In

determine the class to which it should, according to the color standard, belong, retaining the color standard alone for all other sugars. France, in 1875, a law was passed providing that where the color of the sugars does not appear to correspond with their effective richness, recourse should be had to polariscopic test for the definite classification of sugars.

If it be not considered advisable to place such power in the hands of the department by the enactment of similar laws to that of France and Holland, the simple adoption in the tariff laws of the department order of September 2, 1879, would afford ample protection to the revenue and be entirely just to the importers. The order I refer to is as follows:

"All sugars, the apparent color of which as imported is not above No. 7 Dutch standard in color, and which contain over ninety-three per cent. and not over ninety-seven per cent. of crystallizable sugar, in 100 parts of the dry substance, shall be classified as above number seven and not above number ten, Dutch standard.

"All sugars, the apparent color of which as imported is not above No. 10 Dutch standard in color, and which contain over ninety-seven per cent. of crystallizable sugar, in one hundred parts of the dry substance, shall be classified as above number ten and not above No. 13 Dutch standard."

In concluding this hurried statement of facts, I will simply refer to one or two authorities on this subject. Dr. Richard von Kaufinanu, one of the most eminent European authorities on the subject of the relation of the sugar industry to the customs and internal-revenue laws, says, regarding the Dutch standard:

This valuation of colonial sugar by the so-called color standard originated at a time when saccharometry lacked the optical aids to-day in our possession, and one in which sugars of tropical origin alone came under consideration. The necessity was at that time already felt to conduct the purchase of larger quantities of sugar on the basis of a certain normal sample. The Dutch agents and brokers came to a mutual understanding, and mixed average samples of the Indian sugars handled in the Dutch market, of which the best, marked No. 20, represented a nearly pure sugar, which was dry, sharply crystallized, and somewhat grayish white in color, while the lowest number represented an average of the darkest-brown sugars. The lowest sort of those that now appear in commerce is marked No. 6, and represents a dark-brown, soft sugar, rich in sirup. The numbers lying between Nos. 20 and 6 are progressive transitions between these extremes.

This in itself, and under the then existing conditions, not unpractical method was at the time adopted with all the greater readiness for the reason that the need of a method of determining the value of crude sugars of different qualities, resting on the simple indications of the senses, had been equally keenly felt both by the manufacturers and the dealers, in the estimation of the commercial value of the article, and the revenue authorities (fiscus) for the correct adjustment and apportionment of tax

ation.

The introduction of this method is based on the observation that sugar in a pure state is, in itself, throughout white; on this was founded the theory (annahme) that the degree of coloration, which could only be caused by the intermixed substances or decomposition products of sugar adhering to the sugar, was to be considered as a measure of the lower value of the sugar. At the same time, as a conversion of the crystals to powdered sugar caused the mass to seem less intensely colored than would otherwise be the case, it was sought to perfect the method by testing the sugar as to the sharpness of the grain, which could be felt by rubbing it between the fingers, and finally it was sought to estimate the degree of dampness of the sugar in order to be able to approximately determine or estimate the amount of water contained therein. The color types, which by this method furnished the principal criterion of the value of the sugar, had originally in the case of colonial sugars a tolerably well justified importance, which, however, can no longer be ascribed to them, since technical progress has made it easy for the industry to effect the coloration of raw sugars by artificial means without materially altering the value of its yield in pure sugar (refined sugar) -i. e., its refinery yield. It is at present not only possible to prepare raw sugars with a lighter color, which shall show a bright luster even in the last products, without their containing any more pure sugar than the far darker-colored products of other

manufactories, but sugars of high percentage are frequently colored dark in order to reduce the tax or duty to which they are liable, without causing them to suffer any reduction of refinery yield.

