The defendant gas company, doing business at Buffalo, in the state of New York, imports natural gas from the dominion of Canada for the purpose of supplying its customers with that article. The gas is brought in pipes under the Niagara river, and is used for consumption as fuel and for illuminating purposes.
In 1893 the gas imported by the company was assessed for duty by the collector of the port of Buffalo as a nonenumerated unmanufactured article, at 10 per cent., under section 4 of the tariff act of October 1, 1890 (26 Stat. 567, at page 613).
The importers ciaimed that the gas was entitled to free entry under section 2 of the above act, providing for a free list, either under paragraph 496 (page 604), as crude bitumen, or under paragraph 651 (page 607), as a crude mineral, not advanced in value or condition by refining or grinding, or by any other process of manufacture, not specially provided for in the act. The importers made proper protest, and obtained a review of the decision of the collector by the board of general appraisers. That board, on a second hearing, after testimony had been given as to the character of the gas, decided that natural gas was a crude mineral, and the board on that ground sustained the claim that it was exempt from duty under paragraph 651 of the tariff act of 1890.
The circuit court affirmed that decision, and upon a review by the circuit court of appeals for the Second circuit (45 U.S. App. 345, 24 C. C. A. 4, and 78 Fed. 110) the decision was again affirmed. The latter court, by Circuit Judge Lacombe, said: 'We do not undertake in this case to decide whether or not natural gas is a 'crude bitumen.' If it be such, the provisions of paragraph 496 would control its classification, being more specific than those of paragraph 651. Both paragraphs are in the free list, and since natural gas comes fairly within the general provision for crude minerals, and is therefore free, it is unnecessary now to inquire whether it is also within the more specific description 'crude bitumen,' which is also free. The board of general appraisers properly reversed the collector's assessment of the article for duty. It is not a 'raw or unmanufactured article not enumerated."
Circuit Judge Wallace, while concurring in the affirmance of the decision of the circuit court, was of the opinion that the importation in controversy ought to be classified under paragraph 496 as crude bitumen, and exempt from duty on that ground.
The decision having been duly entered, this court, upon the petition of the government, issued a writ of certiorari, and the case has been brought here for review.
We are of opinion that the circuit court of appeals was right in its disposition of the case. The substance that is taken from the bosom of the earth, and which burns brightly without any further labor put upon it, is popularly designated as 'natural gas.' This name is not contained in the tariff act, but there are two paragraphs thereof which it is claimed do properly and sufficiently characterize and embrace natural gas, and they are in the free list, and are known as paragraphs 496 and 651. The language used in each, when taken in its popular and commonly received sense, or according to the sense in which it is used commercially, would cover and include the substance generally spoken of and loosely described as 'natural gas.' The fact that it is not thus named in the act compelled the collector to assess it as a raw or unmanufactured article not enumerated,-a description which does not fit nearly so well as that which is contained in each of the paragraphs mentioned above. We think the evidence shows that natural gas is included in the language of one or both those paragraphs.
The rule is familiar that in the interpretation of laws relating to the revenues the words are to be taken in their commonly received and popular sense, or according to their commercial designation, if that differs from the ordinary understanding of the word. Two Hundred Chests of Tea, 9 Wheat. 430.