Mahlon Pitney

“ Congress has thus limited the scope of its prohibitions. It has not included that at which the Indiana statute aims. Can it be said that Congress, nevertheless, has demed to the state, with respect to the feeding stuffs coming from another state and sold in the original packages, the power the state otherwise would have to prevent imposition upon the public by making a reasonable and nondiscriminatory provision for the disclosure of ingredients, and for inspection and analysis? If there be such denial, it is not to be found in any express declaration to that effect. ”

“ There is no discrimination against plaintiff in error or its product, or against syrups as a class.
It is, however, urged that since plaintiff's syrup is a proprietary food, made under a secret formula and sold under its own distinctive name, and since it contains no deleterious or injurious ingredients, the effect of the regulation in requiring plaintiff to disclose upon the label the ingredients and their proportions amounts to a taking of its property without due process of law. Evidently the purpose of the requirement is to secure freedom from adulteration and misbranding ”

“ Plaintiff brought an equitable action against the members of the board of health in one of the district courts of the state, setting up the pertinent facts alleging that defendants were acting under the authority of the state law and certain regulations adopted by them pursuant to it, and among others regulation 6, requiring that in the case of syrups the principal label should state definitely the percentage of each ingredient, in the case of compounds, mixtures, imitations, or blends ”

“ Their general demurrer having been overruled, defendants answered and the case came on for hearing, with the result that the district court made a finding 'that all of the allegations of plaintiff's petition are true,' and adjudged that there should be a perpetual injunction restraining defendants from interfering with the sale of 'Mary Jane' in the state of Kansas upon the ground that it was misbranded when sold under the label above referred to, and in particular from interfering, because of regulation 6, with persons dealing in or selling the syrup, so branded, within the state. ”

“ It is one thing to make a false or misleading statement regarding the article or its ingredients, and it may be quite another to give no information as to what the ingredients are. As is well known, products may be sold, and in case of so-called proprietary articles frequently are sold, under trade-names which do not reveal the ingredients of the composition and the proprietors refrain from revealing them. ”

“ By Acts of August 23, 1912 (chapter 352, 37 Stat. 416) , and March 3, 1913 (chapter 117, 37 Stat. 732 [Comp. St. § 8724] ) , section 8 has been amended, but not in any manner that affects the present question. ”

“ St. Louis S. W. Ry. v. Arkansas, 235 U.S. 350, 362, 35 Sup. Ct. 99, 59 L. Ed. 265; Kansas City Ry. v. Kansas, 240 U.S. 227, 231, 36 Sup. Ct. 261, 60 L. Ed. 617; Mountain Timber Co. v. Washington, 243 U.S. 219, 237, 37 Sup. Ct. 260, 61 L. Ed. 685, Ann. Cas. 1917D, 642; Crew Levick Co. v. Pennsylvania, 245 U.S. 292, 294, 38 Sup. Ct. 126, 62 L. Ed. 295.
The question of repugnancy to the commerce clause may be treated (a) aside from federal legislation; and (b) in view of Food and Drugs Act of Congress June 30, 1906, c. ”