Your orators, upon information and belief, allege that the defendant Frederick C. Schraub, during the times hereinafter mentioned, was, and now is, acting Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of New York, under the provisions of chapter 333 of the Laws of the State of New York, approved April, 1893; reference being made to said act of the Legislature of the State of New York, which is made a part of this bill of complaint, as though the same was set forth herein; and that the other defendants are Assistant Commissioners of Agriculture, under the provisions of said statute.

And your orators further show unto your honors, that all of said defendants are now acting as such officers.

And your orators further show unto your honors, that, during the time hereinafter mentioned, as a part of the conduct of their regular business in the city of Chicago, and State of Illinois, they manufactured for sale and use, as an article of human food, a compound commonly known and designated as butterine or oleomargarine; which, for the purposes of this bill of complaint, will hereinafter be designated as oleomargarine. That said substance, as manufactured by your orators, is composed of fresh beef suet, taken from healthy animals slaughtered for beef and designed for human food, and from leaf lard, taken from healthy swine, slaughtered for use as human food, and cotton-seed oil, extracted from fresh, wholesome seed; the oil from said articles being separated separately from the fiber, by heat and hydraulic pressure, when they are mixed with pure dairy buttermilk and cream, and the whole compound agitated and the oils brought together into a solidified shape, when the same is salted to taste; it is then placed in wooden packages and sealed; each package containing either 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 pounds for shipment and sale to consumers. That said product is shipped from their factory at Chicago in said packages, each of which is branded with the words "Butterine Oleomargarine" in plain and distinct letters upon every package shipped from your orator's warehouses in Chicago into all of the different States and Territories of the United States of America and abroad, and the same is sold and used as an article of human food.

Your orators further show that they pay to the Government of the United States the manufacturers' tax or stamp duty, as required by law, on all goods manufactured by them, and likewise pay the tax or duty imposed by the law of Congress upon the sale of said oleomargarine in original packages, as aforesaid. That your orators or their agents do not sell said oleomargarine at retail, but only in original packages to consumers. That said original packages, stamped.

and branded as aforesaid, are shipped in said original packages into the State of New York and into the Northern District thereof, as an article of interstate commerce, to be sold in original packages to purchasers thereof. That your orators ship said original packages from the city of Chicago to the city of Albany, where they maintain a storehouse, at which point the said original packages are shipped directly to purchasers thereof throughout the territory of the Northern District of New York. That all goods shipped from their Albany warehouse are shipped direct to the name and address of persons giving written orders for said goods, which are, upon said orders, delivered in original packages and the pay for the same collected on delivery. That the order blanks furnished to parties desiring to fill out the same are as follows:

"BE PARTICULAR TO OBSERVE INSTRUCTIONS ON FRONT COVER.

That the printed instructions upon the order books are as follows:

"Number and date each order.

Be sure and give the prices goods are sold at.

Write the name of purchaser and street address in full.
Commissions will be paid at time of settlement."

That all packages of oleomargarine are sold on these order blanks, properly filled in, and the character of the goods is designated in the order as either oleomargarine or butterine; and upon the receipt at Albany of said orders original packages of oleomargarine are marked with shipping directions and shipped direct to the consumer, in care of the local or order agent, who attends to the delivery and collection of the price to be paid therefor, and the entire amount so collected turned over to your orators on weekly collections by the local order agent.

Your orators further show unto your honors that on or about the 6th day of December, 1893, they appointed and employed William H. Hackett, of the city of Utica, N. Y., as their order agent for the city of Utica and vicinity, to solicit orders on the aforesaid blanks for the sale and delivery of oleomargarine, and to superintend the delivery and col

lection of the price to be paid for such goods as are shipped on orders, as aforesaid. And your orators undertook and agreed to protect their said agent from suits and penalties on account of his duties performed within the line of his said employment, which was to obtain orders and deliver in original packages oleomargarine manufactured by your orators and shipped from the city of Chicago into the State of New York as an article of interstate commerce. That your orators' said agent, William H. Hackett, entered upon the discharge of his duties, and has solicited from parties living in Utica and vicinity orders for several hundred packages of oleomargarine, which have been shipped direct to the purchasers thereof, and have been received and paid for by them. That immediately following the taking and filling of orders by your orators' said agent, William H. Hackett, and on or about the 9th day of December, 1893, the defendant LeGrange E. Scrafford, claiming to act under the direction and authority of the Commissioner of Agriculture, entered the place of business of the said William H. Hackett, in the city of Utica, N. Y., and wrongfully took and carried away the book containing the list of persons who had ordered your orators' original packages of oleomargarine, and kept the same; and immediately thereafter said defendants LeGrange E. Scrafford and W. W. Hall went to the places of residence of the persons who had ordered said original packages of oleomargarine, and by a systematic course of intimidation, in which they represented that your orators' oleomargarine was made from refuse and scraps of beef, and other animal fat; that it was unclean, un wholesome and unfit for use; and that such persons were not authorized by law to use the same, but, on the contrary, the laws and statutes of the State of New York prohibited the purchase or use of the same, and that they would be arrested if they used the same, and would be liable to penalities; and that the Commissioner of Agriculture would institute criminal and civil proceedings for the violation of the law, and demanded, and in many instances obtained, duplicate samples of the oleomargarine which had been delivered to the respective pur hasers, and sealed said samples in bottles, and delivered one sample so taken, as aforesaid, to your orators' said agent, William H. Hackett, with the following label pasted upon said bottle:

"Department of Agriculture, State of New York.

