New-York tribune., 1899-07-13
THE ST. GALL CASES AGAIN.
IMPORTERS APPEAL TO THE BOARD OF
CLASSIFICATION.

The somewhat famous st. Gall cases came up
before the Board Of Classification OF the tns'eu
States General Appraisers yesterday on protest
by Loeb & schoenfeld and other importers These
cases concern embroideres made In the 81 uah
district, Switzerland Appraiser Wakeman' soon
after he entered office. decided that there was
system Of wholesale differentiation In effect as re-
garded this class Of goods. and he began hsh'
which he apparently won after year. he alleged
that as a result the Government revenue has been
increased about 5000 900 year. Now. however
the fight is renewed In another form
The original trouble began when Appraiser wake
man made heavy advances In the valuation Oh the
goods In question. The importers appealed 70 the
General Appraisers. and. according to the regular
order a single member Of the Board passed on the
matter That member, Mr. Sharretts. did not sus-
tain the advances. in the main. The law provides
that when the Collector OF the Port Is dissatisned
with a reappraisement. he may appeal to the 1uh
Board. Collector Bidwell however, declined 10
make such an appeal Mr.. Wakeman. however
presented the matter to the Treasury Department
with the effect that the Collector was directed 10
take an appeal. In due time the full Board' az II
is caed-that is, a Board of three-passed on 'he
cases and to a large extent sustained Appraiser
WaBeman.
All that was some time ago To-day the matter
came before the Board of Classification. This body
although made up of general appraisers, the same
as the reapprasement boards Is an entirely dis-
tnct body. 1t passes upon questions OF law not
of value. Judge Somerville presided yesterday WIN
Colonel Wilkinson and Colonel Tichenor also on tue
bench The present proceeding is based primarily
upon the claim that the last reapprasement was
not legal because the Collector made the appeal
under duress and not on his own Judgment as the
law provides
The hearing was begun by WlllamJ. Gibson coun-
sci for the Government. who demurred to the entre
proceeding He asserted that the Board had 10
Jurisdiction and said the protesants should go 20
Board
murrer and w Wickham Smith. counsel Tor the
protestants, then outlined their case 49, .,ons
Collector bidWeli was tneh , nrodnne The core
spondence between himself and the ASSISTANT SCI e
reary of the Treasury Teseds and DECLARED that
the letter of the Secretary was prlviegeu Vlc.d @
communication, and its production couu not w 'e-
After long discussion the Board decided i't that
Smsness and was not privileged Mr. Smith then
read a letter from Collector Bidwell TO the Secre
torT ia make m @s appeal to The full Board u this ete
Bdw said in he effect T hsr nf 09 We're G TOO ow
and any change in the system wouIa b nfinp baa d.
the business Of entire district % when etfer hip rom
hesyy SECRETARY Howell in return was then
read MIR Howell now member n%n ot Anal ,ne sdi,id
cation it was desirable that an appeal snouiu ed
taken to the full Board He nereiRS[Ge RiGve stated
thst hs an sppeal Mas taken by his direction
When ne afternoon session was wssssbdnsned look the
stand He told about the history OF sGWe bsen %, ad ,o
cases said that the ysiraSRR WSRemsn maj in some
cases ROTa oRs Rsn % sormey PeG Secretary Of
tse asd re- the stand by Mr. Gibson Mr. Smith hst
Ing nshed his bi.SsS Sase Of Py the aar Mr. Howell
told what he knew Of the matter .rd tho lawyers
nraised AfF ts hand in briefs about ten days the
eaSe viii hardly decided before autumn bs afternoon
Appraisser ser he took no part in the proceedings