American Linseed Oil Co. v. Crumbine
American Linseed Oil Co. v. Crumbine
Opinion of the Court
The American Rinseed Oil Company, a corporation of the state of Ohio, filed the bill in this action against Samuel J. Crumbine for the purpose of having chapter 179, Session Raws of the state of Kansas 1911, declared unconstitutional and void upon two grounds:
First, because said act violates the provision of section 16, art. 2, of the Constitution of the state of Kansas, which provides as follows :
“No bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.”
Second, because said act violates the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States in that it prohibits the sale of any compound of linseed oil in the state of Kansas regardless of how it may be labeled.
By stipulation the case was heard upon demurrer to the bill and final judgment was rendered by the trial court dismissing the same. The bill alleges that Samuel J. Crumbine is the legally appointed, duly authorized, and acting chief food and drug inspector of the state of Kansas, whose duties are the enforcement of certain special enactments made by the Legislature of said state pertaining to the purchase and sale of foods, beverages, condiments, medicines, linseed oil, paints, and other products included therein; that appellant is engaged in manufacturing, buying, selling, and importing pure linseed oil, linseed oil compounds and blends, and has a large number of customers and prospective customers in the state of Kansas to whom it has for a considerable period of time offered for sale through advertisements and sold by mail orders and by traveling salesmen its aforesaid products within said state; that among said products is a certain compound or blend of linseed oil composed of less than 96 per cent, of linseed oil, which it had during the time aforesaid offered for sale and sold, by means aforesaid, to its customers within said state as a substitute for linseed oil, said compounds or blends being known and labeled as follows:
“The American Linseed Oil Company, Omaha, Nebraska. Boiled Linseed Oil, not sold or intended for Food or Medicinal Purposes.”
“The American Linseed Oil Company, Omaha, Nebraska. Raw Linseed Oil, not sold or intended for Food or Medicinal Purposes.”
That, beginning some time prior to the commencement of this suit, the said defendant, assuming to act in his official capacity as chief food and drug inspector of the state of Kansas, has continually therefrom wrongfully and unlawfully opposed the sale and introduction of said compounds and blends of linseed oil, described as aforesaid, within said state, and unlawfully advised appellants’ customers and prospec
“The American Linseed Oil Company, Omaha, Nebraska. Linsol, not sold or intended for Food or Medicinal Purposes.”
That appellant has sold in manner aforesaid and shipped within the state to its aforesaid customers the aforesaid compound or blend of linseed oil as a substitute for linseed oil, under the name “Blended Linseed Oil” and in containers known and labeled as follows:
“The American Linseed Oil Company, Omaha, Nebraska. • Blended Linseed Oil, not sold or intended for Food or Medicinal Purposes.”
That said defendant, assuming to act in his official capacity as chief food and drug inspector of the state of Kansas, wrongfully and unlawfully opposed the sale and introduction of the aforesaid compounds or blends of linseed oil within said state, sold and labeled as “Linsol” or sold and labeled as “Blended Linseed Oil,” and threatens 1 o prosecute appellant and its customers in the event of a sale of the same, and that said defendant threatens to continue to oppose and to prevent the sale thereof, claiming that the law hereinbefore referred to wholly prohibits the manufacture, sale, or offer for sale or use within the state of Kansas said compounds of linseed oil labeled as aforesaid.
“In order to correctly interpret that provision of section 16, art. 2, of the Constitution, * * * its object must be taken into consideration; and the provision must not be construed or enforced in any narrow or technical spirit but must be construed liberally on the one side so as to guard against the abuse intended to be prevented by it, and liberally on the other side so as not to embarrass or obstruct needed legislation.
“ *, * * The title of an act may be as broad and comprehensive as the Legislature may choose to make it; or it may be as narrow and restricted as the Legislature may choose to make it. It may be so broad qnd comprehensive as to include innumerable minor subjects, provided all these minor subjects are capiable of being so combined and united as to form only one grand and comprehensive subject; or it may be so narrow and restricted as to include only the smallest and minutest subject.
“And while the title to an act may include more than one subject, provided all can be so united and combined as to form only one single, entire, but more extended subject, yet neither the title to the act nor the act itself - can contain more than one subject, unless all the subjects which it. contains can. be so united and combined as to form only one single subject.
“In construing- the title to an act, as well as the act itself, reference must be had to the object of the act, and to the evil sought to be remedied by it.”
In Rathbone v. Hopper, 57 Kan. 245, 45 Pac. 611, 34 L. R. A. 674, the same court said:
“A technical interpretation, however, has never been applied in this state to the titles of legislative acts. On the other hand, it has been consistently held that the constitutional limitation should not be enforced in any narrow or technL cal spirit'but should be liberally interpreted with a view of upholding the acts of the Legislature. It has been regarded to be the duty of the court to view the acts of the Legislature with great respect and so far as possible endeavor to reconcile and sustain them. Illustrations of liberal interpretations placed upon the titles of acts may be found in almost every volume of our decisions, but we need'only refer to a few of them. Woodruff v. Baldwin, 23 Kan. 494; Philpin v. McCarty, 24 Kan. 393; Com’rs of Marion Co. v. Com’rs of Harvey Co., 26 Kan. 181; Com’rs of Cherokee Co. v. State ex rel., 36 Kan. 337 [13 Pac. 558]; Mo. Pac. Ry. Co. v. Harrelson, 44 Kan. 253 [24 Pac. 465]; State v. Bush, 45 Kan. 140 [25 Pac. 614]; In re Pinkney, Petitioner, 47 Kan. 89 [27 Pac. 179]; State ex rel. v. Lewelling, 51 Kan. 562 [33 Pac. 425]; In re Sanders, Petitioner, 53 Kan. 191 [36 Pac. 348, 23 L. R. A. 603]; Lynch v. Chase, 55 Kan. 367 [40 Pac. 666]; Rogers v. Morrill, 55 Kan. 737 [42 Pac. 355].”
