Show SALE OF CIGARETTES I U S SUPREME COURT HANDS SUPRB1E DqWN OPINION Decision of the Tennessee Supreme I Court Upheld Although by a Very Narrow Margin 1 I I Washington Nov 13Thc United I I States Supreme court today rendered I an opinion In lie case of Wm B Austin I 1 Aus-tin vs the State of Tennessee Involving tn t lug the validity of the Stale law regulating j 1 I regu-lating the sale of cigarettes The law was attacked as an infringement of the I I right t Congress to regulate Interstate Inter-state commerce The Tennessee Supreme court upheld I the law and todays decision sustained sus-tained that verdict though not without disapproval of some of the positions taken aiuj then upon a very narrow margin four out of nine members joinIng join-Ing In a dissenting opinion and another member of the court Justice White placing his assent upon grounds different differ-ent fruni thOM announced by Justice Brown i6 handed down thixoplnlon The case grew put of the Importation of cigarettes Into Tennessee from I North Carolina They were taken Into j the I State In the ordinary sized cigarette paolcnges about two by fourinches and these patkagerf were loosely I thrown Into baskets which were uncovered un-covered The claim Was made that these cigarette packagcirwcn what Is eon to the law as original flClcttg Shut S-hut without clearly defining an original origi-nal package the court hold that It was clear that such packages could not ue so consldeicd Justice Drown In passing upon the case said that the paoknges were obviously ob-viously made up with the view of evading evad-ing the law nnd na he spukc he held one of the little cigarette taMes up to I I view of hit auditors On this point ho decision of the Stale court to the effect I I ef-fect that the packages were not orlgl I I nal was fuly confirmed On another phase of the case the Stale court was not so fully indorsed The Tenncc cc court had held that I I cigarettes are not an article of commerce com-merce Vlth this vlfw Justice Broun took lanuii and ho delivered quite a dissertation I dis-sertation upon the subject Whatever Is l an object of barter and sale Is hr said an article of commerce j com-merce and must be so recognized Tobacco To-bacco had been such an article for 400 II I I years T had been made the subject I I I of taxation and indeed had became more widely scattered t than any other I L t vegetable Probably he added no other vegetable has contributed so J I much to the comfort and solace of the human race This being the case It I vas entirely beyond bounds to say that tobacco was not an article of commerce com-merce He then took notice of the claim that cigarettes are an especially harmful form of tobacco and while he conceded that this might be the cse he remarked re-marked that this claim was of comparatively I com-paratively recent origin He held that cigarettes are as much a Slate regulation regula-tion as liquor and he further held that while no State law could prohibit importation im-portation in original packages it was entirely competent for a Legislature to I regulate the sale because of general belief 1 be-lief In the deleterious effect cf the ar tick There was a dissenting opinion by Justice Shlras in which the Chief Justice Jus-tice and Justices Brewer and Peckham joined They based their dissent on the theory that Congress has exclusive control of interstate commerce |