Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v. State

• Decision Date: 03 May 1909
• Parties: KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN RY. CO. v. STATE.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

119 S.W. 288

KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN RY. CO. v. STATE.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

May 3, 1909.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Benton County; J. S. Maples, Judge.

The Kansas City Southern Railway Company was convicted of receiving cattle in another state below the quarantine line, and transporting and unloading them above the quarantine line in the state without proper certificate of inspection, and it appeals. Reversed, and remanded for a new trial.

Read & McDonough, for appellant. Hal L. Norwood, Atty. Gen., C. A. Cunningham, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

FRAUENTHAL, J.

The defendant, a railroad company, was indicted by the grand jury of Benton county, and charged with violating the provisions of section 12 of an act of the General Assembly of Arkansas, entitled "An act to prevent the introduction and spread of contagious and infectious diseases in Arkansas," approved May 28, 1907 (Acts 1907, p. 1048). The indictment is as follows: "The grand jury of Benton county, in the name and by the authority of the state of Arkansas, accuse the Kansas City Southern Railroad Company of the crime of transporting and unloading cattle above the quarantine line in the state of Arkansas without proper certificate of inspection, committed as follows, to wit: The said Kansas City Southern Railroad Company, in the said county of Benton in the state of Arkansas, on the 18th day of January, 1908, being then and there a railroad company engaged in operating a railroad over and across the west end of Benton county, in the state of Arkansas, from north to south, and entering and running over and across the state of Oklahoma, unlawfully did receive three cattle for transportation over the said line of railroad from J. G. Deen at Spiro, Okl., a point on its said line of railroad below the cattle quarantine line established by the United States Department of Agriculture and the district cattle quarantine line of the state of Arkansas, the destination of said cattle being Anderson, Mo., a point on its said line of railroad, and did unlawfully transport said cattle on its railroad across said quarantine line, running from the northwest corner of Benton county south along the line between the state of Arkansas and the state of Oklahoma to the southwest corner of Benton county, and then east along the south line of Benton county, and did unlawfully unload said cattle at the town of Gravette in Benton county, a point above said district cattle quarantine line, and not designated by the board of control of the Agricultural Experiment Station under any restriction prescribed by the United States Department of Agriculture, when said cattle were accompanied by a certificate of inspection of neither a federal nor state veterinary inspector against the peace and dignity of the state of Arkansas." To this indictment the defendant interposed a demurrer upon the ground that the indictment did not state facts sufficient to constitute a public offense under the laws of the state of Arkansas, and because the indictment is indefinite and uncertain, and also because it charges more than one offense. The court overruled the demurrer, and the defendant filed a written answer, which upon the motion of the state was stricken from the files. Upon a trial of the case the jury assessed a fine of $125 against the defendant, and from the judgment entered upon said verdict the defendant prosecutes this appeal.

It is urged by the defendant that this statute of the state of Arkansas is void, because it is in conflict with the acts of Congress on the subject of the transportation of live stock, and because it effects interstate commerce, of which it claims the state and its courts have no jurisdiction. By an act, approved May 29, 1884, entitled "An act for the establishment of a Bureau of Animal Industry to prevent the exportation of diseased cattle and to provide means for the suppression and extirpation of pleuro-pneumonia and other contagious diseases among domestic animals," the Congress of the United States authorized the Commissioner of Agriculture to organize a Bureau of Animal Industry, and to prepare such rules and regulations as he might deem necessary for the suppression and extirpation of such diseases, and to invite the authorities of each state to co-operate in the execution and enforcement thereof. Act May 29, 1884, c. 60, 23 Stat. 32 (U. S. Comp. St. p. 3184). Nowhere in said act of Congress, nor in the rules and regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of Agriculture thereunder, is it attempted to assume the exclusive control over the subject of the quarantine of diseased animals. On the contrary, the act authorizes the Commissioner of Agriculture to co-operate with the state authorities, and to prescribe the rules and regulations in this regard. In pursuance of that authority the Commissioner of Agriculture did, on March 22, 1907, and on April 15, 1907, adopt and promulgate regulations relative to the "inspection, disinfection, certification, treatment, handling and method and manner of delivery and shipment of live stock," and for the guidance of all persons and corporations concerned in the handling or movement of live stock. In these regulations there is expressly recognized the right and authority of the state to establish a state quarantine for cattle affected with splenetic fever. Regulation No. 12, Commissioner of Agriculture, effective April 15, 1907. It is claimed that by section 6 of said act of Congress, approved May 29, 1884, it is provided that "the so-called splenetic or Texas fever shall not be considered contagious" within the meaning of certain sections of that act. But that act and subsequent acts of Congress (Act of Congress approved February 2, 1903 [Act Feb. 2. 1903, c. 349, 32 Stat. 791; U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1907, p. 924] and act approved March 3, 1905 [Act March 3, 1905, c. 1496, 33 Stat. 1264; U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1907, p. 924]) expressly empowered the Commissioner of Agriculture to prepare regulations for the suppression of the spreading of said diseases of live stock, and gave to that official authority to make, change, and alter the same. And by the regulations prepared and adopted by said Commissioner of Agriculture, and effective April 15, 1907, the so-called splenetic or Texas fever was considered a contagious, infectious, and communicable disease within the meaning of the act. Congress by said act approved February 2, 1903, entitled "An act to enable the Secretary of Agricluture to more effectively suppress and prevent the spread of contagious and infectious diseases of live stock and for other purposes," expressly provided that whenever any inspector or assistant inspector of the Bureau of Animal Industry shall issue a certificate showing that he had inspected the cattle about to be shipped, "and had found them free from Texas or splenetic fever infection," such animals may be shipped.

In co-operation with the authorities of the United States, and in accordance with these acts of Congress and the regulations of the Commissioner of Agriculture, the General Assembly of the state of Arkansas enacted this quarantine statute. So that this statute of Arkansas is not in conflict with any provision of the act of Congress or of any regulation prescribed by the Commissioner of Agriculture. These rules and regulations adopted by the Commissioner of Agriculture were a valid exercise of power granted by the act of Congress. Field v. Clark, 143 U. S. 649, 12 Sup. Ct. 495, 36 L. Ed. 294; Buttfield v. Stranahan, 192 U. S. 470, 24 Sup. Ct. 349, 48 L. Ed. 525; Union Bridge Co. v. United States, 204 U. S. 364, 27 Sup. Ct. 367, 51 L. Ed. 523. This act of the General Assembly of Arkansas is not...