received the approving signature of his Excellency the Presi dent of the United States, on the 30th day of June, 1906.

Your committee has not had the time since the passage of this law to abstract it or intelligently to criticise or commend its many provisions, as the uniform rules and regulations for carrying out the provisions of the act have not yet been perfected. It craves the permission of your honorable body to make such abstract and append such criticisms or suggestions as may be helpful, in the drafting of a law for the use of the individual states in the adoption of a uniform pure food law, to be submitted hereafter.

The act which is a model for brevity makes it inter alia unlawful to manufacture within any territory or the District of Columbia" any article of food or drug which is adulterated or misbranded" within the meaning of the act, and makes the violation a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment, or by both fine or imprisonment in the discretion of the

court.

It further prohibits the introduction into any state, territory or the District of Columbia, from any foreign country, or shipments to any foreign country, of any article of food or drug which is adulterated or misbranded within the meaning of the act, and any person shipping or delivering for shipment, or who shall receive and having so received shall deliver to any other person any such article, or who shall sell or offer for sale in the District of Columbia or a territory of the United States any such article, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by fine for the first offense, and upon conviction for each subsequent offense by an increased fine or by imprisonment.

There is a proviso that when the article is intended for export to any foreign country, and is prepared or packed according to the direction and specifications of the foreign purchaser, when no substance is used in the preparation or packing thereof in conflict with the laws of the foreign country, it shall not be deemed misbranded or adulterated. However, if this article shall be in fact sold or offered for sale for domestic

use or consumption, then this proviso does not exempt the article from the operation of the provisions of the act.

The act provides for the making of uniform rules and regulations for carrying out its provisions by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Commerce, the examination of specimens of food and drugs by the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture, and for notice to and a hearing of the alleged violator of the law by the Secretary of Agriculture. If it appears that the act has been violated, the secretary certifies the fact to the proper United States district attorney. After judgment of the -court notice is to be given by publication as may be prescribed by the rules and regulations not yet ordained.

It is made the duty of each district attorney to commence and prosecute the proceedings without delay. Section 6 of the act defines the meaning of the term "drug drug" and section 7 with considerable detail defines what for the purposes of the act shall be deemed "adulterations" in the case of drugs, in the case of confectionery and in the case of food. It also defines the meaning of the term "misbranded" and states what shall be deemed to be "misbranded" in the case of drugs and in the case of food.

The act further refers to articles labeled, branded or tagged so as plainly to indicate that they are compounds, imitations or blends, and the word "compound," "imitation" or "blend," as the case may be, is plainly stated on the package in which it is offered for sale. It provides that the term "blend" shall be construed to mean a mixture of like substances, not excluding harmless coloring or flavoring ingredients used for the purpose of coloring and flavoring only, and further provides that nothing in the act shall be construed as requiring or compelling proprietors or manufacturers of proprietary foods which contain no unwholesome added ingredient to disclose their trade formulas, except in as far as the provisions of the act may require to secure freedom from adulteration or misbranding.

Section 9 provides that no dealer shall be prosecuted wher he can establish a guarantee signed by the wholesaler, jobber, manufacturer or other party residing in the United States from whom he purchased such articles to the effect that the same is not adulterated or misbranded within the meaning of the act designating it.

This guarantee to afford protection must contain the name and address of the party or parties making the sale of such articles to such dealer, and in such case said party or parties shall be amenable to the prosecutions, fines and other penalties, which would attach in due course to the dealer under the provisions of this act.

Section 10 provides for seizure for confiscation by a process of libel for condemnation of goods being transported from one state, territory, district or insular possession to another for sale, etc., and for procedure after such seizure and condemnation.

Section 11 provides for delivery by the Secretary of the Treasury to the Secretary of Agriculture, upon his request from time to time, of samples of foods and drugs, which are being imported into the United States or offered for import, and for a hearing, after notice to parties, before the Secretary of Agriculture, when under certain circumstances the article shall be refused admission and the Secretary of the Treasury shall refuse delivery to the consignee and shall cause the destruction of the goods if not exported within three months by the consignee; provided that the Secretary of the Treasury may deliver to the consignee the goods pending examination and decision, on execution of a penal bond for the full invoice value of the goods with the duty thereon. On refusal to return the goods for any cause to the Secretary of the Treasury, when demanded for the purpose of excluding them from the country or for any other purpose, the consignee forfeits the full amount of the bond.

All charges for storage, cartage, labor, etc., on goods refused admission or delivery are to be paid by the owner or consignee,

and in default of such payment shall be a lien against any future importation made by such owner or consignee.

Section 12 defines the meaning of the words "territory and "person" and provides for the construing and enforcing the provisions of the act. It also provides that the act, omission or failure of any officer, agent, etc., of a corporation, etc., within the scope of his employment or office shall be deemed to be the act, omission or failure of such corporation, etc., as well as that of the person.

Section 13 provides that the act shall be in force and effect from and after the first day of January, 1907.

Your committee upon the publication of the uniform rules and regulations for carrying out the provisions of the act will give the same with the act most careful consideration, when it trusts it may be prepared to submit to the Conference, a uniform law for adoption by the legislatures of the individual states of the nation.

On behalf of the committee,

WILLIAM H. STAAKE,

Chairman.

REPORT

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON A UNIFORM INCORPORATION LAW.

MAJORITY REPORT.

To the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws: At the end of the report submitted by this committee at the last meeting of our Conference it was recommended that the committee be continued as a standing committee and requested to continue the study of the subject of a uniform incorporation law and to report further upon it, from time to time, as they might be able to arrive at conclusions which seemed to them to make a report desirable.

Nothing of special interest relating to the subject has occurred since our last meeting except the debate in the federal Senate on the extent and limits of the power of Congress under the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution and the enactment of the railroad rate and meat inspection bills. The debate and legislation referred to further illustrate and emphasize the importance of a uniform law for the organization and control of corporations, but do not remove any of the difficulties of securing its enactment that were pointed out in our last report.

The only service we think we can render to the cause of a uniform incorporation law at present is to recall the remedies that have been suggested for the evils that have grown out of the present condition of the statute laws relating to corporations enacted by the various states, and to indicate the course of sentiment on the subject.

It has been proposed that the federal Constitution be amended so as to confer upon Congress exclusive power to provide for the organization of corporations, especially those engaged in interstate commerce. This plan would effect such a radical change in the distribution of the powers of the national