OLEOMARGARINE. 



93 



THE LAW OF THE CASE. 



I desire to call the attention of the committee to the law of this case, 

 and 1 trust that I shall not weary your patience on a subject so impor- 

 tant as that. 



I have been engaged during the past five years in interpreting the 

 laws of my country and in enforcing them, and having occupied the 

 position of a judge I realize more fully that it is the duty of all persons 

 to look to the law, and, when the law points out the course, to follow 

 it. So I shall ask this committee to follow the law as announced by 

 the Supreme Court of the United States. 



Two recent opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States in 

 reference to oleomargarine are of the highest importance in consider- 

 ing the pending bill. To these opinions I will ask the committee to 

 give special consideration. 



The first opinion was handed down in the case of Plumley v. Massa- 

 chusetts, in 1894. The second opinion was handed down in 1898, and 

 was in the case of Schollenberger v. Pennsylvania. The opinions were 

 given upon the oleomargarine laws of the States of Massachusetts and 

 Pennsylvania. The sections of those laws which were construed by 

 the Supreme Court are as follows: 



THE MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA STATUTES COMPARED. 



Massachusetts oleomargarine statute of 

 March 10, 1891, which the Supreme 

 Court of the United States held to be 

 valid, in Plumley v. Massachusetts, 

 155 U. S. , 461-482. Decided December 

 10, 1894. 



SEC. 1. "No person, by himself 

 or his agents or servants, shall 

 render or manufacture, sell, offer 

 for sale, expose for sale, or have 

 in his possession with intent to sell, 

 any article, product, or compound 

 made wholly or partly out of any 

 fat, oil, or oleaginous substance, or 

 compound thereof, not produced 

 from unadulterated milk or cream 

 from the same, which shall be in 

 imitation of yellow butter pro- 

 duced from pure unadulterated 

 milk or cream from the same: 

 Provided, That nothing in this act 

 shall be construed to prohibit the 

 manufacture or sale of oleomarga- 

 rine in a separate and distinct 

 form, and in such manner as will 

 advise the consumer of its real 

 character, free from coloration or 

 ingredient that causes it to look 

 like butter." 



Pennsylvania oleomargarine statute of 

 May 21, 1885, which the Supreme Court 

 of the United States held to be invalid, to 

 the extent that it prohibits the intro- 

 duction of oleomargarine from another 

 State and its sale in the original pack- 

 age, in Schollenberger r. Pennsylvania, 

 171 U. S. , 1-30. Decided May 26, 1878. 



"No person, firm, or corporate 

 body shall manufacture out of any 

 oleaginous substance, or any com- 

 pound of the same, other than 

 that produced from unadulterated 

 milk or cream from the same, any 

 article designed to take the place 

 of butter or cheese produced from 

 pure unadulterated milk or cream 

 from the same, or of any imita- 

 tion or adulterated butter or cheese, 

 nor shall sell or offer for sale, or 

 have in his, her, or their posses- 

 sion with intent to sell, the same 

 as an article of food." 



