Whitfield v. State of Ohio

Decision Date02 March 1936
Docket NumberNo. 377,377
Citation80 L.Ed. 778,56 S.Ct. 532,297 U.S. 431
PartiesWHITFIELD v. STATE OF OHIO
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Wm. Logan Martin, of Birmingham, Ala., for petitioner.

[Argument of Counsel from page 432 intentionally omitted] Messrs. John W. Bricker, of Columbus, Ohio, and Alfred Clum, of Cleveland, Ohio, for State of Ohio.

[Argument of Counsel from page 433 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice SUTHERLAND delivered the opinion of the Court.

Petitioner was charged in the municipal court of Cleveland with a violation of section 2228-1 of the Ohio General Code, adopted March 23, 1933, which provides: 'After January 19, 1934, no goods, wares or merchandise, manufactured or mined wholly or in part in any other state by convicts or prisoners, except convicts or prisoners on parole or probation, shall be sold on the open market in this state.' By section 2228-2, a violation of this provision subjects the offender to a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $50 for the first offense. An Act of Congress passed January 19, 1929 (effective five years later), c. 79, §§ 1, 2, 45 Stat. 1084, title 49 U.S.C. § 60 (49 U.S.C.A. § 60), commonly called the Hawes-Cooper Act, provides that 'All goods, wares, and merchandise manufactured, produced, or mined, wholly or in part, by convicts or prisoners, except convicts or prisoners on parole or probation, or in any penal and/or reformatory institutions, except commodities manufactured in Federal penal and correctional institutions for use by the Federal Government, transported into any State or Territory of the United States and remaining therein for use, consumption, 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 information contains two counts. The first count charges that petitioner, upon a day named, and within the city of Cleveland, Ohio, 'did unlawfully sell on the open market certain goods, wares or merchandise, to-wit: one dozen Chambray men's work shirts, which said merchandise was manufactured in whole or in part by convicts or prisoners at Wetumpka Prison in the State of Alabama; said prisoners so manufacturing said articles at the time of manufacturing same not being on parole or probation.' By the second count it is charged that petitioner 'did unlawfully sell for shipment to R. C. Kissack, via railway express from Wetumpka Prison in the State of Alabama to R. C. Kissack in the City of Lakewood, Ohio, * * * six dozen Chambray men's work shirts,' manufactured by convicts or prisoners at the same prison in Alabama. The case was tried before the court upon a stipulation of facts substantially the same as those set forth in the information, with the addition, in respect of the first count, that the goods were sold in the original package as shipped by interstate commerce into the state of Ohio, and that there is nothing harmful, injurious, or deleterious about the goods sold; that the six dozen shirts mentioned in the second count were not delivered to Kissack at the time of sale, but were to be shipped to his residence in Lakewood, Ohio, by railway express from the prison in Alabama.

The case was tried without a jury. The court found petitioner guilty upon both counts, and sentenced him to pay a fine of $25 and costs.

An appeal was taken to the Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga County, where the judgment was affirmed. 49 Ohio App. 530, 197 N.E. 605. A petition in error to the Supreme Court of Ohio was dismissed by that court on the ground that no debatable constitutional question was involved. 129 Ohio St. 543, 196 N.E. 164. This court granted certiorari, 296 U.S. 561, 56 S.Ct. 141, 80 L.Ed. 395.

Petitioner assails the constitutional validity of the Ohio statute and also of the Hawes-Cooper Act. The record fails to show that the points made by petitioner in this court were properly raised in the trial court. But it sufficiently appears from the opinion of the appellate court that that court considered and passed upon the following contentions: that the Ohio statute abridged the privileges and immunities of petitioner as a citizen of the United States in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, by depriving him of the privilege of selling goods, manufactured in Alabama by prison labor, in competition with citizens of Ohio engaged in selling like goods; that the Ohio statute constituted an unauthorized regulation of and a burden upon interstate commerce; and that the Hawes-Cooper Act constituted an unlawful delegation of the power of Congress to the states. These questions, therefore, are properly here for consideration. Home Ins. Co. v. Dick, 281 U.S. 397, 405—407, 50 S.Ct. 338, 74 L.Ed. 926, 74 A.L.R. 701; Erie Railroad Co. v. Purdy, 185 U.S. 148, 153, 22 S.Ct. 605, 46 L.Ed. 847.

