RESIGNATION OF ARTHUR B. SHELTON, CLERK Honorable FINIS J. GARRETT, Chief Judge, Washington, D. C. MAY 20, 1952. DEAR JUDGE GARRETT: I hereby tender my resignation as Clerk of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, to take effect at the close of business on the 30th day of June 1952, if that date be convenient to the Court. My long service with the Court has been a most pleasant and happy experience. Every Judge who has served during my tenure has treated me with the utmost consideration, courtesy and generosity and I feel that each one has been my good friend. My relations with the staff and the Bar have been uniformly cordial and friendly. It is with genuine regret that I tender my resignation, but I feel that it is for the best. I wish to have a period of leisure while my health is such that I can enjoy it. With assurances of my high personal regard, I am ARTHUR B. SHELTON, Clerk. To which Finis J. Garrett, Chief Judge, speaking for the court, responded: On April 22, 1910, when organization of the United States Court of Customs Appeals (later to become the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals), which had been authorized in the tariff act of 1909, was being perfected, Mr. Shelton was appointed its Clerk. He was then 36 years of age. He was born and principally educated in the District of Columbia. For a number of years he was the Private Secretary of the late Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, of Rhode Island, who for a long period of years was classed as being the most potent leader in his political party in many matters. In addition to his duties as Private Secretary of the Senator, Mr. Shelton served also as Clerk of the powerful Senate Committee on Finance, of which Mr. Aldrich was Chairman, and in that capacity became acquainted with practically every member of the Senate and many members of the House of Representatives. He was endorsed to the Court of Customs Appeals for appointments as its Clerk by Senators and House Members, irrespective of their party affiliations. At the close of business on June 30, 1952, the date chosen by him as the effective date of his resignation, Mr. Shelton will have served as Clerk of the Court uninterruptedly for 42 years 2 months and 8 days. We are informed by Mr. Elmore Whitehurst, Assistant Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, that this exceeds by about 4 years the service of any person now holding the office of Clerk of any Court of the United States. Fifteen individuals have been judges of the court since its organization. Five of them were Presiding Judges (the title now being statutorily defined as Chief Judge) and of those five three were Associate Judges prior to their appointments as Presiding Judges. The uniform courtesy of Mr. Shelton, so well known to those of us who now constitute the court, is legendary. I have never heard, nor have I ever heard of, one single criticism of any act of Mr. Shelton, official or personal, public or private. To have demonstrated throughout a period of more than forty-two years an ability so great and a patience so fine in discharging the onerous duties which have devolved upon him, to my mind, approaches the miraculous. Each of the judges now serving has had abundant opportunity to observe the great respect with which Mr. Shelton has been and is regarded by the members of the bar who appear before the court, and this is evidenced by letters received by Mr. Shelton from officials of both the Association of the Customs Bar and the American Patent Law Association, which follow: THE ASSOCIATION OF THE CUSTOMS BAR NEW YORK CITY JUNE 19, 1952. DEAR ARTHUR: It has come to my notice that you are retiring from your official activities on June 30, and I am torn between real sorrow and a feeling of joy that you have so marvelously performed a difficult public service as to thoroughly deserve the physical and mental rest which will be yours. On behalf of The Association of the Customs Bar may I extend to you an expression of the personal respect, admiration and love of each and every one of the members. Your careful fostering of all the rights and privileges of practitioners before the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals through so many years; your personal kindnesses, and generous courtesies; your dignified conduct of the important public office you have held; have all created a place in our professional life and in our hearts that will long live in our memories of you as one of the finest men who ever held public office. To this may I add my personal hope that our friendship may continue for many years to come, and that those years may bring to you health, happiness and the contentment which follows a work well done. Most sincerely and cordially yours, ALBERT MAC C. BARNES, President, The Association of the Customs Bar. Hon. ARTHUR B. SHELTON, Clerk, United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, Washington, D. C. AMERICAN PATENT LAW ASSOCIATION WASHINGTON, D. C. JUNE 20, 1952. DEAR MR. SHELTON: It gives me great pleasure to advise you of the action taken today by our Association with respect to your announced retirement. At the Board meeting today the following Resolution was unanimously adopted. Be it resolved: The American Patent Law Association by unanimous action of its Board of Managers takes pleasure in commending Arthur B. Shelton for outstanding fulfillment of the duties of the Clerk of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals for the past 42 years. Mr. Shelton not only has the distinction of having served as Clerk of the Court since 1910 but also has been the Clerk of the Court throughout the period it has had jurisdiction over patent appeals. Mr. Shelton