The plain object of the prohibition in the Meat Inspection Law
of 1906 against alteration or destruction of tags and labels is to
safeguard food products against alteration and substitution so as
to render the process of inspection effective, and the statute will
not be so construed as to defeat the purpose for which it was
passed.
The prohibition in the Meat Inspection Law against altering,
defacing or destroying marks, tags, labels, etc. does not relate
alone to those engaged in the business of preparing meats for
transportation and carrying or assisting in the carrying of such
meats in interstate commerce, but is as broad as its language, and
applies to any and every person, firm, or corporation, or officer,
agent, or employ thereof.
The facts, which involve the construction of certain provisions
of the federal Meat Inspection Law, are stated in the opinion.
MR. JUSTICE PITNEY delivered the opinion of the Court.
Defendants in error were indicted for an alleged violation of
the so-called meat inspection law, which is a part of the "Act
Making Appropriations for the Department of Agriculture." etc.,
approved June 30, 1906, 34 Stat. c. 3913, pp. 669, 674, etc. Upon
motion of
Page 235 U. S. 283
defendants, the district court quashed the indictment, basing
its decision upon the construction of the statute, and the
government has brought this writ of error under the Criminal
Appeals Act of March 2, 1907, 34 Stat. c. 2564, p. 1246.
The pertinent portions of the meat inspection law are set forth
in the margin.
*
Page 235 U. S. 284
Pursuant to the authority conferred by it, the Secretary of
Agriculture made certain rules and regulations, effective May 1,
1908, among which was the following:
"An official establishment may ship from the said establishment
to any other official establishment any meat
Page 235 U. S. 285
or meat food product which has been inspected and passed under
these regulations without marking the same 'Inspected and passed,'
if such shipment be placed in a railroad
Page 235 U. S. 286
car which is sealed by an employee of the Bureau of Animal
Industry, and provided that not less than 25 percent of the
contents of each car consists of meat or meat food products not
marked 'Inspected and passed.'"
Reg. 25, ยง 12, par. 1.
The indictment charged, in substance, that defendants knowingly
and wrongfully altered, defaced, broke, and destroyed a certain
government seal, then being upon a certain railroad freight car
containing meat and meat products then under government supervision
for inspection and offered for transportation in interstate
commerce, the seal having been affixed to the car in accordance
with the rules and regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture. The
clauses of the statute upon which the indictment rests are those
which declare:
"That no person, firm or corporation, or officer, agent, or
employee thereof, shall . . . knowingly or wrongfully alter,
deface, or destroy . . . any of the marks, stamps, tags, labels, or
other identification devices provided for in this Act, or in and as
directed by the rules and regulations prescribed hereunder by the
Secretary of Agriculture, on any carcasses, parts of carcasses, or
the food product, or containers thereof, subject to the provisions
of this Act,"
and
"That any person, firm, or corporation, or any officer or agent
of any such person, firm, or corporation, who shall violate any of
the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor."
The district court construed the prohibition as relating alone
to those engaged in the business of preparing meats for
transportation, and the carrying or assisting in the carrying of
such meats in interstate transportation. We are unable to discern
any sufficient reason for giving to the language of the statute so
limited an application. The plain object of the clause is to
safeguard the food products in question against alteration or
substitution, and thus enable the officials of the government to
systematize
Page 235 U. S. 287
and render effective the process of inspection, an object that
is interfered with if the tags or other identification devices are
destroyed, whether they be destroyed by those engaged in the
business or by others. Moreover, one of the other prohibitions of
the act is in terms limited to those engaged in the interstate
commerce of meat or meat food products.
It seems to us clear that the prohibition upon which the present
indictment is founded has an effect as broad as its language, and
applies to any and every "person, firm, or corporation, or officer,
agent, or employee thereof."
See United States v. Portale
ante, p.
235 U. S. 27.
Judgment reversed, and the cause remanded for further
proceedings in accordance with this opinion.
MR. JUSTICE McREYNOLDS took no part in the consideration or
decision of this case.
*
"That, for the purpose of preventing the use in interstate or
foreign commerce, as hereinafter provided, of meat and meat food
products which are unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise
unfit for human food, the Secretary of Agriculture . . . shall
cause to be made by inspectors appointed for that purpose, as
hereinafter provided, a
post mortem examination and
inspection of the carcasses and parts thereof of all cattle, sheep,
swine, and goats to be prepared for human consumption at any
slaughtering, meat-canning, salting, packing, rendering, or similar
establishment in any state, territory, or the District of Columbia
for transportation or sale as articles of interstate or foreign
commerce, and the carcasses and parts thereof of all such animals
found to be sound, healthful, wholesome, and fit for human food
shall be marked, stamped, tagged, or labeled as 'Inspected and
passed;' and said inspectors shall label, mark, stamp, or tag as
'Inspected and condemned,' all carcasses and parts thereof of
animals found to be unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise
unfit for human food, and all carcasses and parts thereof thus
inspected and condemned shall be destroyed for food purposes by the
said establishment in the presence of an inspector, and the
Secretary of Agriculture may remove inspectors from any such
establishment which fails to so destroy any such condemned carcass
or part thereof. . . ."
