Interstate commerce defeated state-by-state pure food regulation, pushing federal law

Evidence

The resentment began with the farmers. They objected to the adulteration of milk, butter, lard, and other food products. They established state departments of agriculture, and provided themselves with state chemists whose duty was to analyse foods in order to detect imitations and adulterations. This led to an interest in the whole problem of sanitation and to food legislation. By 1906 practically all the states had pure food laws. In 1898 the National Association of State Dairy and Food Departments was organized, and this association held annual meetings. It was soon apparent that only a national law would be adequate. The states, acting separately, could not protect themselves against interstate commerce, and by establishing different standards, they made it very difficult for the manufacturer to meet them all. The more reputable manufacturers of food products were not slow to appreciate that a federal law would be to their interest, but, as long as their competitors were allowed to imitate the goods of others and to adu4terate and misbrand their own, they found themselves in a difficult position. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 987

Categorization

• XREF: Core institutional cause-effect: states cannot police an interstate market; this is the structural logic behind federal regulatory power under the commerce clause. — connects to: Patent medicines sold at huge markups with negligible active ingredients — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 994; Congressional opponents framed pure-food regulation as an unconstitutional federal police power — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1027; Interstate commerce created pressure for uniform commercial laws — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 460 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Interstate commerce created pressure for uniform commercial laws #expands (0.85) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 460
• American regulation moved historically from local to state to federal control #exemplifies (0.75) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2547