704 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



numerous diseases, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, peritonitis, 

 locomotor ataxia, diphtheria, and infantile paralysis. The libel 

 charged that certain of the statements on the label and circular were 

 false and fraudulent: Although the Government was able to intro- 

 duce convincing testimon}' to the effect that the product was not a 

 cure or remedy for the diseases named, it was unable to establish the 

 element of fraud by a preponderance of the evidence and a verdict 

 was returned by the jury for the claimants. 



The case of tJnited States v. Southern Cotton Oil Co., F. and D. 

 No. 10764, was based on a criminal information charging a violation 

 of the net weight amendment to the food and drugs act in that the 

 cans for its product known as ''Wesson oil" were not correctly 

 marked as to the quSntitj- of their contents. The defendant corpora- 

 tion contended that the shortage in weight established by Govern- 

 ment's evidence was a reasonable variation within the scope of the 

 proviso in the act. In instructing the jury the court charged that 

 it was a c^uestion of fact for the jury whether the variations shown 

 were "reasonable variations" within the terms of the act. The 

 court held that the rules and regulations of the department respecting 

 variations and tolerances were within the terms of the act and were 

 as binding as the act of Congress under which they were issued, and 

 that the cans containing the article were not "small packages" under 

 the terms of the regulations. 



The case of United States v. John Dobry Manufacturing Co., 

 F. and D. No. 15069, was a criminal prosecution under the Sherley 

 amendment. The information charged that the remedy known as 

 "Dobry's Positive Cure for Hog Diseases" was misbranded in that 

 the therapeutic and curative statements on the label of the article 

 were false and fraudulent. The label bore statements to the effect 

 that the compound was a preventive and positive cure for hog cholera 

 and tuberculosis and other enumerated diseases. At the trial of the 

 case in the district court, the Government was able to prove that 

 the compound would not prevent or cure the diseases named; and 

 further, that the product had been shipped by the defendant corpora- 

 tion after official tests had been made by the Indiana State Experi- 

 ment Station at Purdue on hogs actually exposed to cholera, and after 

 the company had been notified by the Indiana authorities of the 

 inefficacy of the medicine. The element of fraud was thus estab- 

 lished and the jury returned a verdict of guiltv- 



The case of United States r. Sutherland Flour Mills Co., F. and D. 

 No. 15453, N. J. No. 11382, was based on a criminal information 

 charging adulteration and misbranding of ""Wheat Shorts with Mill 

 Run Ground Screenings." The case was tried before the court with- 

 out a jury, and after the submission of the evidence the court found 

 the defendant corporation guilty of adulteration of the article in that 

 reground bran had been substituted for the article and of misbranding 

 in that the article was a product composed wholly or in part of re- 

 ground bran and was an imitation t)f and offered for sale under the 

 distinctive name of another article. 



The case of United States v. 22 Bottles of Crab Orchard Concen- 

 trated Mineral Water, F. and D. No. 15395, was a seizure proceeding 

 against a mineral water under the Sherley amendment, the label com- 

 plained of bearing certain objectionable therapeutic claims. A pre- 

 vious case had been tried in the same court on another label and the 



