Melville Fuller

“ We concur with counsel for the government that, if the construction or application of the Constitution of the United States, within the meaning of § 5, act of 1891, is involved in every case where one claims that, according to his interpretation of a statute, excessive duty or tax has been demanded by executive officers, the provisions of that act making decisions of the circuit court of appeals in revenue cases final are of very limited value, and this court must entertain direct appeals from the circuit courts in most tariff and tax controversies, which we regard as out of the question. ”

“ The interpretation of the statute and validity of the regulations were at once challenged by importers, who claimed that the reading of a polariscope is not affected by change in temperature; and, further, that the term 'polariscopic test' in the tariff act of 1897, according to its well-settled commercial use, as well as by the language itself, requires testing only in the way theretofore observed by merchants, and forbids any correction of the result observed by the eye. ”

“ United States, and American Sugar Ref. Co. v. United States, appeal was taken to the circuit court, southern district of New York, which was decided May 4, 1903. 123 Fed. 327. That court reversed the judgment of the general appraisers, holding that the term, 'testing by the polariscope,' had a well-settled commercial meaning prior to 1897, and must be interpreted according thereto. ”