The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-06-21
COL. THOMAS FITCH AND ).
HIS FAMOUS SAKE CASES.
Veteran Lawyer Returns From the Mainland
After Winning Big Claim for Honolulu
CIents...history Of the Sake Appeal.

Y :.
gave to the decision of the Commission
err of Internal Revenue that sake is
beer the scorn of their silence. The,
based their ruling that it resembled ;
wine. solely upon the ground of thu
quantity OF alcohol it contains.
What liquor does sake resemble il
taste? Drink it, if your reportorial eau
casian stomach can endure the ordeal
and maybe you can tell. ! tasted tea
spoonful of it once at the solicitation o
| Mr. Peacock, and for half an hour after
| wards felt as once did when journey
| ing to Hilo in the Kinau. The lover
class of dram shops in London have {
sink under the bar into which all the
spittings of beer, gin. wine and cider are
conveyed. The contents of this sink are
called 'swipes' and sold to the worthy
poor of the English metropolis. Sake, to
my taste, resembles 'swipes,' favored
with an overripe egg. | should think
that pint of it would make the man
who drank it hosts humans geners,
and if the Japanese army are accorded
full rations of it just before an attack
on the Russian forces they will make
Prince Sneezeyournoseoff look like thirty
cents
Before presenting the case to the
New York Board of Appraisers we gath
cred considerable evidence on the subject
of the manufacture of sake. Mr.. John
ston making a journey to Japan for that
purpose while | interviewed Chicago and
New York brewers. In December, 1902,
the case was argued by me in New York
before General Somerville, President of
the Board OF General Appraisers. From
certain indications | suspected after sub
hitting the case that the decision of the
appraisers might be against us, and
was satisfied that even if we won, the
government would appeal the case.
"The law gives an appeal from any
decision of the U. S. Board of General
Appraisers to the Circuit Court of the
United States for the District in which
the importation is made. On this appeal
new and additional evidence may be in
PRODUCED by either or both parties to
the dispute, the trial is de novo and the
decision of the United States Circuit
Court on questions of fact is seldom
disturbed by the United States Circuit
Court of Appeals, which is the last trib-
unal to which an appeal can be taken
except in constitutional and in special
and extraordinary cases.
An appeal by either the Government
or the importers from the decision of the
appraisers in Our case would have
brought the matter before the U. S. Cir
cult Court in Honolulu then presided
over by the late Hon. Morris M. Estee.
"Of the late Judge Estee | desire to
speak with all possible respect, not mere
ly because | am governed by the motto
de mortuis nil nisi bonum,' but because
of his great and many-sided abilities.
But he was a politician and not jurist.
He was possessed even TO fanaticism
with the idea OF 'Americanizing' these
islands, and he was saturated through
and through with the idea that the Unit
ed States Government as represented by
its officials is "a king that can do no
wrong He did not mean to be unj ust,
but in any case that came before him
between private individual and the
government. in which Asiatics were liti-
giants or witnesses, he was simply incap-
able of deciding against the Govern
ment. My observation of his course in
the Pearl Harbor condemnation case,
and my experience as counsel in some
shipping cases and some customs cases
convinced me that it was essential to
the success of Our clients, that the de-
cision in the sake cases should be made
in some other jurisdiction. This was
brought about by arranging for our Ho-
nolulu clients to avail themselves OF
sake importation made into the port of
New York. This case was by stpua-
ton placed on the appraisers calendar
Immediately after the Hackfeld case, and
when decision was rendered by the APP
praisers against us, as | feared it would
be, the New ork case was brought up
and similar decision rendered pro for
ma in that case, and an appeal taken at
once to the Circuit Court OF the United
States for the Southern District OF New
York. Then we stipulated with the Gov
eminent that all the sake cases in which
we were counsel should be held in abey-
ance and not taken up by the Board of
Appraisers until after the decision by
the n. Y, United States Circuit Court,
and should then be governed by that
decision.
"The appeal having been properly
lodged we went 10 work gathering addi-
tiona evidence. We secured the aid OF
Messrs. Conslock & Crane who are the
leading custom house lawyers IN New
York City Mr. Johnston obtained fur
lher dispositions from Japan showing
the process 1T manufacture OF sake, lie.
also visited san Francisco and procured
there samples of sake made hy a manu-
factory 0f h recently established there
! procured n che east ihr rNpgrl Wsll-
mlny MI hfrWefs. mall5lefs and chemists,
aui "A lhr lrIal Wo bad as witness lhr
most distinguished analyst nl rNppu bal
lhr country II all osl b lurUi money
M course hul lhe Government could nll
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