Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-02-05
AGAINST ORIGINAL PACKAGE.
Iowa Supreme Court Refutes Doctrine
in Strong Terms.

in Strong Terms.
Practically the only beneficiaries
of the doctrine of the sanctity of orig
inal packages in interstate commerce
are the whiskey seller, the cigarette
manufacturer and the dealer in bogus
! butter" This is the estimate, as
inal package, by the Iowa supreme
| court in an opinion rendered in the
case against C. P Cook and Ed Plum
kett of Marshall county, in which the
supreme court has ruled that the doc
trine of Original packages" which
has been the chief reliance of those
manufacturers who have sought to
sell goods in this state contrary to the
Iowa law, has no place in Iowa juris-
prudence. incidentally the supreme
court eXcoriates the American Tobac-
co Company, which, in the particular
case in question, was the shipper of
cigarettes sold in violation of the
mulct law. Law breaker is the term
applied by the court and the company
is classed with the ''peripatetic swim
dlers" who hunt their victims in Sc
cluded villages.
The supreme courdC holds that the
doctrine of Original packages" as
Originally handed down by Judge John
Marshall Of the supreme court of the
| United States, has been so distorted to
suit the ends of foreign corporations
desiring to do business in a state with
whose laws they were unwilling to
comply, that its author, if he could re-
turn to earth and view the scope and
meaning that it has been given, would
be inclined to question its legitima-
cy." The doctrine, the court holds. is
harmless, in that it only declares that
the state law cannot interfere with
packages which are shipped in the or
binary way and in the usual course of
business, provided the consignor has
complied with the Interstate COM
merce regulations. In its present form
the supreme court says the doctrine
is a menace to state rights and if
pushed to its logical conclusion nulli-
fies the effect of any law which the
state may enact to protect the public
health, morals or peace
The case in point is that of c. T. Cook
and Ed. Plunkett, appellants, against Mar
shall county. 1t comes up on an appeal
from the Judgment of Judge S. w Burn
ham. Judge holding that the state mulrt
4 law is valid and the. court below is af-
rmed. The opinion is written by Judge
Weaver.
According to the facts as set forth in
the opinion, thc American Tobacco aGm-
pany shipped a quantity of cigarettes to
Cook, who was operating cigar store in
n building owned by Plunkett. Instead of
being shipped in the usual fifty or one
hundred pound packages the cigarettes
were carried into the state from Missouri
by the express company In the boxes in
~ Am Il
held ten cigarettes each. When the cigar
ettes arrived at their destination they
were scooped up in bushel basket by the
accommodating agent of the express com
pany and carried TO Cooks place of bust
ness, where they were sold, although he
had not taken out a license as required by
the mulct law. The muct assessment was
made # lien against Plunkett's property
and he and Cook appealed to the district
court The case comes to the supreme
court on the contention that the cigarettes
were in original packages" and that
therefore under the constitution of the
United States and the Interstate commerce
regulations cannot be interfcred with by
the state authorities. Speaking of the
general proposition the court says:
'.frhe question is whether ten cigarettes
put, up, bonded, shipped and sold in such
an original package as is meant by the
petition is such an original package as is
/
pcllant relies upon As an original propo
stion addressed to common sense. aided
by conscience of average enlightenment
and uncomplicated by precedent, there
would seem to he no room for doubt that
this question should be answered in the
negative. 1t must be admitted, however
that authorities are not wanting affordine
the appellants some ground to believe that
any scheme or device-no matter how
transparent the frauds sufficient to battle
the power of Il sovereign state so long as
it bears the mystic legend original pack
] age
Further along in the opinion the supreme
court says:
ut is a striking but just commentary
upon the perverson of the principle EN-
bodied in that decision (the original pack
age case to note that practically the only
beneficiaries of The modern doctrine of the
, sanctity of original packages in interstat,
commerce are the whisky seller, the cigar
/, cite manufacturer and the dealer in bogus
butter, trinity which finds it profitable
to force their wares upon states whose
people seek to exclude them as injurious
to public health and morals.
'This kind of operation is left therefore
to those who have no respect for law, NJ
interest in the public welfare and no fea1
of public opinion. When such men delib
erately determine to put money in thei
pockets by engaging in a business which
/ the state has declared To he injurjnus Il,