No .....

Believed to be imitation butter, manufactured and kept for sale, offered for sale or sold in violation of the provisions of chapter 338 of the Laws of 1893; a sample taken to be analyzed for that reason. Chemists will please to preserve this bottle without removing the label, and examine the seal and its condition."

Said sample being dated and signed by some one of said agents taking said samples. That the defendants, claiming to act under the authority of the Commissioner of Agriculture, daily go to the railroad station at Utica, to which point original packages of oleomargarine are shipped from Albany, and take a list of the names of persons to whom the same are shipped, hasten to their respective residences and repeat the allegations and statements hereinbefore mentioned to them, and by reason of these proceedings and the method employed, as aforesaid, they have secured the countermand of a number of orders given for goods as aforesaid; and said parties have refused to take said goods ordered by them, and your orators have been compelled to and have taken back said goods and transhipped them to the city of Albany to their warehouse at considerable expense. That the proceedings herein referred to, on the part of the defendants, have been persistently continued from day to day since the 9th day of December, 1893, and are now being prosecuted by the defendants, although your orators have notified the Commissioner of Agriculture that they claim a right to sell in original packages to parties purchasing the same, their oleomargarine; and that they intend to continue said business, and that they have admitted that they were selling oleomargarine in original packages; and that their proceedings are annoying and vexatious; and invite said Commissioner, if they believe that your orators were acting in violation of law, to enter prosecutions against them, and to desist from interfering with their trade. That your orators, through their agent, received a communication from said Commissioner, to the effect that your orators' said acts were illegal and in contravention of the law, and calling on them to discontinue. That no suit or prosecution has been instituted on account of the acts of your orator' said agent at Utica, N. Y., but that the systematic practices of intimidation and interferences with your orators' said trade is still continued and kept up, to the irreparable injury and damage of your said orators' trade and business, and to their loss and damage, which is not, as your orators are informed and verily believes, capable of being estimated in damages; aud that unless the defendants are restrained from the continuation of said illegal and wrongful acts, they will inflict upon your orators' said business great damages, which are not capable of being estimated, and to irreparably injure your orators' said trade and business.

Your orators further show unto your honors, that the oleomargarine which they manufacture and sell in original packages, and as an article of interstate commerce, as aforesaid, is not unwholesome nor deleterious

to health, but, on the contrary, the same is wholesome, nutritious and clean, and made of pure material, similar in all respects to that entering into the daily food consumption of the people, containing essentially the same properties and constituents as pure dairy butter; and that the same is not manufactured with the intent and for the purpose of selling the same as butter; nor is the same sold by your orators in said original packages, as aforesaid, as butter, but are always sold for exactly what they are, and no deception is practiced in their sale.

Your orators further allege that in the manufacture and shipment of original packages into the State of New York, to be delivered to purchasers thereof of the said oleomargarine, they have committed no offense against any of the laws of the State of New York, and have not violated any of the provisions of the law, to the knowledge or belief of your orators; and that they have a lawful and constitutional right under the statutes of the United States, and the laws passed in pursuance thereof, to sell said oleomargarine as an article of interstate commerce, in original packages, in the State of New York, unmolested and uninterfered with by any State official claiming to act under authority of any law of the State of New York.

And your orators further show unto your honors, that the laws of New York applicable to oleomargarine are confined to the similation of and for the purposes of the fraudulent sale, and have no application to the business conducted by your orators; and that if they have any such application or prohibition against the acts of your orators, that they are in contravention of the Constitution of the United States, and the laws passed in pursuance thereof, and the same are void.

Your orators further show unto your honors, represented and stated to your orators' said agent, William H. Hackett, that it is the intention of the Commissioner of Agriculture to continue to obtain samples from all parties to whom sales in original packages are made. by your orators, and to institute and prosecute actions for penalties against your orators' said agent, and that it is the intention to bring a suit for each penalty, in order to harass and break down the legitimate and honest trade conducted by your orators, and to subject your orators to great expense in defending such multiplicity of suits, which your orators are under obligations to defend at their own expense, claiming, as the defendants do, that your orators' said acts are in violation of the statutes of the State of New York, which allegations and claims your orators emphatically deny; and on the contrary, your orators allege and show to your honors that the acts, conduct and proceedings of the defendants are without color of law and in violation of