Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/242/153.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 02:06:58+00:00

Document:
Mr. Walter Jeffreys Carlin for plaintiff in error in No. 50.
Messrs. R. L. Parrish and Walter Jeffreys Carlin for plaintiffs in error in No. 40.
[242 U.S. 153, 155] Mr. George Cosson, Attorney General of Iowa, for defendant in error in no. 40.
The ice cream of commerce is not iced or frozen cream. It is a frozen confection-a compound. The ingredients of this compound may vary widely in character, in the number used, and in the proportions in which they are used. These variations are dependent upon the ingenuity, skill, and judgment of the maker, the relative cost at a particular time or at a particular place of the possible ingredients, and the requirements of the market in respect to taste or selling price. Thus, some Philadelphia ice cream is made of only cream, sugar, and a vanilla flavor. In making other Philadelphia ice cream the whites of eggs are added; and according to some formulas vanilla ice cream may be made without any cream or milk whatsoever; for instance, by proper manipulation of the yolks of eggs, the whites of eggs, sugar, syrup, and the vanilla bean. All of these different compounds are commonly sold as ice cream; and none of them is necessarily unwholesome.
Plaintiffs in error contend that as ice cream is shown to be a generic term embracing a large number and variety of products, and the term as used does not necessarily imply the use of dairy cream in its composition, it is arbitrary and unreasonable to limit the ice cream of commerce to that containing a fixed minimum of butter fat. But the legislature may well have found in these facts persuasive [242 U.S. 153, 159] evidence that the public welfare required the prohibition enacted. The facts show that, in the absence of legislative regulation, the ordinary purchaser at retail does not and cannot know exactly what he is getting when he purchases ice cream. He presumably believes that cream or at least rich milk is among the important ingredients; and he may make his purchase with a knowledge that butter fat is the principal food value in cream or milk. Laws designed to prevent persons from being misled in respect to the weight, measurement, quality, or ingredients of an article of general consumption are a common exercise of the police power. The legislature defines the standard article or fixes some of its characteristics; and it may conclude that fraud or mistake can be effectively prevented only by prohibiting the sale of the article under the usual tradename, if it fails to meet the requirements of the standard set. Laws prohibiting the sale of milk or cream containing less than fixed percentages of butter fat present a familiar instance of such legislation. Cases in the state courts upholding laws of this character are referred to in the margin. 3 This court has repeatedly sustained the validity of similar prohibitions. Schmidinger v. Chicago, 226 U.S. 578 , 57 L. ed. 364,33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 182, Ann. Cas. 1914B, 284; Armour & Co. v. North Dakota, 240 U.S. 510 , 60 L. ed. 771, 36 Sup. Ct. Rep. 440, Ann. Cas. 1916D, 548.
It is specially urged that the statutes are unconstitutional because they do not merely define the term 'ice cream;' but arbitrarily prohibit the sale of a large variety of wholesome compounds theretofore included under the name 'ice cream.' The acts appear to us merely to prohibit the sale of such compounds as ice cream. Such is the construction given to the act by the supreme court of Iowa. [242 U.S. 153, 160] State v. Hutchinson Ice Cream Co. 168 Iowa, 1, 15, L.R.A. 1917B, 198, 147 N. W. 195, which is, of course, binding on us. We cannot assume, in the absence of a definite and authoritative ruling, that the supreme court of Pennsylvania would construe the law of that state otherwise. The conviction here under review was for selling the 'compound' as ice cream, so that we are not called upon to determine whether the state may, in the exercise of its police power, prohibit the sale even of a wholesome product, if the public welfare appear to require such action-and if, as here, interstate commerce is not involved. See Powell v. Pennsylvania, 127 U.S. 678, 685 , 32 S. L. ed. 253, 256, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 992, 1257; Schollenberger v. Pennsylvania, 171 U.S. 1, 15 , 43 S. L. ed. 49, 54, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 757.
In view of the conclusion stated above, it is unnecessary to consider whether the statutes are or are not sustainable as health measures; and upon this we express no opinion.
The judgment in each case is affirmed.
'First. If any substance or substances has or have been mixed and packed with it so as to reduce or lower or injuriously affect its quality, strength or purity.
'Second. If any substance or substances has or have been substituted wholly or in part for the article.
'Third. If any valuable constituent of the article has been wholly or in part abstracted.
[ Footnote 2 ] The requirements of the several states are set forth in U. S. Department of Agriculture (Bureau of Animal Industry), Circular 218, on Legal Standards for Dairy Products.
'Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., That no person, firm or corporate body, by himself, itself or themselves, or by his, her or their agents, servants, or employees, shall sell, offer for sale, expose for sale, or have in possession with intent to sell, ice cream adulterated within the meaning of this act.
'First. If it shall contain boric acid, formaldehyde, saccharin, or any other added substance or compound that is deleterious to health.
'Second. If it shall contain salts of copper, iron oxid, ochers, or any coloring substance deleterious to health; Provided, That this paragraph shall not be construed to prohibit the use of harmless coloring matter in ice cream, when not used for fraudulent purposes.
'Third. If it shall contain any deleterious flavoring matter, or flavoring matter not true to name.
'Fourth. If it be an imitation of, or offered for sale under, the name of another article. . . .
[ Footnote 3 ] State v. Schlenker, 112 Iowa, 642, 51 L.R.A. 347, 84 Am. St. Rep. 360, 84 N. W. 698; State v. Campbell, 64 N. H. 402, 10 Am. St. Rep. 419, 13 Atl. 585; People v. Bowen, 182 N. Y. 1, 74 N. E. 489; State v. Crescent Creamery Co. 83 Minn. 284, 54 L.R.A. 466, 85 Am. St. Rep. 464, 86 N. W. 107; State v. Stone, 46 La. Ann. 147, 15 So. 11; Deems v. Baltimore, 80 Md. 164, 26 L.R.A. 541, 45 Am. St. Rep. 339, 30 Atl. 648; Com. v. Wheeler, 205 Mass. 384, 137 Am. St. Rep. 456, 91 N. E. 415, 18 Ann. Cas. 319; St. Louis v. Grafeman Dairy Co. 190 Mo. 507, 1 L.R.A.(N.S.) 926, 89 S. W. 627; State v. Smyth, 14 R. I. 100, 51 Am. Rep. 344.

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