Joseph McKenna

“ By an agreement between the board of general appraisers and the government on the one side and the importers on the other, we accepted in all cases the settlement test as controlling; that is, the test upon which the commercial transaction was made was the test which we accepted as the controlling one in determining the quantity or percentage of sugar on which duty was to be paid. ”

“ But the importer thereof may, within ten days after entry, abandon to the United States all or any portion of goods, wares, and merchandise included in any invoice, and be relieved from the payment of the duties on the portion so abandoned, provided the portion so abandoned shall amount to ten per centum or over of the total value of quantity of the invoice.' United States v. Southmayd, 9 How. 637, 13 L. ed. 290, imported merchandise is that which arrives in this country, and it is upon that duties are to be paid. ”

“ With no decrease in the value of its sugars, petitioner claims a decrease of duties which the law fixes by value. The petitioner wants the benefit of the weight of the old condition and the benefit of the quality of the new.
To dwell upon the relative conditions of the sugars is misleading. They are really not the same articles, and it is upon the imported article the duty must be laid. This is the purpose of the statute. It is 'such merchandise' which is imported and which is subject to an ad valorem duty according to its market value from whence it has come. ”