Comey & Johnson Co. v. United States

This controversy turns upon the construction .to be given paragraph 477 of the tariff act of 1909, which is in the following language:

477. Plush, black, known commercially as hatters’ plush, composed of silk, or of silk and cotton, such as is used exclusively for making men’s hats, 10 per centum ad valorem.

The importation in question was assessed under the" provisions of paragraph 399 of the same act at the rate of $2.40 per pound, or about 60 per cent ad valorem, as a silk plush.

Many of the difficulties in this inquiry are overcome, and fight shed thereupon, by the ascertainment of the…