by John Marshall Harlan

“ Can it be that the constitution of the United States secures to any one the privilege of manufacturing and selling an article of food in such manner as to induce the mass of people to believe that they are buying something which, in fact, is wholly different from that which is offered for sale? Does the freedom of commerce among the states demand a recognition of the right to practice a deception upon the public in the sale of any articles, even those that may have become the subject of trade in different parts of the country? ”

“ Husen, 95 U.S. 465, 473, involved the validity of a statute of Missouri which was so framed as to prevent the bringing into that state of any Texan, Mexican, or Indian cattle, between March 1st and December 1st in any year, whether free from disease or not, or whether their coming into the state would be injurious to its inhabitants or not. If they were brought into Missouri for the purpose of carrying them through that state without unloading them, such burdens and restrictions were imposed as amounted to an exclusion from its limits of any cattle such as those described in the statute. ”

“ We are not unmindful of the fact-indeed, this court has often had occasion to observe the acknowledged power of the states to protect the morals, the health, and safety of their people by appropriate legislation sometimes touches, in its exercise, the line separating the respective domains of national and state authority. ”