Dr. Moore, commenting upon this, in his statement relative to the artificial coloring of imported sugars published by the Treasury Department, says:

"It will be observed that the authority cited defines the Dutch standard as a measure of value and saccharine strength only; the comparison of the shade of color being one of the principal indications, but supplemented by other tests, having for their object primarily to ascertain whether any cause exists that would disturb that relation between color and saccharine strength which the employment of the shade of color as a means of comparison presupposes as an indispensable condition. The theory underlying the Dutch standard is clearly enunciated, and it is that the saccharine strength of raw sugar varies inversely as the intensity of the coloration, and conversely, that the species of color of which alone the Dutch standard takes cognizance is that species of color which varies inversely as the saccharine strength. That this is the sole sense in which the physical attribute of color is employed as an indication in the Dutch standard is clearly shown in the description of the mode of applying it; the precautious as to the feel of the grain, &c., being employed to ascertain if the external or visible color of the sample does, in fact, bear that relation to saccharine strength which alone would permit the application of the Dutch standard by simple visual inspection and comparison.

"The Dutch standard is described, not as a series of colored substances, for which a series of strips of colored card-board might with perfect propriety and vastly greater convenience be substituted, but as a series of sugars representing different commercial grades, varying progressively in saccharine richness from the lowest to the highest percentage of saccharine strength, and which are not compared with the sample to be tested by color alone without careful preliminary tests to make sure that this color bears a definite relation to saccharine strength. Hence, from the first origin of the Dutch standard, and in the country where it originated, and from whom we first learned to use it, it was the custom to use in connection with it the best tests then at hand to make sure that the external color of the sample bore this necessary definite ratio to the saccharine strength.

"During the investigation of the question of taxation of sugars by the French ministry of agriculture and commerce, Mr. Peligot, member of the Institute, verificator-in-chief of the assays at the mint, and one of the most eminent chemists of France, testified as follows:

"That as an indication of saccharine richness of a sugar he would give the preference to the shade of color, that is to say, to the types (color standard tr.) over sacchar ometry and chemical analysis, always on the condition that the types be suitably prepared and renewed whenever necessary. It is necessary to reserve the right to have recourse to saccharometry in certain cases as a meaus of verification. In practice for the government the shade of color gives results as exact as possible.

"Concerning the specimens that have been produced of low numbers (color stand ard tr.), giving a considerable excess (in saccharine strength tr.), they have been made for the needs of the cause; they do not constitute the effect of a new and bona-fide (loyale) manufacture, but a means of defrauding the revenue."

"And during the same investigation the representatives of the Agricultural Society of France stated:

"In short, one may say that sugar is a docile substance, lending itself to the designs of the manufacturer, who can make of it a white or brown sugar as he pleases. Today he uses this liberty, thanks to the system of types (color standard tr.), to make a

sugar of a very high price with a shade of color that corresponds to a strength of only 88 degrees. The sugar is colored with caramel; this operation is so publicly performed that there exists at Arras a manufactory bearing the sign caramel for coloring sugar.””

"The foregoing extracts from the leading authorities in the principal countries of Europe, as well as in the United States, show conclusively that the employment of the indication of color as a means of comparison for classification rests exclusively on the existence of a definite relation between color and saccharine strength. The operation of classfication by color is universally held to be identical with that of classification by saccharine strength. The only color that can be made a basis for classification is hence that species of color that bears a definite relation to saccharine strength; it is the only species of color that can be measured by any color standard for purposes of classification."

By Commissioner KENNER:

Q. What are your precise duties in the custom-house?-A. My position is that of chemist in charge of the United States laboratory. My duties have been hitherto mostly in the testing of sugars; that is my specialty. I have also charge of all the chemical work done at the laboratory, such as chemical analyses made of samples sent by the appraiser's office to the laboratory; all that is done either by myself or under my direction.

Q. I presume that you have, then, a practical experience in the use of the polariscope.-A. I have for the last ten years made that a specialty. I have been in charge of the United States laboratory for the last two years. For eight or ten years before that my business was testing sugars for the brokers, importers, and traders in New York.

Q. You have quoted at length the order of the Secretary of the Treasury of September 2, 1869. During the year or two within which that order was acknowledged as authority from the government to test sugars by the polariscope, what was the result of your testing as compared with the testing by the importers; was it identically the same, or was there a broad difference between the two tests, the government arriving at one result and the importer at another?-A. There was a very slight difference. In many instances the same result exactly was obtained; and the difference, where any existed, of more than onequarter to one-half per cent. was found to be due to the difference in samples. When comparisons were made, the same result on the same sample was obtained by chemists outside the department as was obtained by us. There was a remarkable uniformity in the tests made by the trade and by the government.

