Arthur v. Pastor/Opinion of the Court

by Stanley Matthews

United States Supreme Court

109 U.S. 139

Arthur  v.  Pastor

The construction of the statute, and the rule of computation adopted by the collector, proceeds upon the supposition that the rate of duty to be charged and collected upon washed wool is to be double that charged and collected upon the same weight and value of unwashed wool. Hence, because 3,294 pounds of unwashed wool would be chargeable with a duty of 10 cents per pound, and 11 per cent. of its appraised value as unwashed wool, it is found that the same weight of washed wool would be chargeable with 20 cents per pound, and 22 per cent. of its appraised value as washed wool.

The error in this calculation clearly is in assuming that the same number of pounds of unwashed wool would be worth as much as washed wool; a supposition which is inconsistent with the fact, as admitted, and with the evident meaning of the law. The language of the act of congress is too plain to admit of doubt. It declares that the duty upon a given quantity of washed wool shall be twice the amount of duty 'to which it would be subjected if imported unwashed.' By the terms of the comparison the weight is supposed to be the same in both cases-in the case, as actually presented, a quantity of wool weighing 3,294 pounds. Hence the duty, so far as determined by weight, is calculated upon the same number of pounds, being 11 cents per pound for the unwashed wool and 22 cents per pound for the washed wool. But when the ad valorem duty is to be determined, the relative values necessarity determine its amount; and as 3,294 pounds of unwashed wool is to be appraised at $813.50, while the same weight of washed wool would be twice that sum, or $1,627, it follows that the duty on the latter is to be double that which the law imposes upon the former, namely, 22 per cent. of $813.50, which is equal to $178.97, and not 22 per cent. on $1,627, equal to $357.94, as charged by the collector. If the rule adopted by him should prevail, the amount of the ad valorem duty collected upon equal weights of unwashed and of washed wool would be four times as great upon the latter as upon the former, for not only is the rate of duty doubled, but it is assessed upon double the value of the unwashed wool. But the statute expressly limits the duty in the case of washed wool to double the amount to which it would be subjected if imported unwashed.

It is admitted in argument that the letter of the law justifies, if it does not require, this conclusion; but it is urged that the meaning of the statute requires the construction which would impose rates of duty upon washed wool double those imposed upon unwashed, calculated upon the weight and value of each, separately considered. And this contention is maintained upon the argument that the contrary reading of the statute implies that congress has made the appraised value of wool in its unwashed state the standard for determining the amount of ad valorem duty to be collected upon washed wool, which, it is insisted upon the argument, ad inconvenienti, is not admissible. But this is not by implication merely, but expressly what the act declares; and any fancied or real objections to such a standard cannot affect the obvious meaning of the law. It is obvious, however, that the natural division of wools into the grades unwashed, washed, and scoured, carried into the act as the ground of difference in the amount of duties to be assessed accordingly, fully explains the intention of congress to tax the wool itself uniformly by varying the amount of duty according to the degree to which a given quantity has been freed, by processes of cleansing, from the dirt and foreign matter with which, in its unwashed state, it is usually found.

There is no error in the record, and the judgment is affirmed.

Notes