The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1870-03-02
5000 PER YEAR.

| lent affect the question The degree of skill in
genuity or cunning with which the fraud is contr-
we'd can make no difference. Nor, gentlemen, is it
true as eontended, that the forfeiture IN such
is limited to the mere goods in relation TO which
such fraudulent practice is used. The language OF
the statute Is too explicit to admit of any doubt rs to
/ its meaning ''If any owner consignee of any
| goods, wares and mercantise shall knowingly make
or attempt to make entry thereof by means OF any
/ false Invoice or fraudulent practice such goods,
wares and merchandise shall be forfeited. y ~ 49,
| What are the goods, wares and merchandise that
shall be forfeited? Plainly the goods entered at
tempted TO be entered at the Custom House. There
was but one entry, but one invoice in this case.
The acts done. taken together constitutes an entry
of the goods entry of this whole invoice or i'm
portationo of sngar If, in the attempt to efeet that
object, fraudulent means have besn used, the goods
so entered are forfeited 1t Is therefore the Whole
invoice that is forfeited or nothing t.-s .,r,
Having disposed of these matters, we approach,
gentlemen, TO the more serious part of the and
the real merit of the transaction 1t will strike you
as curiohs that the Government should affirm that
a practice bad been rcsored to which Is morally and
legally fraudulent and that this practice or contr-
vance should be admitted to have been used, and
should be defended and justified on legal and, ] be-
neve, moral grounds II is not Omen tnaT eOunsrT
of distinguished ability and high character are SO to-
fally at Variance upon moral well as legal ques
tions. 1t becomes duty, therefore, to consider
what is the true view to be taken of this transac
ton. y p = -lu Lfiit y iNHt on
You are aware that Congress has established color
as standard of duty the standard, rather where
by to determine the duty on sugar. It has been
stated and the TACT Is mol disputed, tndt
adoption Of this mode Of assessing the duties,
the result of very many experiments and attempts
to establish other bases or rules by Which TO deter
mine the amount OF duties 10 be placed on this
species of merchandise.
Mr.. Bridge informs us that he thinks this stand
ard is, upon the whole, the best and most satisfac
tory ever adopted, aud such seems TO be the fact.
What, then, was the motive of Congress in adopt
ing the standard of color! tits plain, gentlemen,
that except so far prOtectioBs concerned, color
could only be nationally adopted as indicative of
salue-not as invariably indicating H. but rs gener
ally doing so, and as affording, upon the whole,
the best, most convenient, and most appreciable
test of the value and the quality Of the article.
That it is so in this case, has been established by
the Witnesses for though they state that color is
not the sole criterion of value, and that there are
other considerations OF great Importance to be
borne in mind, yet they ali admit that color Is
very Important circumstance to be regarded in de-
termning the value quality Of sugar. 1t has
been shown that sugar in its pure sne is cOlorless
and il would seem 10 follow that the degree or
depth of color which particular article of
sugar possesses must vary with the amount OF i'm
purities it contains and the amount of impurities
contained must have a very important effect on the
value of the mass. 1t is said that there can be no
such thing disguise in color, that color addresses
itself to the senses, that that which appears TO be
of certain hue is of that Iue, and there is no differ
ence between real aud an apparent color. 49,,
The Of the acts Of Congress in relation to
the tariff is used in commercial and popular
1t is addressed to practical men of business, and in
tended to govern them In the daily affairs Of life.
There is some Plausbility undoubtedly in the
ton that there no distinction between real and ap
parent color that when object is presented to the
eye and produces certain effect upon the optic nerve
the effect so produced constitutes to all inents and
purposes, its color But lot consider. 1t is admit
ted that if the Government were to impose duty
cording to the color Of horse, you could not white
wash him and change his color within the meaning
Of the law OF If Congress should impose a high duty
upon rosewood logs Of certain color, you could not
by staining their surface give to the logs darker
lighter hue in order to evade the duty To this it has
been answered that horse or log ofrosewood has
natural color which may be disguised but be
altered But this admits that there may be appa-
rent color Disgusting the true color,
But IT is said that sugar has no natura color but
only artificial color that its hue is the result of its
manufacture that depends upon the mode in which
the manufacture has been conducted and upon thein-
gradients that put into removed from the sugar.
