Pacific States Box Basket Co v. White

• Decision Date: 18 November 1935
• Docket Number: No. 48,48
• Citation: 101 A.L.R. 853,296 U.S. 176,80 L.Ed. 138,56 S.Ct. 159
• Parties: PACIFIC STATES BOX & BASKET CO. v. WHITE et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

296 U.S. 176

56 S.Ct. 159

80 L.Ed. 138

PACIFIC STATES BOX & BASKET CO.

v WHITE et al.

No. 48.

Argued Oct. 25, 1935.

Decided Nov. 18, 1935.

[Syllabus from pages 176-177 intentionally omitted]

Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the District of Oregon.

Messrs. Arthur A. Goldsmith, of Portland, Or., and Byron C. Hanna, of Los Angeles, Cal., for appellant.

Messrs. Willis S. Moore and I. H. Van Winkle, both of Salem, Or., for appellees.

Mr. Justice BRANDEIS delivered the opinion of the Court.

This suit was brought in the federal court for Oregon, in May, 1934, to enjoin enforcement of an order of the Department of Agriculture of that state, dated May 3, 1933, entitled 'Standard Containers for Fruits and Vegetables.'¹ The plaintiff, Pacific States Box & Basket Company, is a California corporation which manufactures there fruit and vegetable containers. The defendants are the Director of Agriculture and the Chief of the Division of Plant Industry, of Oregon. The jurisdiction of the District Court was invoked both on the ground of diversity of citizenship and on the ground that the order, and the statutes purporting to authorize it, violate rights of the plaintiff guaranteed by the Federal Constitution. The case was heard upon plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction and defendants' motion to dismiss the bill on the ground that it does not state facts sufficient to entitle the plaintiff to relief. The court denied the injunction and dismissed the bill. Pacific States Box & Basket Co. v. Gehlar, 9 F.Supp. 341.

Oregon Code of 1930, § 18-2902 and section 18-2903, as amended by Oregon Laws 1931, c. 136 (page 183), and 1933, c. 225 (page 306), authorize the Chief of the Division of Plant Industry, after investigation and public hearing and subject to the approval of the Director of Agriculture, to fix and promulgate 'official standards for containers of horticultural products' 'in order to promote, protect, further and develop the horticultural interests' of the state. After a standard has been prescribed, these statutes make it unlawful for any one to pack for sale or transport for sale, or sell, the article in a container unless it conforms to the standard. They make any violation of the order a misdemeanor, and charge the Director with the duty of enforcement.

The order challenged, so far as it prescribes containers for raspberries and strawberries, is:

'As provided for in sections 18-2902 and 18-2903, Oregon Code 1930, and chapter 136, Oregon Laws, 1931, a public hearing was held in Portland, Oregon, on the date of April 15, 1933, to consider standard containers for fruits and vegetables. Containers for the following fruits and vegetables were considered and recommended:

'Raspberries.

'Crate—24-pint hallocks, * * * Size of hallock, 2 5 1/4 5 1/4 inches outside measurements, bottom set up 3/4 inch, inside depth 1 1/4 inches.

'Strawberries.

'Crate—24-pint hallocks, * * * Size of hallocks, 2 1/2 4 3/8 4 3/8 inches outside measurements, bottom set up 3/4 inch, inside depth 1 3/4 inches.

'* * * The abovementioned containers are hereby declared to be standard for the designated fruits and vegetables and this order shall become effective on June 15, 1933. Provided, however, that persons now having on hand new containers or shooks for same not of standard sizes as hereby approved will be allowed an extension of time until January 1, 1934, in order to make use of such material.'

A hallock is a type of rectangular till box with perpendicular sides and a raised bottom. It is usually made of rotary cut veneer, taken directly from spruce logs; but is sometimes made of paper or other material.

The plaintiff manufactures a type of container other than hallocks. Its type, which is also used for rasp- berries and strawberries, is known as tin top or metal rim. It differs from the hallock both in shape and construction. In shape, it is more like a cup; its sides slope outward; and it has not the raised bottom. This cup is made from two thin strips of wood crossing each other to form the bottom of the container and then bent upward to form the sides, reinforced with a narrow metal strip to insure protection of the cup and its contents, as well as to insure uniformity of cubic measure. The plaintiff has for years sold a part of its product of tin top cups to dealers in Oregon, for ultimate use as containers for raspberries and strawberries to be packed there.

