Court Opinion

ID: 9419311
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:48:37.854951+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:17.394972
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Murphy,
concurring:
I agree with the opinion of the Court that neither Congressional legislation nor the implications of the Constitution prevent the application of the minimum price requirements of the Pennsylvania Milk Control Law to the sale of milk by a dealer to the United States, but wish to emphasize a phase of the question which I believe is most important.
We are not concerned here with just an ordinary state regulatory statute of non-diseriminatory character which affects the federal government in some degree, but with a general measure designed to safeguard the health and well-being of the public by insuring an adequate supply of wholesome milk at stable prices.1 The preservation of public health is a matter of grave and primary concern to the states and the nation at all times, but even more so in time of war. Then indeed a healthy citizenry is essential to national survival, for the waging of modern “total war,” if it is to be done with maximum effectiveness, requires a sound and healthy people, as well as a sturdy fighting force.
*280In this country with its heterogeneous population living under diverse conditions in widely separated areas, state and local authorities are best qualified to determine what measures are most appropriate and necessary to promote the health and well-being of the people within their borders, and they should be given the widest possible latitude to solve their special problems as they think best. The whole framework of our federal system is based upon this principle. It has contributed to our strength and solidarity as one people. It should be the aim of all federal procurement officers, military or civilian, to harmonize their work so far as possible with this broad policy of government. Such an aim is in accord with the spirit of our laws and the character of our institutions and will best insure whole-hearted support of the military program.
In my opinion it is of greater importance to the nation at war and to its military establishment that high standards of public health be maintained than that the military procurement authorities have the benefit of unrestrained competitive bidding and lower prices in the purchase of needed milk supplies. That the United States must pay 1.60 more per quart for milk in Pennsylvania hardly means the collapse of the war effort. But it is common knowledge that armies frequently suffer more from the ravages of disease and sickness than from the perils of combat, and, if milk vendors dealing with the United States need not comply with Pennsylvania’s minimum price requirements, the effectiveness of Pennsylvania’s law is considerably reduced for it is conceded that the instant order is the largest single one ever given for milk within the State. This reduced effectiveness may have serious and unwanted repercussions not only upon civilian health but that of the military personnel stationed there as well.
In the conduct of the war as well as in other relations, the larger interests of the federal government and the *281nation as a whole will not suffer, nor will constitutional arrangements be prejudiced, if procurement officers are obliged to conduct their activities within the general framework of state laws enacted within reasonable limits to safeguard the public health, and safety. If Alabama for the purpose of revenue can, consistently with the Constitution, require government contractors to pay sales and use taxes upon materials used in a cost plus a fixed fee construction contract, the effect of which is to increase the cost of construction to the federal government (Alabama v. King & Boozer, 314 U. S. 1; Curry v. United States, 314 U. S. 14), there is all the more reason why Pennsylvania, acting to protect the public health, can require, until Congress makes clear its wishes otherwise, a dealer selling milk to the United States to adhere to its minimum price requirements. This is not to say that the States may exercise direct control over the actions of federal officials, military or otherwise, or that Congress may not invalidate or suspend local regulations insofar as they affect transactions with the federal authorities. If Congress determines that the enforcement of the Pennsylvania law against dealers selling to the United States interferes with its power to wage war, and forbids its application to them, we have a different question. See Federal Land Bank v. Bismarck Co., 314 U. S. 95. As yet it has not done so, and in the absence of such a measure, I can perceive no necessity or adequate justification either in law or constitutional theory for holding Pennsylvania’s regulation void as applied here.

 Section 101 of the Pennsylvania law declares that the milk industry “is a business affecting the public health and affected with a public interest,” and that the purpose of the Act is to regulate and control the industry “for the protection of the public health and welfare and for the prevention of fraud.” Section 801 requires the Milk Control Commission to ascertain and maintain such prices for milk “as will be most beneficial to the public interest, best protect the milk industry of the Commonwealth and insure a sufficient quantity of pure and wholesome milk to inhabitants of the Commonwealth, having special regard to the health and welfare of children residing therein.”