Waterbury Democrat., 1902-03-18
BEANS AND THE LAW.

The reprehensible conduct of certain foreign beans in surreptitiously gain ing access to the United States, as Chinese laborers have done, under pre- tense of being travellers, and when once in the country escaping from otfl- cial custody and mingling with the
 beans produced by intelligent and high
 priced American labor. recalls one of the most learned and laborious decis- ions made in customs case. The de cision was rendered many years ago by Judge French, then assistant secretary, and the solemnity with which 1t dealt with the problem whether beans were
 garden seeds makes it one of the few humorous passages in the most serious and unimaginative of public docu-
 ments. the treasury decisions.
 The beans were taxed 20 per cent un- der the tariff of 1883 as garden seeds, except the seed of the sugar beet" which Is thus shown to have had hand in legislation as far back as 1881. As the opinion says that ''the secre- tary has deemed it proper to review the whole question:" it Is presumed that the opinion was written by no less a jurist than Judge Folger. though signed by the assistant secretary In
 the absence of specific description the
 judge inferred beans to be "some vari-
 ety of the seed of the bean plant, or
 vegetable grown i'll gardens and fields,
 and intended for food, or for planting
 or sowing" He found that congress
 had in mind beans edible and beans
 not edible, and appreciated and meant
 to state a distinction. When, then, it
 made an express provision for one kind
 by mentioning it, does not the maxim apply, 'expressio unus, eXclusio alteri- us:' Beans not edible being free, then it was certain that these edible beans were not free. But the beans
 were not vegetables; ''they are seeds
 of the bean plant, which latter is
 vegetable What, then. he asked, did the law say about seeds? Garden seeds, he said. ''are seeds used eit'.er for planting or sowing in the gardens adjacent to dwelling houses, small spaces of land. and in the larger spaces
 of land called market gardens. The
 common notion of garden seeds is that
 they are those seeds from which are raised. in the growing season of the
 year, the vegetable products which. be fore complete maturity, are used upon
 the table as part of the customary food O1 4nduhtuNls 1ilu III ulSl1uCl1OA lIOui those seeds which. sowed or planted on 8 larger scale in the fields, produce the vegetables which are stored for winter use as food'' The learned judge ad- mitted the difficulty of distinguishing in all cases garden seeds from field seeds, but as the tariff law imposed a duty of 20 per cent upon garden seeds except seeds of the sugar beet" 1t recognized sugar beet seeds as gar. den seeds, and If the sugar beet is Tn the view of congress a garden plant
 or vegetable. as well as or in contrast with a field plant, and its sees garden seed. as we'll as or in contrast with field seed, surely the garden plant or vegetable, and the bean of the market, which is the seed of the bean plant, Is a garden seed as well as, of rather than. field seed" :" The bean is plant ed both in the garden and in the field; ''in the former case to be eaten green in the pod as a green esculent. though sometimes, as with lima beans. in the form of the seed of the plant" For all of which reasons the beans in question were taxed % per cent as garden seeds. Journal ef Commerce.