Wilkerson v. Rahrer

The constitution of Kansas provides: 'The manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors shall be forever prohibited in this state, except for medical, scientific, and mechanical purposes.' 1 Gen. St. Kan. 1889, p. 107. The sections of the Kansas statutes claimed to have been violated by the petitioner are as follows: 'Any person or persons who shall manufacture, sell, or barter any spirituous, malt, vinous, fermented, or other intoxicating liquors shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished as hereinafter provided: provided, however, that such liquors may be sold for medical, scientific, and mechanical purposes, as provided in this act. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to sell or barter for medical, scientific, or mechanical purposes any malt, vinous, spirituous, fermented, or other intoxicating liquors without first having procured a druggist's permit therefor from the probate judge of the county wherein such druggist may be doing business at the time,' etc. 'Any person without taking out and having a permit to sell intoxicating liquors as provided in this act, or any person not lawfully and in good faith engaged in the business of a druggist, who shall directly or indirectly sell or barter any spirituous, malt, vinous, fermented or other intoxicating liquors, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned in the county jail not less than thirty days nor more than ninety days.' 1 Gen. St. Kan. c. 31, §§ 380, 381, 386. On August 8, 1890, an act of congress was approved, entitled 'An act to limit the effect of the regulations of commerce between the several states and with foreign countries in certain cases,' which reads as follows: 'That all fermented, distilled, or other intoxicating liquors or liquids transported into any state or territory, or remaining therein, for use, consumption, sale, or storage therein, shall upon arrival in such state or territory be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such state or territory enacted in the exercise of its police powers, to the same extent and in the same manner as though such liquids or liquors had been produced in such state or territory, and shall not exempt therefrom by reason of being introduced therein in original packages or otherwise.' 26 St. 313.

L. B. Kellogg, A. L. Williams, R. B. Welch, and J. N. Ives, for appellant.

Louis J. Blum, Edgar C. Blum, and David Overmyer, for appellee.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 550-554 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Chief Justice FULLER, after stating the facts as above, delivered the opinion of the court.