The bill alleges 'that the effect' of the order is to prevent the sale by plaintiff for use in Oregon of 'the metal top variety of containers or cups with the solid bottom;' 'because dealers who formerly purchased such baskets from Plaintiff have been warned by officials * * * that they would not be allowed to sell strawberries or raspberries in any container' other than that prescribed; that it has no facilities for manufacturing hallocks; and that, because of the expense of installing the requisite machinery and the cost of transporting the appropriate supplies to its plant, it is impracticable for it to arrange to make hallocks.

The claim is that, since the order prescribed hallocks as the only permissible type of container, its necessary effect is to exclude containers of the plaintiff's manufacture from use in Oregon, and, therefore, the order violates its rights: (a) Under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (section 1), because the order is arbitrary, capricious, and not reasonably necessary for the accomplishment of any legitimate purpose of the police power; (b) under the equal protection clause of the amendment (section 1), because the order grants a monopoly to manufacturers of hallocks; (c) under the commerce clause (article 1, § 8, cl. 3), because the order imposes undue burdens on interstate commerce. The defend- ants insist that the order is an appropriate exercise of the police power of the state; does not create a monopoly; and does not burden interstate commerce. We think the defendants are right.

First. The power of a state to prescribe standard containers in order to facilitate trading, to preserve the condition of the merchandise, to protect buyers from deception, or to prevent unfair competition, is conceded. Such regulation of trade is a part of the inspection laws; was among the earliest exertions of the police power in America; has been presistent; and has been widely applied to merchandise commonly sold in containers. See Turner v. Maryland, 107 U.S. 38, 51—54, 2 S.Ct. 44, 27 L.Ed. 370. Latterly, with the broadening of the field of distribution and the growing use of containers in the retail trade, the scope of the regulation has been much extended.

Plaintiff does not question the reasonableness of the standard so far as it prescribes the capacity of the box or basket. Its challenge is directed solely to the fixing of the dimensions and the form of the container. But to fix both the dimensions and the form may be deemed necessary in order to assure observance of the prescribed capacity and to effect other purposes of the regulation. It may be that in Oregon, where hallocks have long been in general use,² buyers at retail are less likely to be deceived by dealers as to the condition and quantity of these berries if they are sold in containers of the prescribed form and dimensions. It is said that there are 34 other styles or shapes of berry basket in use somewhere in the United States. Obviously, a multitude of shapes and sizes of packages tends to confuse the buyer. Furthermore, the character of the container may be an important factor in preserving the condition of raspberries and strawberries, which are not only perishable, but tender. A shallow container, like the hallock prescribed, may conceivably better preserve these fruits than the deeper cup which the plaintiff manufactures. A container with perpendicular sides, like the hallock, may conceivably preserve them better than a metal rim cup with outward sloping sides. And, since the containers are to be packed and shipped in crates of 24, the berries may conceivably be better stowed where the fruit basket has the bottom set-up peculiar to the hallock, than if it had the flat bottom of the plaintiff's metal rim cup. Considerations of this nature led the Colonies, the individual states, and Congress to prescribe for many articles not only the capacity, but the size and form of containers.³

Different types of commodities require different types of containers; and as to each commodity there may be reasonable difference of opinion as to the type best adapted to the protection of the public. Whether it was necessary in Oregon to provide a standard container for raspberries and strawberries; and, if so, whether that adopted should have been made mandatory, involve questions of fact and of policy, the determination of which rests in the legislative branch of the state government. The determination may be made, if the Constitution of the state permits, by a subordinate administrative body. With the wisdom of such a regulation we have, of course, no concern. We may inquire only whether it is arbitrary or capricious. That the requirement is not arbitrary or capricious seems clear. That the type of container prescribed by Oregon is an appropriate means for attaining permissible ends cannot be doubted.

Second. The standard prescribed by the order does not conflict with any established by Congress. The Standard Baskets and Containers Act of May 21, 1928, c. 664, 45 Stat. 685 (15 USCA § 257 et seq.), has no relation to the matter here under con- sideration. That statute deals solely with hampers, round stave, and splint baskets of capacity not less than one-eighth bushel. The Standard Baskets and Containers Act of August 31, 1916, c. 426, 39 Stat. 673 (15 USCA § 251 et seq.), which in section 2 (15 USCA § 252) deals with containers for small fruits and vegetables, prescribes merely the capacity of the containers. It fixes the cubic contents for...