Case Name: The People of the State of New York ex rel. Standard Wood Company, Relator, v. James A. Roberts, as Comptroller, of the State of New York, Respondent
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1897-09
Citations: 20 A.D. 514
Docket Number: 
Parties: The People of the State of New York ex rel. Standard Wood Company, Relator, v. James A. Roberts, as Comptroller, of the State of New York, Respondent.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 20
Pages: 514–516

Head Matter:
The People of the State of New York ex rel. Standard Wood Company, Relator, v. James A. Roberts, as Comptroller, of the State of New York, Respondent.
Taxation — a foreign Corporation producing kiln dried kindling wood, done up in: > bundles, is engaged in\ ca/rrying on a manufacture and is not taxable upon its from,-, chise or'business-—offipe and office furniture within the State. .
making, and selling, tpthin the State alone, kindling wood produced from slab's; taken in their natural state, sawed into strips and ' securely .compressed in , bundles of kiln dried wood of a specific size and shape and designed to be uséd- ' in .that shape for the purpose of kindling anthracite coal, is’ a corporation ’ wholly engaged in carrying on manufacture in the State of New York, within : the meaning of chaptdr'542 of the Laws of 1880, arid the'acts amendatory thereof, and, consequently, is not subject to a tax upon its franchise or business. - } A foreign corporation, having an office and ordinary, office furniture, within the State of New York, but all of whose capital within the State is einployed "in'
Certiorari issued out of the Supreme Court and attested on the ■ 8th day of June, 18)97, directed to James A. Roberts, as .Comptroller of the State of Newj York, commanding him to certify and return to the office of the clerk of the county of Albany all and singular bis ' proceedings in regard to the taxation, of the relator..
The relator is a foreign corporation organized under the laws of New Jersey, and carries on business in the- States of Maine, New" Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania:
The business of the relator is that of making and selling kindling v in. the' making of kindling wood;' it has an office for which it pays a rental of $1,000 a year, and office furniture of about the value of' $400.
All of its products made within this State are sold within this State, and none of jits products made without the State of New York are sold within the State of New York. ' ■
logs, these slabs of wood are split, or rather sawed, into strips about The manner in which this kindling wood is made is ■ as folltiws: The relator purchases at sawmills the- green slabs of wood cut from one and a- half inchéé square by a number of saws operating upon a sawtable run by steam machinery; these strips are in turn cut into pieces a little under three inches 'in length by a number of saws operating upon a sawtable run by steam machinery; the blocks or strips thus cut, as they fall from the table, are caught in an elevator run by an endless chain which carries them to the top óf a building used as a kiln, where they are kilndried, the kiln being heated by a system of steam pipes which thoroughly dries the blocks so that they will readily ignite; the blocks so dried are gathered together into a bundle of about.one-foot in diameter and of the length or thickness of one block or strip, and are then placed into a press operated by steam power which compresses the bundle to its smallest circumference ; while in the press a cord is tied around the bundle and it is then ready for the market.
It is apparently used as a kindler, not by separating the bundle into its parts, but by using the block or bundle as a whole as a piece of kindling wood.
The Comptroller held that the business of the relator was not a manufacturing business within the meaning of the statute (Chap. 5í2 of 1880, and the acts amendatory thereof), and assessed it accordingly.
Henry S. Wardner and John L. Cadwalader, for the appellant.
Theodore E. Hancock, Attorney-General, and G. D. B. Hasbrouck, Deputy Attorney-General, for the respondent.

Opinion:
Herrick, J.:
The article produced by the relator is a commercial article known and recognized by a specific and distinctive name, a product the result of capital and labor, and different in form and condition from the material out of which it is made; it is obvious that neither the tree from which the wood comes nor the slabs of wood could be used in. their original form as kindling wood, and that the relator has, by the use of machinery, skill, capital and labor, produced a new article, different in form, quickly inflammable, with a distinctive name, and * fitted for sale, use and consumption, which, within the definitions, constitutes a manufactured article, and the business of producing it that of manufacturing.
It is needless to quote the definitions given by lexicographers, or in the opinions of courts, as to .what constitutes manufacturing, but to simply refer to the Century Dictionary, Standard Dictionary, Worcester's Dictionary, People ex rel. Union. Pacific Tea Co, v. Roberts (145 N. Y. 375); People ex rel. Brush El. Mfg. Co. v. Wemple (129 id. 543, 552); Evening' Journal Association v. State Board, of Assessors (47 N. J, Law, 38); Carlin v. Western Assurance Co. of Toronto (57 Md. 515, 526); United States v. Hathaway (4 Wall. 404), as authorities within whose terms and principles the business carried on by the relator is clearly that of manufacturing.
The having of an office and office furniture aré merely incidents to the business carried on by them of manufacturing, and the value of the one and the rental of the other do not constitute capital stock separate and apart from that used and employed in their business of manufacturing, and! the amount so used is, therefore, not taxable.
The capital of tile relator that it has in this State being wholly engaged in manufacturing business, the determination of the Comptroller should be reyersed, with fifty dollars costs and disbursements.
All concurred.
Determination- of Comptroller reversed, with fifty dollars costs and disbursements.