LEGAL ANALYSIS 73 



court passed upon a grading system to be used in designating apples 

 for market. By the legislation, the growers of red apples were re- 

 quired, in order for their apples to meet the "Fancy" grade, to have 

 their apples show a certain per cent redness or, failing that, to have 

 them classed as "culls." These "culls" had to be labeled as such and 

 could not be shipped in boxes but only in baskets. Yet the growers 

 of yellow apples were not required to observe the same scheme: they 

 still had available to them a grade designated as "C" which could 

 be shipped in boxes. Red apples formerly could be graded as "C," 

 but the new legislation removed this category. The growers of red 

 apples complained, saying that it was a violation of equal protection 

 in that for them there was no longer a "C" grade, while such grade 

 was retained for the growers of the yellow varieties. The court never- 

 theless held the statute to be valid, saying that the classification be- 

 tween the different growers was reasonably supportable. The court 

 said: 



"Article I. § 12 of the state constitution and the Fourteenth Amend- 

 ment to the federal constitution . . . require that class legislation must 

 apply alike to all persons within a class, and reasonable ground must exist 

 for making a distinction between those within, and those without, a desig- 

 nated class. Within the limits of these restrictive rules, the legislature has 

 a wide measure of discretion, and its determination, when expressed in 

 statutory enactment, cannot be successfully attacked unless it is manifestly 

 arbitrary, unreasonable, inequitable, and unjust ... It may well be that 

 the legislature found that the marketing of apples designated as 'C grade 

 in standard Washington apple boxes had no adverse effect on the market 

 value and reputation of the fancy grades of yellow and green varieties, 

 and, therefore no change in the grading system for these apples was 

 needed . . . [and] that color differences in the yellow and green varieties 

 of apples are much less pronounced than in the red and partial red 

 varieties . . ."^^ 



The second case emphasizes that the court's function is not to 

 pass upon the wisdom of the legislation, but rather merely to see 

 that the legislature keeps within the broad limits of constitutionality 

 — here, of making at least a rational selection or description of the 

 persons to be affected by the legislation. In Ragan v. City of Scat- 

 tle,^^ a 1961 case, the court sustained a limited-license scheme for 

 juke-box operators in Seattle, as against an argument based upon 

 the concept of equal protection. In the course of the opinion, the 

 court said: 



53. Id. at 435, 436: 353 P. 2d at 947-948. 



54. 58 Wn. 2d 779, 364 P. 2d 916 (1961). 