The policy of the state of Ohio for many years, as evidenced by its Constitution and laws, has been to protect the products of free labor against competition from similar products brought into existence by prison labor. A section of the state constitution (article 2, § 41), adopted in 1912, provides: 'Laws shall be passed providing for the occupation and employment of prisoners sentenced to the several penal institutions and reformatories in the state; * * * and goods made by persons under sentence to any penal institution or reformatory without the State of Ohio, and such goods made within the State of Ohio, excepting those disposed of to the state or any political sub-division thereof or to any public institution owned, managed or controlled by the state or any political sub-division thereof, shall not be sold within this state unless the same are conspicuously marked 'prison made.' Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the passage of laws providing that convicts may work for, and that the prod- ucts of their labor may by disposed of to, the state or any political sub-division thereof, or for or to any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the state or any political sub-division thereof.'

1. The court below proceeded upon the assumption that petitioner was a citizen of the United States; and his status in that regard is not questioned. The effect of the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as applied to the facts of the present case, is to deny the power of Ohio to impose restraints upon citizens of the United States resident in Alabama in respect of the disposition of goods within Ohio, if like restraints are not imposed upon citizens resident in Ohio. The effect of the similar clause found in the Fourth Ar icle of the Constitution (section 2), as applied to these facts, would be the same, since that clause is directed against discrimination by a state in favor of its own citizens and against the citizens of other states. The Slaughter House Case (Live-Stock Dealers ' & Butchers' Ass'n v. Crescent City Live-Stock Landing & Slaughter-House Co.), Fed.Cas. No. 8,408, 1 Woods 21, 28; Bradwell v. State of Illinois, 16 Wall. 130, 138, 21 L.Ed. 442. As interpreted by the court below, the laws of Ohio passed in pursuance of the State Constitution prohibit the sale in the open market of goods made in Ohio by convict labor. The statutory provision here challenged enforces, without discrimination, the same rule as to the convictmade goods of other states when they are brought into Ohio; and the contention in respect of the privileges and immunities clause must be rejected as without substance. Compare Scott v. Donald, 165 U.S. 58, 100, 17 S.Ct. 265, 41 L.Ed. 632; Colgate v. Harvey (December 16, 1935) 296 U.S. 404, 56 S.Ct. 252, 80 L.Ed. 299.

2. A serious question as to the...

To continue reading

Request your trial
83 cases
  • Cloverleaf Butter Co v. Patterson
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • February 2, 1942
    ...Md. Ry. Co., 242 U.S. 311, 325, et seq., 37 S.Ct. 180, 185, 61 L.Ed. 326, L.R.A.1917B, 1218, Ann.Cas.1917B, 845; Whitfield v. Ohio, 297 U.S. 431, 56 S.Ct. 532, 80 L.Ed. 778; Kentucky Whip & Collar Co. v. Illinois C.R. Co., 299 U.S. 334, 350, 57 S.Ct. 277, 282, 81 L.Ed. 270. 5 Merchants Exch......
  • Sporhase v. Nebraska Douglas
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • July 2, 1982
    ...326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945) (§ 1606(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, 53 Stat. 1391); Whitfield v. Ohio, 297 U.S. 431, 56 S.Ct. 532, 80 L.Ed. 778 (1936) (Hawes-Cooper Act, 45 Stat. 1084); In re Rahrer, 140 U.S. 545, 11 S.Ct. 865, 35 L.Ed. 572 (1891) (Wilson Act, 26 Stat. 1......
  • Barenblatt v. United States
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • June 8, 1959
    ...140, 147, 12 S.Ct. 169, 170, 35 L.Ed. 966; Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639; Whitfield v. State of Ohio, 297 U.S. 431, 56 S.Ct. 532, 80 L.Ed. 778. As we conceive the ultimate issue in this case to be whether petitioner could properly be convicted of contemp......
  • Lanza v. State of New York
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • June 4, 1962
    ...Refusal to answer either of these questions fully supports the judgment as modified by the New York courts.20 Whitfield v. Ohio, 297 U.S. 431, 438, 56 S.Ct. 532, 534, 80 L.Ed. 778. Moreover, the record contains no basis for supposing that the committee would not have called the petitioner t......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT