March i, 1910. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



IMPORTATION OF RECLAIMED RUBBER. 



219 



THE importers at New York of certain merchandise which the 

 port collector assessed for duty as ■'manufactures of india- 

 rubber" appealed to the board of United States general appraisers, 

 who decided that, whereas the merchandise in question had at 

 one time been in the form of manufactured articles, "it had 

 again been reduced to the crude state, and it is the condition of 

 merchandise as imported which must control in settling its classi- 

 fication, and thus the claim for free entry of this rubber must be 

 sustained." 



The rubber referred to "was reclaimed or recovered from old 

 scrap, boots and shoes and automobile tires, and in the condition 

 imported had, by reason of the processes of separation and grind- 

 ing to which it had been subjected, been reduced to a condition 

 comparable only with the crude rubber from which the articles 

 from which it was reclaimed had been originally made." [See 

 Treasury Decisions, April 15, 1909— page 21; The India Rubber 

 World, May 1, 1009 — page 285.] 



Within a month following this decision the Treasury depart- 

 ment issued an order to port collectors : "After a careful con- 

 sideration of this question, the department is of the opinion that 

 the merchandise is a non enumerated manufactured article, and 

 you are accordingly directed to classify future importations there 

 of - - - at the rate of 20 per cent, ad valorem." [See Treas- 

 ury Decisions, May 13, 1909— page 3 ; The India Rubber World, 

 June 1, 1909 — page 309.] 



The original protestants, The Michelin Tire Co., have not been 

 idle meanwhile, and a new set of protests, in respect of imports of 

 reclaimed rubber, has been before the general appraisers. [See 

 Treasury Decisions, February 10, 1910 — page 27.] 



In the first place, the appraisers point out that the govern- 

 ment has taken no appeal from their original decision. "Conse- 

 quently it stands at this writing as an authoritative interpreta- 

 tion of the statue governing the classification of the character 

 of rubber here involved." 



A new hearing having been granted, considerable new testi- 

 mony was adduced, in the face of which the appraisers [through 

 Mr. McClelland] decide: 



It was unmistakably disclosed upon the hearing that certain domestic 

 interests engaged in the reclaiming and recovery of rubber are affected 

 hy the admission free of duty of this rubber, and that therefore the 

 evidence of the representatives of these interests as given is not to be 

 •considered as wholly disinterested. They desire the imposition of a duty 

 on th's merchandise as a matter of protection against so called foreign 

 competition; but it is the duty of this board to interpret the law as it 

 is written, regardless of how it may affect conflicting interests. The law 

 making power must be presumed to have determined the question of 

 ■whether a duty for the protection of domestic interests should be im- 

 posed. If there is one thing that such added evidence tends to show 

 more than another it is the inferiority both from the standpoint of value 

 and use of this so called reclaimed or recovered rubber to crude rubber, 

 and the further fact that by itself, as a material for manufacture, it is 

 practically valueless, its only practical use being in combination with 

 crude rubber, and its value is shown to be from one-tenth to one-twelfth 

 of pure crude rubber in its original state. 



It is unquestioned that all kinds of crude rubber before importation 

 have been subjected to various cleansing processes, but no Classifying 

 officer or judicial authority has ever gone so far as to hold that these 

 cleansing and purifying processes made the cleansed or purified rubber 

 other than crude; and if crude rubber thus cleansed and purified is 

 entitled to free entry we think, on the same basis of reasoning, that 

 leclaimed or recovered rubber which, by various processes, chemical and 

 otherwise, has been reduced from old scrap to the crude state, is also 

 entitled to free entry. 



A final point in the appraiser's decision is that, since their 

 original decision, the Congress has considered and passed upon 

 a revision of the tariff schedules, and it must be presumed that 

 the rulings of the board were known to the Congress. Hence, 

 since no modification or change in the language of the old law is 

 embodied in the new law — 



Other than a mere rearrangement of words which does not alter or 

 narrow or broaden the scope of the paragraph, we must assume that the 

 law as it stood, together with the interpretations put upon it by the 



board, were satisfactory to the law making body, and that no change 

 therein was desired. 



Following is the paragraph in the Tariff act under which re- 

 claimed rubber thus becomes entitled to entry under the free list: 



"501. India-rubber, crude, milk of, and scrap or refuse india- 

 rubber, fit only for remanufacture and which has been worn out 

 by use." 



* * * 



It will be understood that the board of United States general 

 appraisers has a judicial rather than an administrative character, 

 and that its decisions may be appealed from by the government, 

 the same as in the case of any other Federal court. The India 

 Rubber World is advised that the treasury department, which 

 hitherto has regarded reclaimed rubber as properly dutiable, 

 has directed the collector of customs at New York to file an 

 application in the United States circuit court for a review of 

 the decision of the appraisers in the matter of the admission of 

 reclaimed rubber. The meaning of the new condition is that 

 duties will be paid under protest until a court decision is reached. 

 This may not reasonably be expected for several months; the 

 matter may remain in dispute for years. 



T 



RUSSIAN RUBBER SCRAP IN AMERICA. 



D the Editor of The India -iuiiuiuiod 3 q X :crraoAY aaaan-g 

 ation headed "Old Rubber Shoes in Russia," in your issue 

 of January 1 (page 155), prompts me to offer the following 

 remarks : 



During the current year the American rubber reclaiming works 

 will not be successful in following their policy of depressing the 

 price of old rubber shoes, even though they should unite ten 

 times over, or refrain for a considerable length of time from 

 purchasing old rubber shoes. Although they may possibly suc- 

 ceed in buying 100 or 150 tons of Russian scrap at a low price, 

 this amount would not by any means be sufficient for their 

 requirements. 



Last year's supply of old rubber shoes, which had been ac- 

 cumulating in Russia for two years, because America did not 

 buy on account of the financial panic, has now been exhausted, 

 and the quantity available in Russia during the current year will 

 amount to at most 50 per cent, of the supply which had accu- 

 mulated in previous years, inasmuch as the sale of new rubber 

 shoes during the present winter season has been 50 per cent, 

 less than in past years. 



New rubber is very high in price, and the crop is said to 

 have been poor. Some additional rubber reclaiming works, 

 however, are to be started in America during the current year, 

 and it is reported that American dealers in old rubber have only 

 a very small supply of old rubber shoes to offer. 



The American rubber reclaiming works will, therefore, only 

 have the choice between suspending operations during the cur- 

 rent year, or very considerably advancing the prices they are 

 willing to pay for old rubber shoes, to procure supplies, for they 

 should not forget that the English rubber works are at present 

 likewise using large amounts of old rubber shoes. 



Those who now buy old rubber shoes at the prevailing low 

 rates, and hold some time before selling the goods, will undoubt- 

 edly make a great deal of money. 



Again, in your January issue, on page 153, I see, under the 

 heading "American Imports of Scrap Rubber," that Russian 

 scrap holds a very important position in the United States 

 market. It appears that Russia supplies direct 35 to 45 per cent, 

 of the total American importation. Not only this, but of the 

 amount imported from Germany perhaps 85 per cent, is derived 

 1 riginally from Russia. 



Consequently the question arises : What would the rubber 

 reclaiming works of America do without Russian scrap? 



a dealer in scrap rubber. 



St. Petersburg, Russia. February o, ioio. 



