Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1897-11-18

WHAT ARE SARDiNES7
An OmciaI Decision by n Custom
House Appraiser.

House Appraiser.
Ordinarily we do not look for humor
in tariff bill, but question which
came before the United States APP
praisers recently is not entirely desti-
tute of that element. 1t was whether
sprats are sardines. This question in
yolved the broader one as to what are
sprats, shaddines, pilchards, bristlings
and other queer fshy things that are
now playing so conspicuous part I'M
der the new tariff. The word bristling,
when it was discovered in the Dingley
bill, startled its readers, and diction-
aries were appealed to in vain. People
had eaten "bristling," but did not know
it at the time. 1t was useless to tell
them that bristling is the same as brett
ling and hwafsbuk. The appraisers took
up all these intricate questions and dis
posed of them by levying duty Of 2H
cents box on all of the things men
toned, no matter what they are called.
A. Theakston & Co. imported into Cal
weston on December 2S, 1896, 100 cases
containing 100 quarter boxes of sprats
in oil, ~ to 16 fish in each box, of the
brand of Lcqueran d Co., upon which
duty was assessed at ~ cents box.
as "sardincs," under the tariff Of 1894.
The importers held that they were duti-
able at 90 per cent. ad valorem. Cen
eral Appraiser Lunt, in his decision,
says:
"These boxes contain very small, i'm
mature fish, belonging to the genus
clupea, the scientific name being Clupca
sprattus, which fish are known in Nor
way as sprats, or brisling, and, when
preserved with spices, as anchovies, and,
when smoked and canned in oil, as Nor
wegian sardines. The Century Diction-
airy defines sardines as: ~ One of
several different small elupeod fish
suitable for canning in oil. Small sar-
dimes are most priced. Large, coarse
fish put up in the United States as sar-
dimes under the name of shaddines, arc
young menhaden. (2) The Gulg men
baden. (3) The common Ecnhaden,
when prepared and boxed as sardines.
al An anchovy. The Standard Die
tionary defines sardel as: ~ A sar-
dine (2) A small clupeoid fish of the
Mediterranean, often prepared as sar-
dine. Sardine: Q) one of various small
clupeoid fishes preserved in oil as
delicacy, especially the European pill
chard (Cupea pilchardus). (2) The
Young of the herring, menhaden or
some like fish similarly prepared.
sprat: A herring like clupeoid fish
(Cupea sprattus), found in shoals on the
Atlantic coasts of Europe. (2) The
young of the herring or related fishes"
Definitions and descriptions are also
given from the. American Cyclopedia,
Chambers Encyclopedia and from Ger
vais and Boulart's work on fishes, LES
Poissons." The last authority says that
sardines are found under the following
names: Sweden, hwafsbuli; Norway,
brisling; England, pilchard; Germany,
pi!chard and breitling; Spain, sardine;
Portugal, sardinah; Italy, sardelIa.
''The foregoing citations establish con-
cluslvely." says the appraiser, that sew
eral different small fish of the herring
family, when preserved and packed in
ell. in a particular manner, are popular
~ and universally known as sardines.
The packing of sardines in the
United States is large business, and
they are known in trade and commerce
as American, or domestic sardines. The
designation conveysDto those informed
on the subject the idea that these sar-
dimes differ from the French and Por-
tuguese sardines in that the fish are, in
fact, young behring's, menhaden, or
some other similar fish, differing from
the European varieties, indicating TO
those familiar with the trade that the
fish are superior in delicacy of favor,
quality of the oil and perfection of
processing and that the fish are in fact