David Josiah Brewer

“ Can a state say to a carrier, 'You may bring gunpowder or any other article of danger into the state, but, if you know its dangerous character, you shall be responsible for all damages that it may cause in the hands of the consignee or any subsequent party through improper handling?' It certainly places it in the power of the state to most materially interfere with interstate commerce if it can prescribe that as a condition of its being carried on. ”

“ Can it plead the Kansas statute in defense of its duty as a common carrier? If it says that the cattle have ticks upon them, and therefore are liable to communicate Texas fever, or, if not having ticks upon them, may otherwise (as shown by the verdict of this jury) communicate the disease, the shipper may reply that he intends them for immediate slaughter, and that they are a legitimate article of commerce. But that will not relieve the carrier. The liability imposed by the Kansas statute does not depend upon the intent with which the cattle are shipped into the state ”

“ It is only when the native cattle are permitted to pasture in or near the grounds in which the Southern cattle are or have recently been kept that injury results. The case presented, therefore, is not that of legislation to prevent importation of diseased meat,-that which in itself is unhealthy and unfit for use,-but something which, if improperly or carelessly handled, may communicate disease and do injury. The very phraseology of the statute indicates this. It does not name diseased cattle, but only those liable to communicate disease. ”