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REPORT OF THE DAIRY AND FOOD COM- 

 MISSIONER. 



HARRISBURG, PA., January 1, 1899. 

 HON. THOS. J. EDGE, Secretary of Agriculture: 



DEAR SIR: I have the honor to report as follows concerning the work 

 of this division of your Department under my direction for the year 

 just closed. 



We have at present, regularly at work, seven agents collecting 

 samples and instituting prosecutions, etc., for violations of the various 

 laws in different parts of the State. We have six chemists employed, 

 some giving nearly their entire time to the work of analyzing the 

 various samples sent in by our agents. We have one salaried at- 

 torney in Philadelphia and one in Pittsburg. Others are temporarily 

 employed as the exigencies of the work require. 



The recent decision of the United States Supreme Court pronounc- 

 ing our prohibitory law governing the sale of oleomargarine uncon- 

 stitutional, so far as it relates to sales by manufacturers or Mieir 

 agents in an original package, has had the effect of largely increasing 

 the sale of oleomargarine in our State. Large concerns that had 

 moved out and carried on their business' in adjoining states have re- 

 turned and now are carrying on their business here, as they und< 

 edly have a legal right to do, provided they confine their sales t 

 iginal package as construed by the United States Supreme Court. 



This decision has incidentally been the cause, in my opinion, of flood- 

 ing our State with agents, who are interested in the sale of oleo, i 

 ing to establish local agencies and often, no doubt, going far beyond 

 the limit authorized by the Supreme Court decision, until persons 

 are deceived and led to believe that they have a legal right to engage 

 in its sale. 



Many reputable business firms are misled in this way, believing they 

 have a right to sell, and, when confronted with an arrest, persist in 

 continuing the business until the matter is decided in court. 



The New Hampshire act requiring that oleo shall be made a desig- 

 nated color, was recently pronounced unconstitutional by the United 

 States Court because it was virtually prohibitory; and for this reason 

 alone. In view of this fact we have good reasons to know what to ex- 

 pect should our prohibitory law in its entirety come again before this 

 court. 



I consider that my province as Commissioner is to enforce as far as 



