574 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Court on May 15, 1922, upheld the decision of the lower court, 

 expressly sustaining the constitutionality of the act and the validity 

 of the definition of interstate commerce, which is somewhat broader 

 than had been carried in any previous statute, although the basis 

 for such a definition had been established by earlier decisions of the 

 Supreme Court. Immediately following the decision of the Supreme 

 Court, the commission men and traders generally announced their 

 intention to cooperate with the Packers and Stockyards Administra- 

 tion and to comply with the law in every respect. 



Certain statutes of the State of Minnesota, passed prior to the 

 enactment of the packers and stockyards act, vest the railroad and 

 warehouse commission of that State with authority to supervise the 

 operations of the public stockyards and the commission men and 

 traders in that State, to regulate rates and charges, and to maintain 

 State weighers in the stockyards. The enactment of the packers and 

 stockyards act raised the question of the validity of the continued 

 enforcement of these statutes, and because of the fact that the State 

 supervision was maintained by the imposition of a special charge 

 per head for State weighing collected from the shippers of all 

 live stock marketed in the St. Paul stockyards, and that no similar 

 charge was imposed at other stockyards in the country, complaint 

 was made on behalf of shippers outside of Minnesota that this charge 

 should not be allowed. This caused an investigation by the Packers 

 and Stockyards Administration of the whole situation, and it was 

 found that the railroad and warehouse commission was contending 

 that its jurisdiction should be maintained unimpaired and that the 

 weighing service and the charges therefor should not be disturbed. 

 It appeared that there was a question of conflict of jurisdiction 

 which was considered by the attorney of the Packers and Stock- 

 yards Administration, who decided that the packers and stockyards 

 act covered the whole field involved in the question and that the 

 State laws were in conflict therewith and therefore invalid as to 

 interstate commerce. This opinion was sustained by the Attorney 

 General of the United States. At this stage the stockyards company 

 proposed to take over the entire weighing service and the dockage 

 and shrinkage of hogs and absorb the expense without special 

 charges to the shipper and without increasing its existing rates. 

 The annual revenues of the State amounted to from $60,000 to 

 $75,000 per annum from these sources. The State thereupon insti- 

 tuted suit in the State court to enjoin the stockyards company from 

 taking this action, and later the commission men instituted suit in 

 the Federal district court to enjoin the State from enforcing its 

 laws. The State railroad and warehouse commission also procured 

 the introduction in the House of Representatives of an amend- 

 ment to the packers and stockyards act designed to retain for the 

 State its jurisdiction over the weighing of live stock and the bonding 

 of commission men. Public hearings were held by the House Com- 

 mittee on Agriculture, where all interests were represented, and 

 the facts of the situation were brought to the attention of the 

 committee by the officer in charge of the Packers and Stockyards 

 Administration. The amendment was not reported out by the 

 committee. Following this a representative of the Packers and 

 Stockyards Administration was sent to St. Paul for the purpose of 



