St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-26
~ She VA EbtbeHE W SAA
The Minnesota Oleomarga-
Pine Law Declared to Be
Unconstitutional.
sFf
.,t-
1t Conflicts With the Article
Regulating Interstate
Commerce.
Judge Nelson Finds 1t I'm
necessary Even to Write
an Opinion. M
Commissioner Ives Will Rig
idly Enforce Other Pro-
visions.

The original. package decision re-
celved another application and the Min
neSOta food law another knockout in
the United States district court yester-
day.
Armour d Co., of Chicago, maintain
that they have the right to ship butter
inc or like substances into the state of
Minnesota when sold to their direct
customers. The dairy commissioner
determined to put the law to di-
rect test by an application 10 the
subject matter, to wit. butterine. or
substance made for use as butter which
Is not made of pure cream. and com
menced proceedings for that purpose at
Duluth. besides the case in which the
ruling was yesterday made. c. +.
GOoch was arrested at White Bear last
week for selling the butteriue of Ar
mOur & Co., as their agent, in the
original package, contrary to the laws
of the state OF Minnesota, as enacted by
the Legislature of 1889. The provision
under which he was arrested provides
as follows:
NO person shall manufacture out of any
eleaglnouS substance or substances or any
compound other than that produced from
unauthorized milk or of cream from tho
same, any article designed TO take the Mace
OF batter or cheese. produced from pure
unadulierated milk or cream from the same
or snail sell or offer for sale the same as an
article of food. This shall not aDnly 10 MIRO
skihl-mllk cheese made from pure skim milk
" hoover violates the provision of this seq
tlon snail be deemed guilty of Il misdemeanor
and be punished 10y fine of not less than
9lOo or more than $500 or not less than six
months or more than one wears imnrison-
ment or by both such fine and Imprisonment
tor the first offense, and by imprisonment
Tor one year for each subsequent offense
Mr. GOoch, upon being arrested, APP
piled to Judge Nelson, of the United
States district court, for writ of ha-
beas corpus, alleging that he was re-
strained OF his liberty contrary to the
constitution of the United States. and
took the grounds covered in the famous
original package decision as reported in
135th [. S. reports. Walter H. Sanborn
appeared for Mr.. GGoch and took the
position that the power to regulate com
merce among the states is vested IN
congress exclusively. and that the state
law is void. He claimed that the case
at bar is stronger one than the
liquor, dressed beef or any
case found in the books. be.
cause the manufacture and sale of
oleOmargarine is regulated by act OF
congress, and is therefore a commercial
lating the sale of the commodity de-
clared how and when it should be sold,
and by what persons. The law of Min
nesota being in conflict with that law,
in that it prohibited absolutely the sale
of the commodity, is void.
w. ID. Cornish. on behalf of the state.
argued that the act Of congress was not
broad enough to cover the points in this
case. The act of congress provided that
it must be sold under its true name and
not as an imitation Of the genuine az
tlcle. The state, said he, has the right
to prevent the sale of an ar
tice which is deleteriOuS to health
In reply Mr.. San5Orn said that So 900, :,
600 pounds of oIeomargarine had been
sold last year. which was about one
fourth the quantity of butter consumed.
He maintained that a citizen has the
constitutional right to engage in the
sale of such commodity. Judge Nelson
stated that the dressed beef case of this
state Estate vs.. Barber and the original
package case from Iowa had been so
lately decided by the supreme court of
the United States that he deemed it m
necessary to write an opinion in this
case. The laws of Minnesota appeared
to prohibit the sale of oleomargarine
wherever manufactured. Mr.. GOOch
was under arrest and restrained of his
liberty for selling in an original
package. oleOmargarine. as an article of
food, which had been manufactured and
packed in Chicago, ILL.,. and shipped into
this state by Armour q Co, the en-
pioyers of GOOch. He was arrested for
doing an act which he had a right to do
under the clause of the United States
constitution relating to commerce. The
court held, therefore. that the law of
this state, in so far as it prohibited the
sale of oleOmargarine in original pack
ages by the importer INTO the state, is
unconstitutional and void. lie ordered
the discharge of Mr.. Gooch.
Dairy Commissioner Ives said last
eveningto GLOBE reporter that it is
the intention of the commission to en-
force the provisions of the law relative
to labelling oleomargarIne. and to re-
quire the dealer to post notices as to the
character of the substance offered for
sale.