"That, for the purposes hereinbefore set forth, the Secretary of
Agriculture shall cause to be made by inspectors appointed for that
purpose an examination and inspection of all meat food products
prepared for interstate or foreign commerce in any slaughtering,
meat-canning, salting, packing, rendering, or similar
establishment, and for the purposes of any examination and
inspection said inspectors shall have access at all times, by day
or night, whether the establishment be operated or not, to every
part of said establishment, and said inspectors shall mark, stamp,
tag, or label as 'Inspected and passed' all such products found to
be sound, healthful, and wholesome, and which contain no dyes,
chemicals, preservatives, or ingredients which render such meat or
meat products unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or unfit for human
food, and said inspectors shall label, mark, stamp, or tag as
'Inspected and condemned' all such products found unsound,
unhealthful, and unwholesome, or which contain dyes, chemicals
preservatives, or ingredients which render such meat or meat food
products unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or unfit for human
food, and all such condemned meat food products shall be destroyed
for food purposes, as hereinbefore provided, and the Secretary of
Agriculture may remove inspectors from any establishment which
fails to so destroy such condemned meat food products."
"
* * * *"
"That, when any meat or meat food product prepared for
interstate or foreign commerce which has been inspected as
hereinbefore provided, and marked 'Inspected and passed' shall be
placed or packed in any can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle
or covering in any establishment where inspection under the
provisions of this Act is maintained, the person, firm, or
corporation preparing said product shall cause a label to be
attached to said can, pot, tin, canvas, or other receptacle or
covering, under the supervision of an inspector, which label shall
state that the contents thereof have been 'inspected and passed'
under the provisions of this Act, and no inspection and examination
of meat or meat food products deposited or enclosed in cans, tins,
pots, canvas, or other receptacle or covering in any establishment
where inspection under the provisions of this Act is maintained
shall be deemed to be complete until such meat or meat food
products have been sealed or enclosed in said can, tin, pot,
canvas, or other receptacle or covering under the supervision of an
inspector. . . ."
"
* * * *"
"That on and after October first, nineteen hundred and six, no
person, firm, or corporation shall transport or offer for
transportation, and no carrier of interstate or foreign commerce
shall transport or receive for transportation from one state or
territory or the District of Columbia to any other state or
territory or the District of Columbia, or to any place under the
jurisdiction of the United States, or to any foreign country, any
carcasses or parts thereof, meat, or meat food products thereof
which have not been inspected, examined, and marked as 'Inspected
and passed,' in accordance with the terms of this Act and with the
rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of
Agriculture."
"
* * * *"
"That no person, firm, or corporation, or officer, agent, or
employee thereof, shall force, counterfeit, simulate, or falsely
represent, or shall without proper authority use, fail to use, or
detach, or shall knowingly or wrongfully alter, deface, or destroy,
or fail to deface or destroy, any of the marks, stamps, tags,
labels, or other identification devices provided for in this Act,
or in and as directed by the rules and regulations prescribed
hereunder by the Secretary of Agriculture, on any carcasses, parts
of carcasses, or the food product, or containers thereof, subject
to the provisions of this Act, or any certificate in relation
thereto, authorized or required by this Act or by the said rules
and regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture."
"
* * * *"
"That no person, firm, or corporation engaged in the interstate
commerce of meat or meat food products shall transport or offer for
transportation, sell or offer to sell, any such meat or meat food
products in any state or territory or in the District of Columbia,
or any place under the jurisdiction of the United States, other
than in the state or territory or in the District of Columbia or
any place under the jurisdiction of the United States in which the
slaughtering, packing, canning, rendering, or other similar
establishment owned, leased, operated by said firm, person, or
corporation is located unless and until said person, firm, or
corporation shall have complied with all of the provisions of this
Act."
"That any person, firm, or corporation, or any officer or agent
of any such person, firm, or corporation, who shall violate any of
the provisions of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and shall be punished on conviction thereof by a fine
of not exceeding ten thousand dollars, or imprisonment for a period
not more than two years, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in
the discretion of the court. . . ."
". . . Said Secretary of Agriculture shall, from time to time,
make such rules and regulations as are necessary for the efficient
execution of the provisions of this Act, and all inspections and
examinations made under this Act shall be such and made in such
manner as described in the rules and regulations prescribed by said
Secretary of Agriculture not inconsistent with the provisions of
this Act."