St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-26
VICTORY FOR ARMOUR
The Minnesota Oleomarga-
pine Law Declared to Be
Unconstitutional.
satf
-,ee
1t Conflicts With the Article
- 9f5f
Regulating Interstate al
Commerce.
Judge Nelson Finds 1t I'M
necessary Even to Write .
aiIt
an Opinion. sfu
trr4
Commissioner Ives Will Rig
idly Enforce Other Pro- "a.
visions. tpf

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 Il di-
rect test by an application TO 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. E.
GoOch was arrested at White Bear last
week for selling the butteriue of Ar
mour u 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
eleaginous substance or substances. or a,y
compound other than that produced from
unadulterated milk, or of cream from the
same, any article designed to take the place
VI pittef or cheese, produced from pure.
uhauuiterated milk or cream from the same,
or snail sell or offer for sale the same as an
article OF food This shall not apply to pure
sklm-nllk cheese made from pure skim milk.
whoever violates the provision of this sec
tlon shali De deemed gniliy of a miSdemeanor
ana be punished by fine of nor less than
SlOo or more than $500 or not less than six
months or mere than one years imprison-
me meht, or py both such fine and Imprisonment
f for Ine hrst ofense, and by Imprisonment
1or one year tor each subsequent offense
MI. Gooch, upon being arrested, ap-
pied to Judge Nelson, of the United
States district court, for writ of ha-
peas corpus, alleging that he was re-
strained of his liberty contrary to the
constitution of the United States. and
took the grounds covered i'm the famous
original package decision as reported in
135th q. S. reports, Walter H. Sanborn
appeared for Mr.. Gooch 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 a stronger one than the
case found i'm the books, be
cause the manufacture and sale of
oleomargarine is regulated by act OF
congress. and is therefore commercial
commodity. The law of congress regu-
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
1t must be sold under its true name aiM
not as an imitation of the genuine ar,
ticle. The state, said he, has the right
to prevent the sale of an 5sir-
ticle which is deleteri0uS to health.
In reply Mr.. San5orn said that 81. 0e0, :
600 pounds of Oieomargarine had been
sold last year. which was about one
fourth the quantity of butter consumed.
He maintained that 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 oleomargarne
was under arrest and restrained of his.
liberty for selling in all original
package. oleomargarine. as an article of
food, which had been manufactured and
packed in Chicago, ILL.,. and shipped into
this state by Armour & Co., the en-
pioyers of Gooch. He was arrested for
doing an act which he had 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. He ordered.
the discharge of Mr.. Gooch.
Dairy Commissioner Ives said last
evening to 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.