The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-06-18

TllC0, IGSn from MS success Win iIlc
sake cases. He comes to stay.
Concerning the sake cases, said Mr..
Fitch, ''the matter was first brought TO
my attention in October, 1907, by Harry
]. Johnston, the Custom House broker.
He stated that before annexation sake
which has never been mentioned by name
in the tariff laws of the United States,
was cIassed as a still wine under the
'simi1itude' clause, which provides that
whenever an imported article is not EMU
n1erated in the tariff schedules, it shall
pay such duty as is levied upon the arti-
Gle which it most nearly resembles in
material, quantity, texture and III the
use to which it is applied
Prior to 1887 sake had been classed
by the United States customs officials as
a brandy subject 10 duty OF two dollars
and fifty cents per gallon. A New York
importer protested, and demanded a re-
classification, claiming that sake resem-
bled a wine more than it did brandy.
The claim OF the importer was allowed
without a contest, the question as to
whether sake was beer or wine not
being raised. The importations of sake
into the United States were then trifing.
Under the Hawaiian law sake was des-
cribed by name and paid duty of sixty
cents per gallon.
After annexation It was of course I'M
ported under the United States customs
laws, and the ruling of the New York
Board of Appraisers made in 1887, class
ing it as a wine by similitude was fol-
lowed and no protest was made by any
importer.
In the early nineties some parties on
the mainland desired to engage in the
manufacture of sake and applied to the
Treasury Department for information as
to the course they should pursue. The
Commissioner of Internal Revenue re-
piled that sake was liquor brewed from
grain (rice) and that a brewers Il
cense would be required for its manu-
facture. The anomaly was thus present
ed of sake being classed as q beer by
the Internal Revenue Department. and
as a wine by the Customs Department of
our government. As a beer it would
have been subjected to duty OF twenty
cents per gallon and as a wine it was
subjected TO duty OF fifty cents per
gallon, while as a non enumerated manu-
featured article not bearing a sufficient
resemblance to either beer or wine so as
TO entitle 1t TO be classed as either. it
would i72--z baar7 c,1hi n ~
orem duty OF twenty per cent, amount
ing to about nine cents per gallon.
The ruling of the Commissioner of
Internal Revenue that sake IS a rice
beer was, as l have stated, made in the
early nIneties, and in order TO fortify our
case with a later decision | addressed a
letter to the commissioner asking infor-
nation concerning the steps necessary to
be pursued IN order to engage in the
of sake. The reply OF the
affirmed the previous rul-
ing of his department that sake IS beer,
and stated that a brewers license was
necessary. Then Mr.. Johnston went to
work He obtained from about every i'm
porter of sake IN Honolulu a contract to
the effect that he and / would undertake
all the work and cost of protesting and
carrying the matter to the court OF last
resort, and that the importer would pay
US portion of any sake refunds that |
might be obtained from the government |
until a final decision should be reached. |
Thus fortified we began TO prepare !
and file protests, and this work has been
continued ever since until there are now
about one thousand protests on file in
New York Here is where Mr. John |
ston's accurate and extensive knowledge |
of customs law and practice proved |
verv valuable The United States Gov |
eminent IS a great and glorious govern |
nent, but it IS exceedingly technical in /
dealing with its citizens, especially when |
rs citizens are trying to get back money |
that they have paid into its treasury !
If you omit anything on your papers ors
fail to properly state anything there, no |
matter what NAV be your equities. the /
United States will slam the door of its |
Treasury in YOUR face, and calmly kick /
you down the front steps into the n1ire /
IF insolvency. Harry Johnston did not !
in the language OF the ungodly-'over-
ook any bets He claimed. IN the pro-
ests we filed, that sake was not wine, /
hat II did not resemble a wine, that it
was a beer that II resembled a beer, that
I was malt extract. that It resembled a
malt extract, and further that it was a
ION enumerated manufactured article
hat did not resemble anything.
1T was with extreme difficulty that I
prevented him from claiming that sake
vas a cholera specific, an eTnbalrning
1uid. an Illuminating oil, and motive
power for the propulsion of jinrikshaws
what is sake in fact Well that de-
bends upon the point of view. If YOU
axe the material from which II Is made,
md the process OF manufacture as your
standpoint. II Is beyond all question a
,eer. Wine Is made BY q process OF nat
lrzl fermentation from fruit-juice
Beer IS made by a process OF artificial
ern7entation from q matted grain. Sake |
: brew from rice exactly as beer Is a
rev from barley II contains no car
onic acid gas as does beer. because IN {
ne process OF its manufacture the effer-
escent quality Is purposely and carefully !
minated by exposure OF the liquid IN
pen watts. It contains s-higher percent {
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