252 THE BUTTER INDUSTRY IN UNITED STATES [476 



Any legislation of Congress upon the subject must, of 

 course, be regarded by this court as a fact of the first impor- 

 tance. . . . By reference to the statutes we discover that Con- 

 gress in 1886 passed "An Act defining butter, also imposing 

 a tax upon and regulating the manufacture, sale, importation, 

 and exportation of oleomargarine". . . . 



This act shows that Congress at the time of its passage in 

 1886 recognized the article as a proper subject of taxation 

 and as one which was the subject of traffic and of exportation 

 to foreign countries, and of importation from such countries. 

 Its manufacture was recognized as a lawful pursuit, and taxa- 

 tion was levied upon the wholesale and retail dealers therein, 

 and also upon the article itself. 



As to the extent of the manufacture and its commercial 

 nature, it is not improper to refer to the reports of the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, which show that the tax receipts from 

 its manufacture and sale in the United States under the act 

 above mentioned, during the nine years beginning with 1887, 

 amounted to over ten million dollars. . . . 



Upon all these facts we think it apparent that oleomargarine 

 has become a proper subject of commerce among the states 

 and with foreign nations. 



The court also held that as a pure article oleomarga- 

 rine can be imported from one state into another and 

 sold in the original package. 



The general rule to be deduced from the decisions of this 

 court is that a lawful article of commerce cannot be wholly 

 excluded from importation into a state from another state 

 where it was manufactured or grown. The state has power 

 to regulate the introduction of any article, including a food 

 product, so as to insure purity of the article imported, but 

 such police power does not include the total exclusion even 

 of an article of food. 



In connection with the sale of oleomargarine in the 



