The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-06-14
commissioner of agriculture, the last
paragraph reads as follows:

commissioner of agriculture, the last
paragraph reads as follows:
Under the general pure food law.
you have the authority to have ex-
aminations and inspections made of
citrus fruits for the purpose of as
certaining whether there is any mis-
Constructing the immature fruit law
and the general pure food law to-
gether, it is my opinion that your de-
partment is authorized to make in
spection of alleged green fruits and
make such reports thereon to the
proper police and law officers as may
| be required by law. Under the i'm
mature fruit law however, the ac-
ton of your department would, per-
haps, for reasons herein stated, be
entitled to no more consideration
than a complaint made by any citi
zen of the state who may complain
and allege violation of said stat
ute"
A lengthy correspondence ensued
between the officials of the Florida
Citrus Exchange and the commission
er of agriculture, the latter taking
the position that the immature fruit
law was a general law, that it did
not devolve upon him to enforce 1t,
nor to participate in enforcing it, and
refused absolutely to have anything
to do with it. The Florida Citrus
Exchange based it's action upon the
opinion rendered by the attorney gen.
eral, as quoted above, insisting that
the commissioner of agriculture per-
form the duty devolving upon his Of
fee. The Exchange sent a personal
representative to Tallahassee, en-
ployed counsel there other than the
attorney general, and together they
interviewed the commissioner of ag
| riculture, at which interview State
Chemist R. E. Rose was present, and
in which he participated. The Elk
change representative, with its at
torney, conferred with the attorney
general, who reaffirmed his opinion
that the two laws should be construed
together, the general pure food law"
and the Immature fruit law and
that, under this construction, it was
the duty of the pure food department
of the state to make inspections
where complaints were filed and to
secure samples and to hold these
samples subject to inspection by the
proper officials of the law The Flor
ida Citrus Exchange requested and
urged the commissioner of agricul-
ture to appoint inspectors to do this
work, offering to defray the expense
If there was no fund available from
the state for this purpose. The whole
line of correspondence developed the
fact that neither the commissioner
of agriculture nor the state chemist
desired to or had any intention of
lending their moral support to the en-
forcement of that law, nor to dis
charge the duty devolving upon them
under the opinion rendered to the
commissioner of agriculture by the
attorney general of the state, whose
duty it is to advise the agricultural
commissioner and pure food depart
ment as to their duties in such mat
tiers. On October 6, 1911, Commits
sioner McLin addressed letter to
Mr. w. c. Temple, general manager
of the Florida Citrus Exchange, Tam
pa, Fla, in which he says:
Il have referred to the attorney
general the proposition as to wheth-
ho r. fo1
legal steps as an official under the
immature fruit statute. Should the
attorney general hold that | am mis-
taken in my views as to a want of
authority under the provision of the
said immature fruit statute, | shall
conform to his opinion on the sub
ject, as he is my legal adviser on
such matters. Having submitted the
question to the attorney general, l
will transmit to you a copy of his
opinion on the subject"
1t will be seen from the commits
sioner's statement in this letter that
he had submitted the proposition to
the attorney general and that he
would abide by the attorney generals
decision. However, after this decis-
ion was rendered, the commissioner
of agriculture did not change his
views. We were again advised by him
that the immature fruit law was a
general law, that it could be enforc-
ed only by the usual process for en-
forcing general laws. that some citi-
zen should complain to the proper
officers in his county, that this Off
Ger should take the usual routine,
and that the fruit should be brought
before court which would determine
on examination whether or not the
fruit was immature within the mean
ing of the law. There appeared TO
be no course open to the growers of
Florida except through their organi-
cation, the Florida Citrus Exchange
The Florida Citrus Exchange was,
therefore, forced into an attitude of
prosecutor in an effort to have this