The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-06-21
CFrom Saturdays Advertiser)

| Among the passengers who reached
Honolulu yesterday was Col. Thoma
Fitch, fresh from his success with thu
sake cases. He comes to stay.
Concerning the sake cases." said Mr.
| Fitch, "the matter was first brought tc
my attention in October, 1901, by Harr,
| ]. 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 classed as still wine under the
| 'similitude' clause, which provides tina,
whenever an imported article is not enu-
merated 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 in the
use to which it is applied
prior to 1887 sake had been classed
by the United States customs officials as
brandy subje to duty of two dollars
and fifty cents per gallon. A New York
importer protested, and demanded re-
classification, claiming that sake resent
bled a wine more than it did brandy.
The claim of the importer was allowed
without contest, the question as to
whether sake was beer or wine not
being raised. The importations of sake
into the United States were then trihing.
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
laws, and the ruling of the New York
Board of Appraisers made in 1887, class
ing it as 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 brewers Ii
cense would be required for its manu-
facture. The anomaly was thus present.
ed of sake being classed as beer by
the Internal Revenue Department, and
as wine by the Customs Department of
Our government AS beer it would
have been subjected to duty of twenty
cents per gallon and as a wine it was
subjected to a duty of fifty cents per
gallon, while as non enumerated manu-
featured article not bearing sufficient
resemblance to either beer or wine so as
to entitle it to be classed as either, it
would have been subj ected to an ad val
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 rice
beer was, as | 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
manufacture of sake. The reply of the
commissioner affirmed the previous rul-
ing of his department that sake is beer,
and stated that brewers license was
necessary. Then Mr.. Johnston went to
work. He obtained from about every i'm
porter of sake in Honolulu contract to
the effect that he and l 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 a portion of any sake refunds that
might be obtained from the government
until 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
very valuable. The United States Gov
eminent is great and glorious govern
ment, but it is exceedingly technical in
dealing with its citizens, especially when
its citizens are trying to get back money
that they have paid into its treasury.
If you omit anything on your papers or
fail to properly state anything there, no
matter what NAV be your equities, the
United States will slam the door of its
Treasury in vour face, and calmly kick
you down the front steps into the mire
of insolvency, Harry Johnston did not
in the language of the ngodly-over-
look any bets He claimed. i'm the pro-
tests we filed, that sake was not wine,
that il did not resemble n wine, that il
was a beer, that it resembled q beer, that
it was a malt extract, that It resembled q
malt extract, and further that 1t was a
non enumerated manufactured article
that did not resemble anything
1T was with extreme difficulty that |
him from claiming that sake
was a cholera specific, am embalmug
fluid, am illuminating OIL and q motive
power ior the propulsion Of iinnkshaWs.
What rs sake IN fact Well that dc
ponds upon the point pt view II Won
.akc ihe material from which b d made
and ih, presses M manufacture as your
,audp0nt b b. hN0ui aIl question q
lfar Wine f msil hY process ol nai
Wul fermentation from lW'i iulfr
llp,r n mif hy "a wUfu M HuIhf.al
fermentation lpm a Wl'nl rnIu SASS
a hrN hHmTlr usaif m hlu ~ N
.H.N nom MllY NJ lMmu m eI
HNH s..l HN A iH ha hfaNif nI
.NH pIHINl IiH WHnIiNllHiI ll NHe
.rlHI WH.IF emo N1 IfHfH.
.NUt.I M l.H f III. lNN'i M
M tH lHINH Ns'II
II HH f lN