July 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL 
AaEICULTURIST. 
51 
TEA ENTERING U. STATES OF AMERICA : 
STRINGENT CUSTOMS REGULATIONS. 
The Treasury Department, New York, has just 
issued Circular No. 51 contained in No. 14, vol. 1, 
" Treasury Decisions," containing the act to prevent 
the importation of impure and unwholesome tea and 
the regulation and standards which take effect on 
May 1, 1899, excepting in the case of teas shipped from 
abroad prior to April 1, 1899, which will be governed 
by the old standards. 
Section 2 provides that the examination of teas 
shall be made by means of samples to be drawn from 
packages designated by the collector and to be 
furnished by the importer, and of additional samples 
to be obtained by the examiner. The importer shall 
furnish a sworn statement that any samples submitted 
by him to the examiner are drawn from packages 
designated by the collector and covered by his entry 
(naming the vessel), and that they represent the 
true qualities of each and every part of the invoice 
(including the proportion of dust), and accord with the 
specifications therein contained. The importer shall 
submit with his entry a chop list or specification of 
the several lines included in the invoice, and the 
collector shall select for examination packages re- 
presenting the difierent lines. The examination and 
report upon such samples shall be made in accordance 
with the provisions of section 7 of the tea act. 
In comparing with standards, examiners areto test 
all the teas on these points, namely, for quality, for 
any foreign matter on the surface of the infusion, 
sometimes called scum, and for quality of leaf after 
infusion. Quality shall be ascertained by drawing 
according to the custom of the tea trade with the 
weight of a half dime to the cup. In Country Green 
teas, Imperial Hysons coarse leaf Gunpowders, and 
extra young Hysons are to be compared with Hyson 
standards, and all other young Hysons and small 
leaf Gunpowders with the young Hysoa standard. 
The quality must be equal to standard, but the 
flavour may be that of a different district as long as 
it is equal in sweetness. As an illustration, a Teenkai 
may be equal to a iMoyune, but a distinctly smoky or 
rank Fychow, or Wencho of sour character, must not 
be considered as equal to the two first mentioned. 
In order to test for floating colouring matter or 
scum, and also for the quality of infused leaf, a 
second drawing should be made for any floating sub- 
stance, and after pouring off the water the infused 
leaf should be taken out so as to exhibit the lower 
side which rested against the cup. Should the mass 
show a larger quantity of exhausted or decayed leaf, 
or foreign substance than the standard, it shall be 
considered inferior in quality, and the tea must be 
rejected. In greens and Japans particularly, the 
brightness of the leaf should be considered as an 
evidence of quality. 
Should a tea prove, on examination, to be plainly 
inferior to the standard in any one of the requisites 
— viz., quality, scum, or quality of infused leaf, it 
shall be rejected, notwithstanding that it be superior 
to the standard in some qualifications. All consider- 
ation of the appearance or so-called style of the 
dry leaf shall be omitted. 
In the case of Ceylon and India teas, the needle 
leaf and Pekoe tips shall be separated by passing 
them together with the dust through a No, 2S sieve 
of No. 30 brass wire after the tea has been first 
sifted through a No. 16 sieve. Dust and fannings 
in Japan teas must not exceed 4 per cent, when 
tested by a No. 30 sieve of No. 31 brass wire. Be- 
fore condemning any tea for dust, examiners shall 
sieve at least two packages. 
Examiners should preserve in tin, for one year, 
samples of all teas examined for future reference 
in case of complaints, and the Board of General 
Appraisers should also retain a portion of all sam- 
ples sent them on appeal for the same object. To 
this end, examiners should always send the Board 
samples of at least half a pound, and never other- 
jjjiSe ^haq iu tin cans securely labeled, 
Statistics showing the quantities of various kinds 
of less admitted and rejected should be kept at the 
custom houses for future reference. 
In all cases of rejections by examiners, the im- 
porter should be notified of the reason for rejection 
— that is, whether it be on the ground of quality, 
character of infused leaf, dust, scum, or admixture 
with foreign substance. 
Whenever Japan teas shall be imported hereafter, 
so made up as to imitate the green teas of China, 
examiners will compare such teas with the pan-fired 
standards for Japan teas. Should such teas be made 
up so as to imitate Congous, they will be compared 
with the North China standards for Congous. 
In cases of importations of tea containing an 
excessive amount of dust, the dust can be exported 
after sifting and tea admitted to entry if found up 
to tea standards. — The Planter, May 27. 
SUIT V, THE AMERICAN CUSTOMS. 
The application recently made before Judge 
Lacombe for an icjuacbion against tlie Collector 
of the Port, the Tea Examiner, and the Board 
of General Appraisers, to prevent the rejection 
of certain teas which, it is asserted, differ in 
certain respects from the established standards 
and yet are equal thereto in purity, wholesome- 
ness, and fitnesss for consumption and quality 
within the crue intent and meaning of the acc, 
lias been denied. 
It is claimed that the regulations of the Treas- 
ury under which rejections are made are illegal ; 
that the true intent and purpose of the act is 
to prevent the importation of pure and un- 
wliolesome tea ; that it is ridiculous and un- 
reasonable to suppose that Congress intended by 
this legislation to permit the Secretary of the 
Treasury to determine the grade of tea which 
the American people were permitted to drink ; 
that Congress could not confer upon the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury the power to deslare what 
teas should be imported into the United States ; 
that a wrong meaning has been given to the 
word "quality," 
" The purpose of a standard is that there may 
be a fixed and stable measure by which smaller 
articles can be tested, but if by the word 
■quality' Congress meant to place it in the 
power of the Secretary, of the Treasury to fix 
and establish the teas admissible into the United 
States according to their taste and flavour, then 
not only is it possible that the widest fluctua- 
tions may exist from year to year in fixing of 
the standards, bub the determination of whether 
teas offered for import are inferior in flavour 
and taste to tlie standards so established must 
necessarily fluctuate with the varying skill or 
delicacy of taste of tea experts. It needs no 
argument to show that to subject an exten- 
sive trade in a commodity of foreign production 
which must be purchased many months in ad- 
vance of its arrival at our ports, subject to the 
variations of seasons, to entry under such a rule 
is to imperil all security of trade and to put the 
merchant under a hazard of loss for which there 
can be no compensation of gain to any other part 
of the commanity. For even if such a construc- 
tion of the statute were not oppressive upon the 
importer, it would still be a harsh and unjust rule 
in its application to the consumei-. It would 
exohide inferior grades of tea, although entirely 
genuine and wholesome, and would compel the 
poorer classes of citizens to purchase higher grades 
of tea presumably more costly and possibly less to 
their liking. To that extent it would interfere 
with the natural liberty of the citziens and the 
choice of commodities which it is the general 
ji)olicy ' the law tg extead rathev than to restrigtj 
