410 BOARD OF AGEICULTUEE. [Pub. Doc. 



liable to be contaminated than it is at present ; because, under 

 the quarantine orders now established, all neat cattle brought 

 into this State from without its limits, except those that are in 

 transit or for purposes of immediate slaughter, are subjected to 

 a rigorous examination, which results, if they prove to be tuber- 

 culous, in their destruction without compensation. As a conse- 

 quence, only the better class of cattle from the neighboring 

 States are being brou2:ht into this State for sale. Assuming 

 that the averao;e condition of the cows in the neighboring: States 

 is the same as throughout this Commonwealth, the natural re- 

 sult of this will be that the poorer cattle, including the known 

 consumptives, will be left at home, to become to some extent 

 the natural sources of our foreign milk supply. 



A careful consideration of this matter will show that no abso- 

 lute protection in this direction can be afforded to our people 

 unless the sale of milk and similar products within this State, 

 but derived from animals from without its limits, is regulated 

 in some more efficient manner. 



One difficulty of this problem is the question of how far any 

 proper regulation to correct this evil would be an unlawful 

 interference with interstate commerce. The possibilities of suc- 

 cessfully enacting such a law is shown by the fact that the 

 supreme court of the United States has recently sustained the 

 law of this Commonwealth regulating the sale within its limits 

 of oleomargarine colored in imitation of butter which has been 

 manufactured without its limits.* 



On the other hand, the difficulty of the problem may be 

 appreciated by considering the fact that the same court held that 

 the following statute of Indiana was unconstitutional, as an un- 

 lawful interference with interstate commerce, f 



Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 

 Indiana^ That it shall be unlawful to sell, or offer or expose for sale, 

 in any incorporated city within this state, beef, mutton, veal, lamb or 

 pork for human food, except as hereinafter provided, which has not 

 been inspected alive within the county by an inspector or his deputy 

 duly appointed by the authorities of said county in which such beef, 

 mutton, veal or pork is intended for consumption, and fouud by such 

 inspector to be pure, healthy and merchantable ; and for every such 

 offence the accused, after conviction, shall be fined not more than two 

 hundred dollars nor less than ten dollars. 



* Commonwealth v. Plumley, December, 1894 f Miuuesota v. Barber, 136 U. S. 313. 



