Commissioner of Agriculture. 105 



is doubtless in the prosecution of these industries danger of 

 adulteration and of the use of processes injurious to public 

 health. The regulation of these subjects for the protection of 

 the public health and the prevention of imposition on consum- 

 ers is within the power of the Legislature, and the propriety 

 of its exercise cannot be questioned. But while it may regu- 

 late, the Legislature may not destroy the industry, and that is 

 not a valid regulation which in dealing with the means of pre- 

 serving food makes the preservation of food itself an unlawful 

 act. Ingredients and processes may be prohibited as unwhole- 

 some or causing deception, but not solely because they preserve. 



The judgment appealed from should be affirmed, with costs. 



Parker, Ch. J., Gray, O'Brien, Haight. Landon and Werner, 

 JJ., concur. Judgment affirmed. 



This law, so far as it applies to selling preservatives as such, 

 was declared unconstitutional, because it did not confine its pro- 

 hibitions to unhealthful and unwholesome preservatives. Phy- 

 sicians who ought to be competent to speak upon this subject 

 stated to me that, in their judgment, quite a percentage of infant 

 mortality was due in times past to the use of preservatives. 

 I would, therefore, respectfully recommend to your honorable 

 body that the statute above declared unconstitutional be 

 amended by prohibiting the sale of such preservatives as may 

 be detrimental to health, or else a statute in which shall be 

 specifically named those particular preservatives that are detri- 

 mental to health and their use in such food products. 



VINEGAR. 



The Assistant Commissioners in the different divisions in the 

 State have been instructed to exercise vigilance continuously 

 relative to violations of this portion of the Agricultural Law. 

 In doing this work a peculiar condition has been discovered rel- 

 ative to some of the vinegars placed upon the market. It was 

 found to contain sufficient amount of acetic acid and the re- 

 quired amount of solids, but was declared by the chemists not 



