Joseph P. Bradley

“ In the estimation of the value of foreign moneys for the purpose of assessing duties, there must be an end to controversy somewhere. When Congress fixes the value by a general statute, parties must abide by that. When it fixes the value through the agency of official instrumentalities, devised for the purpose of making a nearer approximation to the actual state of things, they must abide by the values so ascertained. If the currency is a standard one, based on coin, the Secretary's proclamation fixes it ”

“ The plaintiff's own invoice is a proof of this. Whether represented by a corresponding coin of equal amount is of no consequence. It was only since the beginning of the present century that the pound sterling was thus represented; and yet its value was as fixed and certain before the sovereign was coined as since. Coin is the basis of the currency of both countries. The plaintiff concedes that the eight-florin gold piece is a standard coin of Austria ”

“ Parties cannot be permitted to go behind the proclamation, any more than they would have been permitted to go behind the statute, for the purpose of proving by parol, or by financial quotations in gazettes, that its valuations are inaccurate. The government gets at the truth, as near as it can, and proclaims it. ”