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of the paragraph and extend authority to a university or college to import philosophical and scientific instruments without reference to whether or not it was to make use of said instruments. This would certainly serve no good purpose from the standpoint of "lending encouragement to institutions of learning" within the accepted meaning of that language, and would defeat rather than enforce the clear intention of Congress as expressed in the paragraph, and would, we think, place this court in the position of assuming legislative functions.

The history of the legislation resulting in the language employed in paragraph 573 of the tariff act of 1913 is of considerable interest, and seems to indicate that Congress was giving considerable attention to the choice of the language necessary to express the legislative

purpose.

In paragraph 650 of the act of 1909 the same language is used as in the act of 1913, in paragraph 573.

In the act of 1897 in paragraph 638 we find that the word "and" is used in reference to articles imported by any society or institution incorporated for religious, philosophical, educational, scientific, or literary purposes, and that the word "or" is used in the language * for the use or order of any college * * *."

From the tariff act of 1790 to the act of 1913 Congress in its various enactments on this subject has used discrimination and care in its employment of the two words under discussion, as the apparent exigencies of the times required.

We think the legislative history of paragraph 573, and similar paragraphs, clearly indicated on the part of Congress the deliberate intention to employ the conjunction "and" in paragraph 573 of the tariff act of 1913; and that in order to entitle the importation to free entry it must be made to appear that it is imported both for the use of and by order of one of the institutions named in the paragraph.

Having determined from the record in this case that the chimes in question were not imported by order of Yale University, it follows that the importation was not entitled to free entry under the provi sions of paragraph 573 of the tariff act of 1913.

We think it is unnecessary to determine, and we do not decide the question as to whether the chimes are such philosophical or scientific instruments as come within the meaning of the terms "philosophical and scientific apparatus, utensils, instruments,"

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of paragraph 573, as to do so could in no way affect the final decision of this court.

The judgment of the Board of General Appraisers is affirmed.

STONE & DOWNER CO. ET AL. v. UNITED STATES (No. 2245).1

1. CONSTRUCTION, LEGISLATIVE HISTORY AS AID.

Where the language of a statute is ambiguous or indefinite, the action of the legislature upon amendments offered may throw some little light upon the meaning; but the mere offering of an amendment is of no value; and the legislative history has no bearing when the language of the statute is plain.

2. CONSTRUCTION OF TARIFF Laws.

Tariff laws, while subject to the same rules of construction and legal principles for the most part as other legislative acts, yet have, during a century and a half of application, acquired certain characteristics not found in other legislation, and certain definite principles of law have been laid down by the courts in construing tariff laws which of necessity do not apply to other kinds of legislation.

3. CONSTRUCTION, TARIFF LAWS COMMERCIAL.

Tariff laws are framed in the language of men engaged in commerce in order that their meaning may be clear to those who are to operate under them.

4. COMMERCIAL AND COMMON DESIGNATIONS "COMMONLY KNOWN AS."

Presumptively commercial and common designations coincide; but there are cases where they are different; and, in such cases, the use by Congress of the words "commonly known as" excludes the commercial meaning. Where the words are used with a designation having no other meaning than the commercial one, or having the same meaning commercially and commonly, nothing is added to the designation, and the word "commonly" has the same force as "usually."

5. JUDICIAL LEGISLATION.

Where the language of a law is plain, no rules of construction apply.

6. WOOL, CLOTHING AND COMBING.

Clothing wool is a short-stapled wool, usually carded, employed in the manufacture of woolens. Combing wool is a long-stapled wool, usually combed, employed in the manufacture of worsteds. Both are used in making clothing.

7. CONSTRUCTION, PARAGRAPH 18, EMERGENCY TARIFF ACT OF 1921—“WOOL, COMMONLY KNOWN AS CLOTHING WOOL"-LANGUAGE OF FORMER ACTS AS AID.

The provision of paragraph 18, emergency tariff act of 1921, for "Wool, commonly known as clothing wool," does not mean all wools used in making clothing, and does not include combing wools. In many former tariff acts the word "usually”. has been used in the same connection, and this fortifies the conclusion reached that the word "commonly" is used in that sense, and not in contradistinction to the word "commercially." Consequently the combing wool at bar was not subject to the duty imposed by the paragraph, and the manufactures of combing wool (worsted yarn and cloth) were not subject to the duty imposed by paragraph 19 of the same act upon manufactures of the kind of wool provided for in paragraph 18.

United States Court of Customs Appeals, November 17, 1923.

