Evening star., 1935-05-18
LICENSE EBYA.A.A.
ON M|[K|S VO|DED
Judge in Boston DiSmisses
U. S. Suits Against
Two Dealers.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
BOSTON, May 18.-Judge Elisha
H. Brewster of the United States Dis
trict Court ruled last night that the
Federal license for the greater Boston
milk market, established under the
agricultural adjustment act, Is void
and unenforceable.
- The decision dismissed SUI S
brought by Secretary of Agriculture
Henry A. Wallace against the Seven
Oaks Dairy Co. and the Westwood
Farm Milk Co., Inc, Boston dealers
who purchase Vermont-produced milk
for distribution in Boston. The suits
sought to restrain the defendants
from operating after revocation Of
their Federal license
Challenging authority of the Sec
retary of Agriculture, Judge Brew
eter's summarized reasons for declar-
Ing the license void and unenforce-
able were % that the license "pur-
ports to operate upon persons not
within the reach of the authority con-
ferred upon the Secretary of Agricul-
ture by the agricultural adjustment
act:" .(2) that the scope Of the license
has been carried beyond the limits
Of law by regimenting production and
fixing prices with respect to transac-
tions that have no substantial or di-
rect relation to interstate commerce"
and 90 that these excesses, found in
inseparable provisions of the license,
vitiate the whole license"
Appeal to be Sought.
Samuel w. Tator, Federal admins
traitor for the Boston market, an
nounced late last night the A. A. A.
would ask the Department Of Justice
to appeal from the decision. This
move was regarded in Boston as &C.
ton to forestall throwing the license
into immediate discard.
Judge Brewster cited numerous
precedents. including the recent May
6, 1885, Supreme Court decision in
the case of the Railroad Retirement
Board VS.. the Alton Railroad Co.,
which declared the railroad pension
act unconstitutional.
In order to sustain the validity
of the license involved in these cases, "
Judge Brewster said. "it would be
necessary to read into it words of
limitation which are not there in
thus attempting to impose regulation
upon those not within the reach of
his authority, the Secretary has now
no just grounds on which to main
tain his suits against these defend
ants
Furthermore, by exerting his au-
thority to license, the Secretary has
undertaken to fix the price which the
defendants shall pay for their supply
of milk. Neither the control OF
production nor the price paid pro-
ducers can be deemed to be reason
able conditions necessary to eliminate
unfair practices"
Cites Voiding of State Laws.
Citing instances in which State
statutes regulating prices have been
ruled invalid because they were held
to contravene the due-process clause
of the fourteenth amendment, Judge
Brewster continued:
1T does not follow that because
q State may have. in the stress OF
emergency, police power to regulate a
business essentially private in char
acter, that the National Government
under the commerce clause, has the
same power. One is exercising a
granted power and the other a re-
served powef. They are not to be
measured by the same yardstick."
Judge Brewster said:
Another cardinal rule gathered
from authorities is that Congress may
not, under the pretext of executing
its granted powers, undertake the reg
ulation of matters of local concern.
If the declared or revealed purpose
of the legislation is not to regulate
commerce between the States in any
true sense, but is rather to regulate
activities and transactions, or to at
tain ends which have no reasonable
relation to such commerce, the act
cannot stand as valid exercise of the
commerce power"
The jurist said it was difficult to
dnd any legitimate grounds for con-
eluding that the price fixing condi-
lions Of the license would tend to
maintain or conserve the free flow OF
goods between the States.
ION the contrary, it has generally
been supposed that regulation of prices
paid for commodities moving in inter-
state commerce tended to burden such
commerce"