Case Name: UNITED STATES v. GODWIN et al.
Court: United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1899-01-27
Citations: 91 F. 753
Docket Number: No. 2,601
Parties: UNITED STATES v. GODWIN et al.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Reporter
Volume: 91
Pages: 753–754

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES v. GODWIN et al.
(Circuit Court, S. D. New York.
January 27, 1899.)
No. 2,601.
1. Customs Duties—Construction of Takiff Laws.
Neither drying in the sun nor the sifting out of mechanical impurities from a drug is a “re. ning” or a “process of manufacture” within the meaning of the tariff laws.
2. Same—Classification—Dkugs.
A pow'der made from the juice of the papaw melon, caught in pans, dried in the sun, sifted to remove foreign substances, and packed in tins, was free, under paragraph 470 of the act of 1894, as “drugs * * * not edible, and which have not been advanced in condition by refining and grinding, or by other process of manufacture,” and was not dutiable, under paragraph 59, as a medicinal preparation.
This was an application by the United States for the review of a decision of the board of general appraisers reversing the action of the collector in respect to the classification for duty of certain merchandise imported by Godwin’s Sons.
D. Frank Lloyd, Asst. U. S. Atty.
Albert Comstock, for importers.
For interpretation of commercial and trade terms, see note to Dennison Mfg. Co. v. U. S., 18 C. C. A. 545.

Opinion:
WHEELER, District Judge.
The act of 1894 provided for a duty on: "59. All medicinal preparations, not specially provided for in this act, twenty-five per centum ad valorem;" and put on the free list: "470. Drugs, suck as barks, beans, berries, balsams, gums, which are not edible, and which have not been advanced in condition by refining and grinding, or by other process of manufacture." This article is a powder from the juice of the papaw melon, caught in pans, dried in the sun, sifted to take out foreign substances, packed in tins, and exported. It is not used, nor fit, for medicine, but is made into various forms of medicinal vegetable pepsin. It was assessed for duty as a medicinal preparation. The board sustained the protest that it was free.
A preparation is something prepared; and a medicinal preparation, medicine prepared. This article was not that; for it was not prepared. It was such a drug as those named, if not one of them, and was not edible. Drying in the sun was not refining, nor a process of manufacture. Frazee v. Moffitt, 20 Blatchf. 267, 18 Fed. 584. Neither was the sifting out of mechanical impurities. It had no effect upon the article itself, other than to get it by itself. This case is like U. S. v. Merck, 26 U. S. App. 541, 13 C. C. A. 432, and 66 Fed. 251, as to elaterium. Decision affirmed.