APPEAL from Board of United States General Appraisers, G. A. 8613 (T. D. 39473). [Reversed.]2

Sharretts, Coe & Hillis and Waterhouse & Lockett (George J. Puckhafer and Allan R. Brown, associate counsel, and Edward P. Sharretts of counsel) for appellants. William W. Hoppin, Assistant Attorney General (Charles D. Laurence, special attorney, of counsel), for the United States.

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[Oral argument October 16, 1923, by Mr. Sharretts, and Mr. Waterhouse, and Mr. Lawrence.] Before MARTIN, Presiding Judge, and SMITH, BARBER, BLAND, and HATFIELD, Associate Judges.

BLAND, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court:

The merchandise covered by this appeal consists of wool, worsted yarn, and worsted cloth. The wool was assessed for duty under paragraph 18 of the emergency tariff act of 1921, reading "wool, commonly known as clothing wool." Appellants claim that the wool in question is combing wool, and that the yarn and cloth are made from combing wool. The yarns and cloth were assessed for duty under paragraphs 287 and 288 of the act of 1913, and in addition 45 cents per pound under paragraph 19 of the emergency act. It is the contention of the importers that combing wool is not included in paragraph 18, and that their importation falls under the free list of the act of 1913, paragraph 650.

The three paragraphs with which this case is concerned are paragraphs 18 and 19 of the emergency act, and paragraph 650 of the act of 1913, as follows:

The emergency act

18. Wool, commonly known as clothing wool, including hair of the camel, angora goat, and alpaca, but not such wools as are commonly known as carpet wools: Unwashed, 15 cents per pound; washed, 30 cents per pound; scoured, 45 cents per pound. Unwashed wools shall be considered such as shall have been shorn from the animals without any cleaning; washed wools shall be considered such as have been washed with water only on the animal's back or on the skin; wools washed in any other manner than on the animal's back or on the skin shall be considered as scoured wool. On wool and hair provided for in this paragraph, which is sorted or increased in value by the rejection of any part of the original fleece, the duty shall be twice the duty to which it would otherwise be subject, but not more than 45 cents per pound.

19. Wool and hair of the kind provided for in paragraph 18, when advanced in any manner or by any process of manufacture beyond the washed or scoured condition, and manufactures of which wool or hair of the kind provided for in paragraph 18 is the component material of chief value, 45 cents per pound in addition to the rates of duty imposed thereon by existing law

and paragraph 650 of the act of 1913, reading as follows:

650. Wool of the sheep, hair of the camel, and other like animals, and all wools and hair on the skin of such animals, and paper twine for binding any of the foregoing. This paragraph shall be effective on and after the first day of December, nineteen hundred and thirteen, until which time the rates of duty now provided by schedule K of the existing law shall remain in full force and effect.

The importers' position is that the words "commonly known as clothing wool" have a well-settled meaning commercially, and with all those who are familiar with the woolen subject, and that "combing wool" is distinct from "clothing wool," and therefore not included in paragraph 18.

The Government contends that "clothing wool" is used here in a broad sense to mean all wool used for making clothing, and that the

words "commonly known as" give them a different meaning from that usually applied commercially to a class of wool.

The record sets out the testimony of numerous witnesses, all of whom have had wide experience in connection with some phase of the woolen question either as purchasers, sellers, appraisers, sorters, importers, exporters, or classifiers. It can be fairly said that there is very little controversy among the witnesses as to the meaning of the terms "clothing wool" and "combing wool." With almost perfect unanimity they have agreed that anyone and everyone knowing anything about wool as an article of commerce knows that clothing wools are the short-fibered wools commonly used by manufacturers in the woolen system of manufacturing, while combing wools are long-fibered wools commonly used by worsted manufacturers in the worsted system. The woolen system of manufacturing embraces the process of carding, while the worsted system of manufacturing embraces the process of combing. While there may be exceptions to the rule, short wools are carded and long wools are combed. The two main classes of wools, therefore, have sometimes been stated as consisting of carding wool and combing wool. But, as a general thing, carding wool and combing wool have been used synonymously. The dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias, and writers on the woolen industries, as well as such agencies of the Government as the Tariff Commission and the Agricultural Department, vary but little in their definitions of clothing wool and combing wool, and all, with but few and immaterial exceptions, define clothing wool as a wool of short fiber used in the woolen process, and distinguish it from combing wool, which they define as another class of wool having a long fiber, used in the worsted process, in which process it is combed. The following are some of the definitions taken from various sources:

Sheep are classified on the length of staple into short wools, medium wools, and long wools.