and therefore it cannot be said have natural color
like horse or alog of wood. Let US see. Suppose
wines valued by their cearness and ghtness of
color and suppose their were drug that would give
to the light eoored wine murky, clouded appearance,
without, however, njuring the wne and that after
passing through the Custom house, the wine could be
restored to its former clearDess by the addition Of an
other ingredient which would preciptate the coorng
matter could it be said that such practice would be
lawful? Do not feel that the Introduction Of the
first drug by which there impaired to the wine
color different from its real color would be fraudu
lent attempt disguise and conceal the color Of the
article. True il is, that it would have TO the eye
dark color, but il would not be the color legitmaely
resulting from tile ordinary Of manufacture to
which It has beeIs subjected. have used this Illus
traOn, for the color of the wine like that of sugar
may in a great degree, depend upon its treatment
mode of manufacture. -. r. f-...-....
What, then is ''color' in regard TO sugar as the
term used in the statute7 II appears me- gentle
men, that it is the hue degree of lightness which
the sugar has attained in the ordinary man
ufaeture and which indicates the degree of perfection
to which the process of clarcation has been carried
Undoubtedly while the sugar while the cane juice
rather, remains in the manufacturers hands, he may
omit to take the impurities, may put in impurities
if he desires, for as yet has not become sugar.
The hue Of the sugar. that is the result Of his opera
tons will be determined by the degree which he
has abstraeted the impurities foreign substances
from it, or the amount OF such foreign substances
be may have innocently introduced intoit But when
it has passed of his hands to the importer the
proposed importer, the merchant then the hue it
has acquired is the s'col0r that Congress had refer
ence to when it established color the standard Of
carication. IT, then, by the admixture Of some for
egn and totally different substance, such caramel
or as in this case, charcoal this culor be changed
the color so acquired cannot be considered the color
to which Congress referred standard for assessing
the duties 1t is contended here that the color mas
been really altered disguised that the is of
a color below No. IL Dutch standard of color that is
that the sugar really possesses the color which you
in that bottle. Is this strictly true? observe
that the Jumps Of any considerable size, upon being
crushed revealed the color Of the sugar. It be-
fore the admixture and that, in fact, there only
a slight coating Of charcoal upon the surface Of the
Jumps the sugar itself being entirely unaltered that
is, the sugar in the interior Of the Jumps Can it
make any difference whether the Jumps are small or
large? The eye perceiyes in the larger Jumps that
the charcoal only the surface and that the
Of the sugar in the interior Of the lump is
changed and is Of the original color. If vision
more perfect could perceive the same phenom-
in the small microscopic particles. II appears
under such circumstances that the color Of the
sugar cannot, in any sense, be said TO have been
changed, but rather that it has been disguised.
One other observation will think expose the true
nature Of this transaction. / not that the
obligations Of citizens to the Government less sol
less imperative than those Of citizen to
other. Suppose, gentlemen, that contract had been
made ane the money pasd down, by which one Of you
agreed to deliver sugar above No IL Dutch Standard
in color, and suppose that has been proved here
it were possible to impart to sugar Of dark hue
lighter appearance by putting into ii gypsum or chalk,
other cOorng matter your contract 10 the
supposed would ke the obligation Of the importer to
pay much to the Government in case his goods
above No. IL Dutch stadnrd) be to give TO the pur-
chaser sugar above No. l2 Dutch standard in color.
In both the mode Of classification is refer
red to. In both the phrase is used to in
dcate the kind of sugar that is the subject matter Of
the obligation. The obligation is in the one case 10
pay the duty specified in the Act, if the sugar is Of
certain color in the other to deliver for price al
ready paid, sugar Of certain specified color Would
you conceive yourselves liberty take sugars Of No.
IN colof, and put into them gypsum chalk, and
red as sugars above No. l27 Would you expect him
to listen to you, If you should say 81 contract to
give you sugar above No. r. Dutch standard in col
~ Il fhr 1lrfch sfandard of co1o-S Vor,