The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-20
.FUQUA BROTHERS FINED IN COURT BY JUDGE FEAG|N Sold MIX in Birmingham That Contained Buraclc
 Acid BOTH ATTORNEYS MADE EXCELLENT ARGUMENTS Judge Feasln Gave Offenders the Low est Fines, But Warned Others Not to Violate the Law In
 the Future.

Fuqua Bros, the dairymen, charged with adulterating milk sold to Birming- ham consumers, were nned s10 each by Judge Feagin in the police court yes- terday
 At the request of Frank S. White attor- ney for the defense, Judge Feagin held up the fines until Monday, by which time the defendants will decide whether or not an appeal will be taken. Judge Feagin stated that he felt that 1t would be wrong to impose a heavy fine on the first of lenders to be convicted, but that here after any dairymen convicted on the same charge before him would be fined the limit of the law, should he deem such action necessary to stop the use of boracic acid In milk.
 In rendering his decision, Judge Feagin complimented the attorneys upon the able manner in which each side had con- ducted the case, and in the presentation of the arguments, pro and con, upon question of such vital importance to the consumers of milk. While stating that he believed the defendants guilty he said he did not believe there was any wilful or deliberate purpose on their parts to per- petrate a fraud upon the public in the sale of milk containing boracio acid. The evidence showed, Judge Feagin said, that boracic acid had been sold to dairymen in Birmingham and used by them fop the last ten years. and this case had been the first where any person had even been arrested for its improper use, although the city ordinance against it had been in force for three years or more.
 Experts Disagree.
 ffWhen able chemists, professors in lead Ing universities of the United States. and learned physicians disagree as to whether or not boracic acid Is injurious to milk and to the human system,' said Judge Feagin, t Is hardly to be expected that the defendants in this case should be expected to know. feel that 1t would be unjust to impose a heavy fine in this, the first conviction but hereafter, should the practice continue, and dairymen ar raigned before me and convicted as in this case, the limit of the law will be imposed if such Is uecessary to stop the use of boraclc acid in mlks.''
 When the case was taken up at 10 o'clock yesterday morning Frank s. White, representing the defense contin- ued his argument. He began by empha- sizing that, in his opinion, the citys charter did not give the city authority to pass the milk ordinance as 1t stands. The charter power was not as broad as the ordinance. The charter of city, he said, was like the constitution of the United states--that is it's powers are all delegated by legislation and city can not pass any law on any subject not dele gated or authorized by its charter.
 Doubt Existed.
 Mfr. White said: Unless the court is fully satisfied that this acid, which the defendants claimed Is a preseryative. does adulterate milk, the court should find the defendants not guilty. The tes- timony and expert authorities for both state and defense are at variance. The professor of pathological physiology at Yale asserts that boracic acid Is harmless and rather aids digestion than injures it. The United States dispensary, recognized as the highest medical authority. also says the acid is harmless, and that it-is also an anticeptic and a germicide in the preservation of milk The court knows as a matter of history that scientists dif- fered in former days as to whether the world was round or fat-that Galilleo was persecuted by the church Tor saying that the earth moved. and that leading theo- logians in the seventeenth century held that there were such things as witches and actually put women and children to death on such theories.
 "Where there was so much disagree ment among experts as to the effects of boracic acid the court ought to give the defendants the benefit of the doubt. It would be a serious mistake to convict these defendants and shut them off from their vacations for livelihood on testi- mony so complicated.
 The Charter Power.
 "The defense" Mir. White said, "frank- ly conceds that were the charter broad enough to cover the ordinance and to sustain 1t, the defendants could be pun shed under the ordinance. The question the court has to pass upon is: Is the charter power broad enough to sustain