Marketability as an excise test: methane gas from alcohol manufacture was not dutiable because it was not shown to be marketable.

Methane gas arising during manufacture of denatured ethyl alcohol was held not excisable because marketability is an essential ingredient of excisable goods. The text states that mere inclusion in the tariff does not make a commodity dutiable unless it is known to the market as goods, and the revenue produced no evidence to displace the finding that the gas was not marketable. On that basis, the demand failed and the revenue appeal was rejected.

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Issues: Whether methane gas produced during manufacture of denatured ethyl alcohol was excisable, and whether its non-marketability defeated the revenue's demand.

Analysis: Marketability is an essential ingredient for treating an article as excisable goods. Mere inclusion of a commodity in the tariff does not make it dutiable unless it is goods known to the market. The finding that the gas in question was not marketable was not displaced by any evidence from the revenue.

Conclusion: The methane gas was not excisable for want of marketability, and the revenue appeal was rejected.

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