Joseph McKenna

“ It was not what scientific men might find out by chemical and laboratory tests, or progressive men might discover by practical experiments, but what the people of the state could find out or be justified in accepting as established. It was the experience of the people, not the acts of some progressive manufacturers, which directed the legislation, and it was to protect the people, when following the opinions formed from that experience, from deception, that the statute was enacted. ”

“ Manufacturers who use inferior materials because they are so, or from a mistaken opinion of their quality, though they have statutory sanction, would be more affected than complainants. Consumers of paint, we may assume, like the consumers of other kinds of goods, seek excellence in them, and, where excellence is demonstrated by use, will care little of what pigments it is composed. This, however, is anticipating somewhat, and we will pass to the statute, consider its purpose, and see whether its classification is justified by that purpose. ”

“ Holding up to the prejudice of dealers in and users of mixed paints containing ingredients other than those specified, branding them as suspicious or adulterated, and rendering them unsalable or less salable than mixed paints containing the statutory ingredients, though more efficient than the latter for certain purposes. We can see that expense will be cast on the manufacturers of mixed paint not containing ingredients enumerated in the statute, but that such paint will be branded as adulterated is not easy to accept, and seems to be opposed by other allegations in the bill. ”