The Law of Pure Food and Drugs, National and State

PREFACE

In the last few years great interest has been taken in the subject of Pure Food. Statutes that had long been dormant, and never had been enforced, have been revived, as it were, and, in many instances, remodeled and fitted to new conditions. New laws have been enacted. The Federal Pure Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906, has acted as an incentive for State legislation on the subject of food and drugs.

The attitude of the manufacturers and vendors of food and drugs has brought about sharp litigation between them and the government-much greater in extent and breadth than many are aware of. The Federal oleomargarine law was the first statute to be attacked, resulting in a long line of cases, which firmly laid down the rules concerning the right and power of the government to protect and guard the health of its inhabitants, as well as its right to protect them from deceit and imposition.

Owing to the complex systems of government under which we live, the States were not able to protect their inhabitants as effectually as was necessary or desirable. They had no power over food that entered into interstate commerce until it was too late adequately to protect the consumer. The Federal Pure Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906, is intended to cover the point which the States were not able to reach, and it has been far more efficacious in its provisions than perhaps the law of any State has been for its own citizens.

But the Federal statute does not, by any means, reach all instances of adulterated foods and drugs. By far the greatest quantity of food never passes beyond, and it is never intended that it shall pass beyond, the boundaries of the State. Congress can not regulate the sale of this food. It remains for the State to do so. There have been many statutes enacted

by the States to cover this subject, especially since the adoption of the Federal statute of 1906. There is no State in the Union but what has enacted statutes on the subject of Pure Food and Drugs, and quite a number of them are modeledat least in part-after this one of 1906.

There has been no legal discussion of the subject of Pure Food and Drugs, in compact form, in this country, except Mr. Arthur P. Greeley's exposition of the Federal statute of 1906. That work was prepared by him within less than a year after the enactment of that statute, and before the rules and regulations for its enforcement had been well tested, and when only a few decisions had been made construing its provisions. Since then many instances have arisen wherein the Department of Agriculture has been called on for decisions. in the enforcement of the statute, and the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to its provisions. A large number of cases have reached the courts, usually resulting in victories for the government.

But the government met with signal defeat in its efforts to suppress the entrance into interstate commerce of proprietary medicines where unfounded and false claims are made concerning their efficacy as cures for human ills. This decision1 of the Supreme Court of the United States necessarily results in overturning a number of decisions made in the District Courts. It has been the author's endeavor to point out each instance in which there is a conflict between the decisions of that department and the decisions of the Supreme Court.

In Part I of this work has been discussed the constitutionality of the statutes, the validity of the ordinances and regulations, concerning Pure Food and Drugs, and the powers of the States and municipalities to regulate and to prohibit, if necessary, their sale.

In Part II has been discussed at length the Federal Pure Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906. All the Food Inspection Decisions made and Notices of Judgments issued by the

1 United States v. Johnson, 31 Supreme Court Reporter, 627.

Department of Agriculture, up to the date of going to press, have been cited, it is believed, with possibly a very few exceptions, and many of the former quoted at length. In the exposition of this statute, and in his labors, the author has been greatly assisted by official documents and literature construing the statute furnished by the Department of Agriculture, and his thanks are especially due to Dr. W. H. Wiley in this respect.

Part III consists of a review of the State, English, Irish, Scotch, and Australian decisions of the courts, in appropriate chapters and under proper headings. This, as well as Part I, is a phase of the work never before systematically undertaken in America. In England a very excellent work-Bell's-gives a clear exposition of the several statutes and the many decisions on the subject of Pure Foods. The author has availed himself of the labors of this painstaking and accurate writer whenever applicable, often quoting him at length. Practically all of the English and Colonial cases have been reviewed and cited in this present work-an unusual practice in an American work-but the writer has felt that these foreign cases would be of decided benefit to the practitioner, as well as to pure food and drug officers and boards in the enforcement of their statutes.

A painstaking effort has been made to cite all American cases and the author believes he has succeeded-and to give, not only the official citation, but also the citation to the West System of Reporters, the American Decisions, American Reports, American State Reports, and Lawyers' Reports Annotated, when the case was reported therein.

In the Appendices have been inserted at length the Federal Pure Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906, the Rules and Regulations of the Department of Agriculture relating thereto, the Federal statutes relating to Filled Cheese; Inspection of Articles of Food, Drink, and Medicines; Inspection of Tea; Labels and Brands as to State of Production; Importation of Drugs and Medicines; Importation of Opium; Inspection of Imported and Exported Foods and Drugs; Oleomargarine; Adulterated Butter (the official edition, with rules and regu

lations and annotations); the Meat Inspection Law of March 4, 1907, with rules and regulations (the official edition), and the Insecticide Act of 1910, with the official rules and regulations. All these statutes are, in a way, related to each other.

It was the original intention of the author to insert the statutes of all the States relating to Pure Foods, with the several State regulations adopted for their enforcement, but, after having made a partial collection of them, it was found that they would render this work entirely too large, the printing of which would entail a cost not justified by the advantages to be obtained thereby. The Federal Department of Agriculture prints these State statutes for gratuitous distribution, and many States gratuitously furnish their own. Besides these reasons for not inserting them in this work is the further reason that many of them are frequently changed by the Legislatures, every year changes being made in some of them. W. W. THORNTON.

Indianapolis, Ind.,

December 1, 1911.