Wool is classed under three general heads: (1) The carding or clothing wools, (2) the combing or worsted wools, and (3) miscellaneous or carpet and blanket wools. (Nelson's Perpetual Loose-leaf Encyc. Vol. XII, Wool, p. 634.)

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The length of staple, which is made a basis of general classification, is largely a constitutional or breed characteristic, the staple being from 1 to 2 inches long in the finest Merinos, 8 inches or more in the Lincolns, and reaching 12 and even 15 inches in some combing wools, the length of staple suggesting the grouping of sheep into short wools, middle wools, and long wools. The fine felting wools have a short staple, as a rule, and are used for carding or yarn purposes, while the longer, more lustrous, and less wavy ones are better suited to combing and worsteds. The three main classes of wool on the basis of staple are: (1) Carding or clothing wools, or those of the Merino type, in which felting qualities are desired; (2) combing wools, in which length of staple is required and felting qualities not desired, used for hard-spun, nonfelting worsteds; and (3) miscellaneous, sometimes called carpet or blanket wools, long, strong, coarse wools, used for carpets, blankets, and coarse clothing. The clothing wools are commonly classified as picklock * *, picklock being an

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extremely fine fiber. The mass of high-grade clothing is made of the XX and X grades. The combing wools, often called Delaines, were formerly derived from the English mutton breeds, but machinery has been adapted for combing the Merino carding or felting wools, which have been lengthened by breeding and selection. The clothing wool used in the United States, aside from home production, is derived mainly from Australia, South America, and South Africa. The imported combing wool comes mainly from Great Britain, although much comes from New Zealand, Argentina, and Canada. The coarse carpet wools are the product of neglected flocks and unskilled breeding throughout the world. (New International Encyc., Wool, vol. 20, pp. 642-643.)

Wool is divided into pull and clipped or fleece wools, the former being pulled by the roots from the pelt of the dead animal, and the latter clipped from the living one. The clipped wools form the greater part of the wool in market, and these again are divided into long and short staple, or combing and clothing wools. (Appleton's New Practical Cyc., vol. 6, p. 431.)

Wools are divided into two great classes, clothing wools and combing wools, and the fabrics woven from them are termed woolens and worsteds. (Knight's Cyc. of Industry, Woolen and Worsted Manufactures, p. 1795.)

According to the Bradford system of manufacture, wools are classed as "combing'' or "clothing." A wool to be combing must be at least 24 inches in length, while wools shorter than that are used for carding and are termed "clothing."

There is a third class called "carpet wools," which includes the very coarse wools and inferior wools not well adapted to the finer class of goods for which the first two classes are used. Carpet wools are, however, either carded or combed.

The introduction of the French comb has made it possible to comb wools of a shorter length than heretofore, and many of the wools formerly used for carding or clothing are now combed with this comb and are known as "baby combing.".

The terms "staple" or "combing" and "clothing" are often added to the grade names to distinguish them. Both the staple or combing and the clothing of a given grade are the same fineness, but the combing wools are generally used for the manufacture of worsteds, while the clothing is used in the manufacture of woolens. (Encyclopedia Americana, Vol. 29, pp. 501, 502.)

Wool when shorn is divided into two classes, short wool or carding wool, seldom exceeding a length of 3 or 4 inches, and long wool or combing wool, varying in length from 4 to 8 inches, each class being subdivided into a variety of sorts according to the fineness and soundness of the staple. (Century Dictionary, 1911, Wool.)

Clothing wool-a fine, close, short-stapled wool. (Webster's New International Dictionary.)

Wool-The three main classes on the basis of staple are (1) carding or clothing wools, or those of the Merino type, in which felting qualities are desired; (2) combing wools, in which length of staple is required; and (3) miscellaneous wools, long, strong, coarse wools used for carpets, blankets, and coarse clothing, and sometimes called "carpet" or "blanket” wools. (Webster's New International Dictionary.)

Combing wool-a wool adapted for being combed. (Webster's New International Dictionary.)

Clothing wool-a compact, fine, short-fibered wool suitable for felting. (Standard Dictionary.)

Clothing wool-a wool usually short and fine in fiber, specially suited in structure of fiber for the woolen trade.-The Wool Year Book, 1923, p. 495. ("Textile Mercury" Annuals.)

The term "clothing" is applied to wools specially adapted for woolen manufacturing, distinguishing them from "combing" wools used in the production of worsted yarns. The properties relate to fineness of fiber, felting, strength and elasticity,

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