State v. Robinson Co.

146 P. 628, 84 Wash. 246, 1915 Wash. LEXIS 791
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 1, 1915
DocketNo. 12320
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 146 P. 628 (State v. Robinson Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Robinson Co., 146 P. 628, 84 Wash. 246, 1915 Wash. LEXIS 791 (Wash. 1915).

Opinion

Mount, J.

This is a prosecution based on an information charging the respondent with a violation of the provisions of [247]*247ch. 201 of the Laws of 1909, p. 705 (Rem. & Bal. Code, § 6011 et seq. [P. C. 163 § 149 et seq.]). The trial court sustained a demurrer to the information, upon the ground that the act was void as being in contravention of § 12, art. 1 of the state constitution, and upon other grounds. The state has appealed from an order of dismissal.

Section 1 (Id., § 6011) of the act above referred to is as follows:

“The term ‘concentrated commercial feeding stuffs’ as used in this act shall include linseed meals, cocoanut meals, gluten feeds, gluten meals, germ feeds, dairy feeds, starch feeds, sugar feeds, dried brewers’ or distillers’ grains, malt sprouts, feeds made from ground cereals or by-products therefrom, including wheat bran, wheat middlings, and wheat shorts, slaughterhouse waste products when sold as feeds, mixed feeds and mixed meals made from seeds or grains, and all materials of similar nature used for food for domestic animals, condimental feeds, stock feeds, and all patented proprietary or trade stock and poultry feeds for which nutritive value is claimed; but it shall not include hay or straw, whole seeds, or unmixed meals made from the entire grains of wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn or other cereals, nor wheat flours or other flours.”

Section 2 (Id., § 6012) requires every manufacturer or dealer before offering such feed for sale to file with the director of the state agricultural experiment station, at Pullman, Washington, a sworn certificate setting forth, among other things, the ingredients of which the feed is composed and the percentage of certain of its constituents.

Section 3 (Id., § 6013) requires every person offering such feed for sale to affix to every package a tag or label with certain information printed thereon, and to affix a stamp purchased from the director of the experiment station, showing that the feed has been registered and the inspection tax paid.

Section 4 (Id., § 6014) requires the director of the experiment station to register the feed and to furnish stamps of labels showing the registration, with the provision that stamps must be bought in lots of $5 each for each variety of feed.

[248]*248Section 5 (Id., § 6015) requires each manufacturer or dealer to file an annual statement of the number of pounds of each brand of feed sold or caused to be offered for sale in the state for the preceding year.

Section 6 (Id., § 6016) provides the fees to be paid and the annual report of the director of the experiment station.

Section 7 (Id., § 6017) prohibits the sale of non-labeled or inferior grades of feed which has not been registered and which does not contain the tag and an analysis of the feed, and fixes a penalty for a sale in violation of the act.

Section 8 (Id., § 6018) provides for samples to be taken from all packages offered for sale.

Section 9 (Id., § 6019) provides a penalty for interfering with the director of the experiment station in making inspections and obtaining samples of feed offered for sale.

Section 10 (Id., § 6020) provides that the director of the experiment station may prescribe and enforce such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to carry the act into effect.

Section 11 (Id., § 6021) authorizes the attorney general, or the prosecuting attorneys of the several counties, to prosecute violators of the act.

Section 12 is a repeal of laws in conflict.

Section 13 (Id., § 6022) provides as follows:

“The provisions of this act shall not apply to cereal or flouring mills selling mill bran, shorts, or middlings made in the regular process of manufacturing cereal or flour.”

Section 12 of art. 1 of the constitution provides as follows:

“No law shall be passed granting to any citizen, class of citizens, or corporation, other than municipal, privileges or immunities which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens or corporations.”

It will be noticed that § 1 (Id., § 6011) of the act, hereinabove quoted, defines “concentrated commercial feeding stuffs” to include mixed feeds and mixed meals made from [249]*249seeds or grains, and all materials of similar nature used for food for domestic animals. That section also provides that the definition “shall not include hay or straw, whole seeds, or unmixed meals made from the entire grains of wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn or other cereals, nor wheat flours or other flours.” The act prohibits the sale of concentrated commercial feeding stuffs by any person, company, corporation or agent who shall not comply with the provisions of the act. Section 13 (Id., 6022) expressly exempts cereal and flouring mills selling mill bran, shorts, or middlings made in the regular process of manufacturing cereal or flour from the provisions of the act. It is apparent, we think, that this is an unreasonable and unjust discrimination. Cereal and flouring mills are authorized to sell mixed feeding stuffs without complying with the terms of the act; while all other persons and corporations selling the same thing are required to comply with the terms of the act, which imposes onerous conditions.

In In re Camp, 38 Wash. 393, 80 Pac. 547, we held that an ordinance requiring a license for the peddling of fruits, vegetables, etc., but exempting farmers disposing of produce grown by themselves, was unconstitutional because it permitted growers of fruits and vegetables to sell while prohibiting others from doing the same thing. In that case we quoted from State ex rel. Luria v. Wagener, 69 Minn. 206, 72 N. W. 67, 65 Am. St. 565, 38 L. R. A. 677, saying:

“In the same manner as the act here in question attempts to distinguish between peddling by the manufacturer and his servant and peddling by the purchaser from such manufacturer, it attempts to distinguish between peddling by the farmer or nurseryman and peddling by the purchaser from such farmer or nurseryman; between peddling by the butcher and peddling by the purchaser from such butcher. These distinctions are arbitrary and no proper basis for classification.”

In Spokane v. Macho, 51 Wash. 322, 98 Pac. 755, 130 Am. St. 1100, 21 L. R. A. (N. S.) 263, we held an ordinance of the [250]*250city of Spokane unconstitutional which attempted to regulate by licensing employment agencies. In that case we said, quoting from Tugman v. Chicago, 78 Ill. 405:

“An ordinance which would make the act done by one penal and impose no penalty for the same act done under like circumstances by another, could not be sanctioned or sustained because it would be unjust and unlawful.”

In Seattle v. Dencker, 58 Wash. 501, 108 Pac. 1086, 187 Am. St. 1076, 28 L. R. A. (N. S.) 446, where a city ordinance imposed a license tax upon the sale of goods by automatic devices, which discriminated between different merchants selling the same class of goods, we held such an ordinance unconstitutional because, it was in violation of the section of the constitution above referred to.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
146 P. 628, 84 Wash. 246, 1915 Wash. LEXIS 791, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-robinson-co-wash-1915.