State v. Whitfield

257 N.W. 601, 216 Wis. 577, 1934 Wisc. LEXIS 361
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 4, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 257 N.W. 601 (State v. Whitfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin 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. Whitfield, 257 N.W. 601, 216 Wis. 577, 1934 Wisc. LEXIS 361 (Wis. 1934).

Opinion

Wickhem, J.

This appeal involves no determination of fact or procedural error. The goods possessed and sold by defendant were manufactured by convict labor in Alabama. When the alleged offense was committed, the goods were still in the original package in which they were contained at the time of shipment into Wisconsin. The goods were identical in quality with others of the same grade in the open market. None of them were labeled in accordance with the requirements of sec. 132.13, which requires that “all goods, wares and merchandise made by convict labor in any penitentiary, prison, reformatory or other establishment in which convict labor is employed in any state, except this state, and imported, brought or introduced into this state shall, before being exposed for sale, be branded, labeled or marked . . . ‘Convict-made,’ ” together with the name of the prison or other penal establishment in which it was made. The statute describes in some detail the character of the tag or label to [579]*579be used, and the manner in which it shall be affixed to the goods.

The section was passed subsequently to the enactment by congress of the Hawes-Cooper Act (45 Stat. at L. 1084). This act provided, with respect to convict labor, that the products of such labor “transported into any state or territory of the United States and remaining therein for use, consummation, sale, or storage, shall upon arrival and delivery in such state or territory be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such state or territory to the same extent and in the same manner as though such goods, wares, and merchandise had been manufactured, produced, or mined, in such state or territory, and shall not be exempt therefrom by reason of being introduced in the original package or otherwise.”

The first contention of the defendant is that both sec. 132.13 and the Hawes-Cooper Act are repugnant to the interstate commerce clause of the federal constitution. The case principally relied upon by the defendant is that of Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U. S. 251, 38 Sup. Ct. 529, in which the constitutionality of the Child Labor Act (39 Stat. at L. 675) was involved. This act forbade the shipment in interstate commerce of the product of any mill in which children under the age of fourteen had been employed or permitted to work. This act was held to be unconstitutional and void. In that case the court held that congress could forbid the use of interstate commerce as an agency to promote immorality, dishonesty, or the spread of any other evil or harm to the people of other states from the state of origin, but could not forbid the transportation in interstate commerce of entirely harmless articles for the purpose of performing some social policy having to do with the manner or condition of production. It was pointed out in the Hammer Case that the goods shipped were harmless and ordinary articles of commerce. The court repudiated the suggestion that the authority of congress may [580]*580be exerted to control interstate commerce in the shipment of child-made goods because of evils created in other states where this class of labor has been forbidden. The court thus phrased and answered the contention:

“In other words, that the unfair competition, thus engendered, may be controlled by closing the channels of interstate commerce to manufacturers in those states where the local laws do not meet what congress deems to be the more just standard of other states.
“There is no power vested in congress to require the states to exercise their police power so as to prevent possible unfair, competition. . . . The commerce clause was not intended to give to congress a general authority to equalize such conditions.”

This case was followed by Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co. 259 U. S. 20, 42 Sup. Ct. 449, which dealt with an act (40 Stat. at L. 1057) which sought to reach the child labor problem through a revenue measure. The court held that the law imposed a penalty of such character as to make it substantially prohibitory in effect and purpose, and the law was held to be unconstitutional. In numerous cases, such as Champion v. Ames (Lottery Case), 188 U. S. 321, 23 Sup. Ct. 321; Hipolite Egg Co. v. United States, 220 U. S. 45, 31 Sup. Ct. 364; Hoke v. United States, 227 U. S. 308, 33 Sup. Ct. 281; Caminetti v. United States, 242 U. S. 470, 37 Sup. Ct. 192; Clark Distilling Co. v. Western Maryland R. Co. 242 U. S. 311, 37 Sup. Ct. 180; and Brooks v. United States, 267 U. S. 432, 45 Sup. Ct. 345, the court held in substance that congress could regulate to the extent of prohibiting the use of interstate commerce for the promotion of immorality, or the shipment of goods of inherently harmful nature. Hence, we take it to be settled that congress is without power to prohibit the transportation in interstate commerce of articles that are entirely harmless, for the purpose of dealing with a social problem involved in the manner of their production. The Hawes-Cooper Act, however, does [581]*581not prohibit the transportation in interstate commerce of prison-made goods. It merely provides that shipments of such goods shall lose their interstate character upon arrival at their destination, and that they are thereafter subject to the regulation of the state into which they were shipped as though they had originated there. In this respect the Hawes-Cooper Act is substantially like the Wilson Act (26 Stat. at L. 313). The Wilson Act provided that certain specific legitimate subjects of commerce, namely, intoxicating liquors, would lose their interstate character as soon as they crossed the line of the state of their destination, and could thereafter be regulated and controlled under the police power of that state, without interference with the powers of congress over interstate commerce. The Wilson Act was held to be constitutional in In re Rahrer, 140 U. S. 545, 11 Sup. Ct. 865, 869. The court there said:

“No reason is perceived why, if congress chooses to provide that certain designated subjects of interstate commerce shall be governed by a rule which divests them of that character at an earlier period of time than would otherwise be the case, it is not within its competency to do so.”

It is our conclusion that this case governs and establishes the validity of the Hawes-Cooper Act, and that the cases heretofore discussed and dealing with prohibitory acts are not in point. It follows that defendant’s first contention is without merit.

The next contention offers much greater difficulties. It is contended that the classification established by sec.

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Related

United States v. Edwards
14 F. Supp. 384 (S.D. California, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
257 N.W. 601, 216 Wis. 577, 1934 Wisc. LEXIS 361, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-whitfield-wis-1934.