has evidenced a clear and sympathetic understanding of the problems concerning the Patent Office and practicing attorneys. Throughout his tenure of office he has in the finest traditions of the bar aided the Court and the attorneys in the presentation of appeals. The members of the American Patent Law Association wish Mr. Shelton many years of health during which his interest in the work of the Court may not diminish, and during which he will continue to be an honored guest at all meetings of the American Patent Law Association. Yours sincerely, VIRGIL E. WOODCOCK, President. ARTHUR B. SHELTON, Esq., United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, Washington, D. C. Another important official relationship incident to the duties of the Clerk of this court is that existing between him and the Clerk of the United States Customs Court, and we have been privileged to see a letter written to Mr. Shelton by Mr. William F. X. Band, Clerk of the latter court, after he had learned of Mr. Shelton's intention to retire. We take the liberty of inserting it also. UNITED STATES CUSTOMS COURT NEW YORK CITY JUNE 13, 1952. Dear Arthur: Late Wednesday afternoon, I learned that you had decided to enter upon a retired status at the close of business on June 30 next. Present arrangements indicate that I may be in Washington the forepart of the week of June 23. However, your plans may provide for your absence from the city and therefore, I would not have an opportunity to personally wish you well. I am, accordingly, taking the liberty of not only writing you these few words of best wishes for many years of well-earned pleasure and contentment in retirement but also to express to you my deep appreciation for the many courtesies you have extended to me during the past eight years I have been clerk of this court. I have known of you and of the high regard of the members of the bar for your services since shortly after the creation of the Court of Customs Appeals, because I entered the employ of the Board of United States General Appraisers on March 1, 1910. I might also say that when I was designated Clerk of this court in June 1944, I felt that I could do no better than try to render to the litigants and the bar the fine type of efficient and gentlemanly assistance you have extended during your long tenure in the appellate tribunal. In a few words, your record was an inspiration to me and will so continue as long as I am clerk of this court. In withdrawing from your present position, you can deservedly believe you have established a standard of dignified, courteous and efficient public service in a United States Court which might well be set forth as a pattern for future officials to emulate. With the best wishes for your future happiness, I remain Sincerely yours, Hon. ARTHUR B. SHELTON, Clerk, WILLIAM F. X. BAND. United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, Internal Revenue Building, Washington, D. C. Mr. Shelton may be said to be the last link binding the court of today to its infancy. Every judge who participated in his appointment as the first Clerk and every contemporary employee, so far as known, has passed from the scene of mundane activity. The Court accepts his resignation in conformity with his expressed desire. We shall greatly miss his presence. We do not think of him as an old man, and if and when he feels an impulse to visit the scene of his former activities, he may be assured that he will be most welcome. CASES ADJUDGED IN UNITED STATES COURT OF CUSTOMS AND PATENT APPEALS UNITED STATES v. JAMES H. RHODES & CO. (No. 4699)1 1. REAPPRAISEMENT-PUMICE STONE-VALUE There is nothing in the record upon which a conclusion may be based that the collector joined the importer in "the belief that the merchandise (unmanufactured pumice stone] was valued at $15 a ton or less," at the time entry was made, but whatever may have been his belief at that time, it is clear that, upon the basis of the appraiser's description of the merchandise and his advisory classification, the collector did determine the value to be "more than $15 per ton." 2. COST OF COVERINGS OR BAGS CORRECTNESS OF APPRAISEMENT It appears that the appraiser, instead of finding the cost of the coverings or bags containing the merchandise as required by statute (section 402) found a value for the containers, although the consular invoice shows that the cost of the bags actually was included in the commercial invoice price. Obviously, this presents a question relative to the correctness of the appraisement which properly should be passed upon by the Customs Court or, in the first instance, by a single judge thereof. 3. APPRAISEMENT AND LIQUIDATION INVALID-FAILURE TO GIVE REQUIRED NOTICE The record discloses that importer never had an opportunity to contest, in the manner provided in section 501, as amended, the appraisement made by the appraiser and adopted by the collector for duty purposes. It received no notice from the collector that a valuation higher than one-tenth of one per cent per pound, the rate at which the merchandise was entered under paragraph 206, had been adopted on the basis of the appraisement by the appraiser. The failure to give the required notice had the effect of voiding the appraiser's appraisement and rendered the collector's liquidation invalid. United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, May 28, 1952 Appeal from United States Customs Court, Abstract 55525 [Affirmed.] Charles J. Wagner, Acting Assistant Attorney General (Daniel I. Auster and Richard F. Weeks, special attorneys, of counsel), for the United States. John D. Rode (Ellsworth F. Quale of counsel) for appellee. 1 C. A. D. 488. [Oral argument April 9, 1952, by Mr. Weeks and Mr. Quale] 1 |