The decree of the court below must be affirmed.
Chapter 179, Session Laws of the State of Kansas, 1911:
An act to prevent the adulteration of turpentine, linseed oil or flaxseed oil, prevent deception in the sale thereof, and to provide for the punishment of such adulteration and deception.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Kansas:
Section 1. Hereafter it shall be unlawful to manufacture, mix for sale, sell, offer or expose for sale in this state, under the name of raw linseed oil or flaxseed oil, any .substance which is not wholly the product obtained from well cleaned flaxseed or lfiiseed, and unless the same fulfills the latest requirements of the United States Pharmacopoeia, or any so-called boiled linseed oil, or boiled flaxseed oil, unless the same shall have been prepared by incorporating dried with raw linseed oil, as defined above, at a temperature of not less than 225 degrees Fahrenheit, and unless the same contains not less than 96 per cent, of linseed oil. And for the purpose of this act it shall also be deemed a violation thereof if boiled linseed oil does not conform to the following requirements: (1) Its specific gravity at 60 degrees Fahrenheit must be not less than 0.935. (2) Its saponification value (Koettstorfer figure) must not be less than 186. (3) Its iodine number (Huebl’s method) must not be less than 160. (4) Its acid value must not exceed 10. (5) The volatile matter expelled at 212 degrees Fahrenheit must not exceed one-half of one per cent. (6) No mineral oil shall be present, and the amount of unsaponifiable matter as determined by standard methods shall not exceed 2.5 per cent. (7) The film left after flowing the oil over glass and allowing it to
Sec. 2, No person, firm, or corporation shall sell, expose or offer for sale any turpentine, flaxseed oil or linseed oil, unless it is done under its true name, and each barrel, keg or can of such oil so sold exposed or offered for sale, has distinctly and durably painted, stamped, stenciled, labeled or marked thereon the true name of such oil in ordinary bold-faced capital letters, not less than five lines pica in size, and the name and address of the manufacturer thereof, or that of the jobber or denier therein: Provided, that if the contents of the package he less than twenty-five gallons, a label may be used printed in type not less than two-line pica in size.
Sec. 3. Any person, firm, or corporation who shall fail to comply with the requirements of section 2 of this act, or falsely paint, stencil, label or mark, as required by section 2, said barrels, kegs or cans containing turpentine, flaxseed oil or linseed oil or knowingly permit such false painting, stamping, labeling or marking, or violate any of the provisions of this act; shall bo deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction punished with a fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or imprisonment not less than ten days nor more than ninety days or both for each offense.
Sec. 4. Nothing in this act shall be construed as prohibiting the manufacture or sale of adulterated spirits of turpentine or linseed oil compounds: Provided, if such compounds or adulterations are designed to take the place of raw or boiled linseed oil or turpentine as defined in section 1 of this act, they shall not be manufactured or mixed for sale, sold, offered or exposed for sale under any title or designation conveying the impression^ either directly or indirectly', that it is flaxseed oil or linseed oil, and all compounds of linseed oil or flaxseed oil shall, when sold, offered or exposed for sale, under invented proprietary names or titles, bear conspicuously upon the containing vessel in capital letters not less than five-line pica in size, the word “compound,” or “adulterated” and be labeled so as to state clearly and distinctly the actual proportions of turpentine or linseed oil and other ingredients contained therein, said label to be printed in the English language, in plain legible type in continuous list, with no intervening matter of any kind.
Sec. 5. The chief food and drug inspector, as well as his inspectors, assistants, experts, analysts, or others appointed by him, shall have full rights of ingress and egress to the premises occupied by parties who manufacture, deal in or compound turpentine, linseed oil or flaxseed oil, and also have power and authority to open any tank, barrel, can or other vessel believed to contain such oil, turpentine, or products used in its manufacture, and to inspect the_contents thereof, and to take therefrom samples for analysis, and in case any' of the samples so taken shall prove on analysis to be adulterated in violation of the provisions of this act, it shall be the duty of the person securing the sample to proceed against the offender as herein provided.
Sec. 6. This act shall take effect upon its publication in the statute book.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- AMERICAN LINSEED OIL CO. v. CRUMBINE, Chief Food and Drug Inspector of Kansas
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Statutes (§ 107*)—Constitutionality—Subject op Act. Sess. Laws Kan. 1911, c. 179, entitled “An act to prevent the adulteration of turpentine, linseed oil or flaxseed oil, prevent deception in the sale thereof, and to provide for the punishment of such adulteration and deception,” and the provisions of which accord with such title, is not invalid as in violation of Const. Kan. art. 2, § 16, providing that no bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title, in that it deals with both turpentine and linseed or flaxseed oil; the subject-matter of the act, from a legislative view, being adulteration. [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Statutes, Cent. Dig. §§ 121-134; Dec. Dig. § 107.*] 2, Constitutional Law (§ 276*)—Liberty to Contract—Police Powers op State—Laws to Prevent Fraud. Provisions in such act prohibiting the sale of any article under the name of turpentine which is not in fact turpentine and unadulterated, or any adulterated turpentine or compound of linseed or flaxseed oil unless plainly marked on the container with the word “adulterated” or “compound,” with a statement of the actual proportion of its ingredients, do not render it unconstitutional as in violation of any rights guaranteed by the fourteenth constitutional' amendment, hut such provisions are clearly within the police powers of the state. [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Constitutional Law, Cent. Dig. §§ 845, 846; Dec. uig. § 276.*]