242 THE BUTTER INDUSTRY IN UNITED STATES [ 4 66 



prohibited the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine in 

 any form whatsoever. This principle was resorted to 

 because the states were unable to cope with the oleo- 

 margarine frauds. The New York legislature, for 

 instance, in 1884, authorized the Senate Committee on 

 Public Health to make a thorough investigation of the 

 oleomargarine trade and to make such recommendations 

 as it might deem proper. The committee went into the 

 question of drafting a more stringent law than was 

 in effect at that time. The state of Missouri had already- 

 enacted a prohibitory law 1 whose constitutionality and 

 validity had been upheld in a decision of the Circuit 

 Court of Missouri. 2 The New York Senate Committee, 

 therefore, concluded that a prohibitory law, together 

 with the establishment of effective executive machin- 

 ery, would best meet the needs of the exigency in 

 their state. The New York law of 1884 3 accordingly 

 embodied the prohibitory principle, which, however, was 

 declared unconstitutional by the Court of Appeals in the 

 case of People v. Marx, 99 N. Y. 377. Pennsylvania 

 made its law prohibitory in 1885. 4 Maine, Michigan, 

 Minnesota, and Wisconsin also enacted prohibitory laws. 

 Some states carried the principle of restriction to such 

 an extreme that in its application it was prohibitory. 

 New Hampshire, Vermont, and South Dakota, for 

 instance, passed laws requiring that oleomargarine be 

 colored pink. 5 The constitutionality of the prohibitory 



'March 24, 1881. 



1 In re Brosnahan, Jr,, 18 Fed. Rep. 62. 



3 Laws of N. Y., 1884, p. 255. 



4 Laws of Pa., 1885, p. 22. 



5 Vide resume of state laws in Report of N. Y. State Dairy Commis- 

 sioner for 1886, p. 410; and report of Wisconsin Dairy and Food Com- 

 missioner for 1898, p. 204. 