Q. The difference that existed was caused, not by the difference in the instruments but in the difference of sampling, as I understand you.-A. Yes, sir. The instrument is one of the most exact known to chemical science; the sugar fairly registers itself-the sugar solution. Q. The point you make, then, is that the slight difference of one-third, one-fourth, or even one-half percent., between yourself as the government agent and the importer's test made by the polariscope, was due to the difference in sampling, and not to the difference in the instrument?—A. Yes, sir. We found that such was the case wherever there was a variation and we had an opportunity of making an investigation.

Q. Then in grading sugar by the eye, which is the Dutch standard, that same cause of difference would exist? Of course you and the importer draw samples, and you ask a man to test that by the naked eye. The difference you think between the test of the government and the test of the importer would simply result from the difference in sam

ples? A. Yes, sir. Differences of opinion frequently arise between the importer and the custom-house officers, in classification by the Dutch standard, in that way, by their having different samples.

Q. The fact remains, then, that in the Netherlands and in France, where the Dutch standard was first adopted, and where the polariscope was invented, they no longer test by color, but prefer the polariscope. Do you think that it is pretty good evidence that in the country where the polariscope is best known it is regarded as the best test of the quality of the sugar?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. Have you read the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on the question of the issuance of this circular by the Treasury Department? A. Yes, sir.

Q. The objection made by the court to that was that the Secretary of the Treasury had assumed to make the law instead of following the law as it existed. It did not effect the question of the value of the polariscope as a means of testing the quality of sugar, in preference to the old method of testing it by the naked eye?-A. I do not understand that the decision reflected at all on the method of testing sugar by the polariscope.

Commissioner KENNER. It simply was that the executive department had construed a law different from the intention Congress had in mind when it passed the law.

The WITNESS. Yes, sir; I so understood it.

H. Mis. 6- -31

GUSTAV SCHWAB.

LONG BRANCH, N. J., August 16, 1882.

Mr. GUSTAV SCHWAB of New York City, importer, made the following statement:

I would like to call the attention of the Commission to the fact that the use of the polariscope is the very best known means of determining the qualities of sugar. It is acknowledged to be very accurate indeed. The differences which have occurred between the importer and the government in the results of the analyses by the polariscope are caused by the sampling. I happen to have a cargo of muscovado sugars on hand at the present time. When the cargo came in and was landed, our broker, as is the usual custom, had the sugar sampled. These sugars came from a plantation which usually turns out sugars of about 880-a low grade of sugars. When the samples were drawn by our broker, they were immediately sent to the chemist, who analyzed them by the polariscope, and we received the report that 300 hogsheads of that sugar only tested 85° and a fraction over. That surprised us very much. The broker also informed us that the refiners, who also draw their own samples and abide by their own tests, only made these hogsheads test 83 per cent. That surprised us still more, and I instructed the broker to send to Brooklyn, where the sugars were, and have them resampled and retested. He did so, and the result was they produced 88 per cent. Now there was a difference of 5 per cent. between our test and the refiners, test, and 3 per cent. between our own tests. Therefore, I say, the great difficulty in the matter arises from the sampling. It depends upon whether you draw out the samples from the top or the bottom of the hogshead. You can make almost any difference within 5 or 6 per cent., according as you draw the samples from the top or bottom of the hogshead. That fact ought to be considered by the Commission in recommending the use of the polariscope as a means of testing sugar to determine the rate of duty to be paid. I have been familiar with the subject for many years, and I think from my experience that you can make no better rate of duty on sugars than a simple ad valorem rate. The value of sugar is well known throughout the world. No great frauds can be committed on the revenue by the undervaluation of sugars. It is a lowpriced article any way, and if you put an ad valorem duty upon it, whatever it may be, it will be just to all the different interests, to the refiners and to the importers.

By Commissioner KENNER:

Question. I do not know whether I fully understand your views in regard to the polariscope. Do you accept the polariscope as being as nearly complete and perfect an instrument as can be made to test the value of sugar, provided the same samples can be used in both instances by the government and by the importer?-Answer. Yes, sir.

Q. But you say, that in the case you cited, there was a difference of 50 in the different tests made from the same sugars.-A. Yes, sir.

Q. Are you not aware that if you draw a sample from the bottom