122 THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



lighten without damage to any legitimate interest, he should not pray for 

 it; he should respectfully demand it. This country is not so poor that it 

 cannot afford to compel honesty in trade so far as that is possible. 



A national food law should be so well drawn that it would serve as a 

 model for State legislation, and thus tend to secure uniformity in State 

 laws. It should be as specific as possible, and should contain in the 

 act itself branding requirements for every kind of food known. This 

 would distinctly advise the trade of the requirements of the law and 

 would not subject dealers to the varying interpretation which a law of 

 only general character might receive from the officers who adminis- 

 tered it. 



The power of Congress to pass such a law is established by that 

 provision of the constitution which gives congress authority to regulate- 

 interstate commerce. If "regulation" means anything it means that 

 congress can determine what articles shall or shall not be transported 

 from State to State. It may be, and will be, urged that this is practically 

 an exercise of police power by the general government, a power which 

 the constitution reserves to the States. But the constitution gives to- 

 Congress certain specific authorities, among them the right to regulate 

 interstate commerce, and reserves all other rights to the States. Be- 

 sides, the states can only exercise police powers within their own boun- 

 daries, while interstate commerce covers the nation. 



The federal government has already entered the field of national 

 food regulation in the pure flour law, the oleomargarine law and the 

 branding law which prohibits the introduction into any State or Ter- 

 ritory from any other State or Territory of any dairy or food product 

 that is falsely labeled as to the State or Territory where produced. This 

 last act was passed to secure to Vermont only the name of Vermont 

 maple sugar, for instance; or to New York the fame of her apples, or 

 to California the reputation of her wines, or to Florida her valuable 

 trade-mark of "Florida Oranges," or to preserve to each State ex- 

 clusively the State name for its food products, and not permit Missouri 

 to label her windfalls of turnippy Ben Davies apples "New York Pip- 

 pins," and shut out Chicago from labeling a mixture of glucose and 

 burnt sugar "Vermont Maple Sugar." 



The filled cheese law was an exercise of the taxing power of the 

 government to limit or stop a fraud. The markets of this country and 

 Europe were being flooded with cheese made out of skim-milk and 

 lard, and offered and sold for full cream cheese. The descriptive 

 word "Filled" was used because the cheese was made from milk that 

 had been skimmed and the place of the removed butter fat filled or 

 partly filled with neutral oil or lard. Our local trade was demoralized 

 and our cheese reputation blackened in every European market. 



I drew and presented to the Wisconsin Legislature, under direction of 

 our State Dairymen's Association, a bill absolutely prohibiting the 

 manufacture and sale of filled cheese. The bill became a law. At that 

 time I was Dairy and Food Commissioner of the Statt. Two hundred 



