut
strings or gut cord for musical instruments."
The tariff act of October 1st, 1890, in para-
graph 529, made free '' catgut, whipgut or worm-
gut, unmanufactured, or not further manufac-
tured than in strings or cords." The present
tariff act of 1894 reproduces these exact words
in paragraph 431 of the free list, as shown above.
It is perfectly clear that this paragraph was
intended to be a condensation of paragraphs 671
and 672 of the tariff act of 1883 above quoted,
and was intended to embrace strings for musical
instruments made of catgut. The law was so con-
strued by the Board in re Schoen (G. A. 311) as
far back as February 5th, 1891, and this decision
was acquiesced in without appeal by the govern-
ment.
Reverting to paragraph 326^ (Act of 1894),
it will be noticed that the phrase reads "strings
for musical Instruments not otherwise enu-
merated. ''
The rule of law is that where two provisions
of a tariff act apply to an imported article, the
first of which provisions is qualified by the
phrase " not otherwise provided for," while the
second contains no such qualifying phrase,
the article Is properly dutiable under the second
provision, and must be held to be therein
'' otherwise provided for " so as to take it out of
the operation of the first provision. (Zucker v.
Magone, 37 Fed. Rep., 776; Arthur v. Victor,
127 U. S., 572.) The clause in the mind of Con-
gress, where certain strings for musical instru-
ments were supposed to be " otherwise enumer-
ated," must have been the clause enumerating
the strings described in paragraph 431 of the
free list as " catgut, not further manufactured
than in strings," which, as we have shown, had
been construed to embrace strings for musical
instruments made of catgut. Unless this be
true, there is no scope for the operation of the
words "not otherwise enumerated" in said
paragraph 326^. The rule of interpretation is
that statues should be construed harmoniously
so as to give meaning and operation to them in
all of their parts, if possible.
We accordingly are of the opinion that the
two paragraphs under consideration can be
satisfactorily harmonized only by paraphrasing
them as follows, so far as the articles in question
are concerned, as if Congress had said all strings
for musical instruments shall be dutiable at 25
per cent, ad valorem, provided that catgut not
further manufactured than into such strings
shall be free.
The testimony taken at the hearing of the case
fully sustains this view. It is there shown that
the attention of the Senate Finance Committee,
having charge of the Wilson Tariff Bill (1894),
was especially directed to prior legislation on
this particular subject; and also to the further
fact that there is no American industry which
could be injured in any particular by the free
importation of such articles, the material pro-
duced from American sheep and lambs (which
are the only intestines used for such purposes)
not being for many good reasons suitable for the
manufacture of such strings. They are said to
CELEBRATED
STEGER
contain too much grease, which is required to
be removed by an expensive chemical process,
and the bleaching required is also another item
of expense. This destroys their strength and
tone and also discolors them, so as to prevent
successful competition with the foreign or im-
ported strings of this class.
The protest, claiming the merchandise to be
free under such paragraph 431, as catgut strings
not further manufactured than into strings for
musical instruments, is sustained, and the col-
lector's decision is reversed with instructions to
reliquidate the entry accordingly.
DAMPER FOR SWISS MUSIC BOXES.—William
H. Hoschke, Brooklyn, N. Y. For boxes hav-
ing a pin cylinder acting on the teeth of a fixed
comb, this invention provides an improved in-
dependent danfper attachment for the teeth of
the comb, so arranged that the damper only acts
on the tooth immediately previous to the sound-
ing of the tooth by the corresponding pin of the
pin cylinder.
AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.—The same
inventor has obtained a patent for a musical in-
strument in which a traveling perforated sheet
actuates the star wheel or other picking mechan-
ism engaging and sounding the comb. The
star cylinder has rotable disks, each with pick-
ing pins and gravity plungers, a traveling sheet
having slots for the plungers, while a revolving
cylinder has blades to engage the ends of the
plungers extending below the traveling sheet.
The improvement is designed to prevent tearing
or otherwise injuring the sheet, whereby the
sheets may be used over again without danger
of changing the tunes.
53 1 '359- Music Box Damper, G. A. Bruch-
hausen.
531,323. Musical Instrument, R. H. Mayland %
531,631. Apparatus for holding and tuning
strings of pianos, Karl Haake, Hanover, Ger-
many, assignor to Robert Thompson, Christ
Church, New Zealand. Filed September 15th,
1893. Serial No. 485,522. (No model.) Patent-
ed in England January ioth, 1888 ; No. 420 ; in
Victoria, March 27th, 1888; No. 5,730; in New
South Wales, August 6th, 1888, No. 838; in
New Zealand, March 23d, 1889, No. 3,371 ; and
in South Australia, July 2d, 1889, No. 1,342.
531,803. Music leaf-turner, Thomas Manion,
Schenectady, N. Y. Filed July 16th, 1894.
Seriel No. 517,628. (No model.)
531,831. Organ, Theodore P. Brown and An-
drew H. Hammond, Worcester, Mass. Filed
June 21st, 1894. Serial No. 515,215. (Nomodel.)
531,844. Automatic machine for voicing or-
gan-reed tongues, Andrew H. Hammond, Wor-
cester, Mass. Filed June 21st, 1894. Serial
No. 515,242. (No model.)
531,890. Coin-controlled electrical musical
instrument, Philip Wuest, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.
Filed September 12th, 1893. Serial No. 485,-
358. (No model.)
are noted for their fine singing quality ol
tone and great durability.
The most
profitable Piano for dealers to handle.
MPIANOS
STEG-ER & CO., Manufacturers,
PATENTED 1892.
Factory, Columbia Heights.
235 WABASH AVENUE, CHICAGO.