The quality of a stream, likewise, may only to a certain extent be interfered with. If a stream flows through a meadow, cows pastured in the meadow have a natural right to wade in the brook, and if, in so doing, a certain amount of pollution is added to the waters of the brook, no one downstream can justly complain.
If, however, a sewer is carried from barns or houses into a brook which is later used for drinking purposes, the quality of the water is affected, and such a discharge is so revolting to the senses that complaint to the courts would result in an order to find some other method of disposing of such wastes.
In New York State, the legislature has delegated to the Department of Health certain rights in the matter of the protection from pollution of the waters of the state, particularly when those waters are used for drinking purposes. Upon application from the water company, this department, having carefully inspected the watershed, will prepare a complete and elaborate series of rules, giving in detail just what an individual may or may not do on the watershed, and, when enacted, these rules have all the force of law. They are, however, like all laws, subject to the constitutional limitations, and particularly to the clause of the constitution which provides that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall deprive any person of property without due process of law." This means that if any law prevents an individual enjoying reasonable use of his own property, or if the deprivation of such use is for the special benefit of some special community or company, then that special body must be prepared to make compensation for that deprivation, although if it were for the general good of the community of which the individual was a member, no compensation might be required.
REGULATIONS GOVERNING FOODS
Laws covering the sale of adulterated foods are of two kinds, namely, those enacted by the national government at Washington, and those enacted by the local authorities, either state or municipal. The laws enacted by the national government, which are comprehended in the recently enacted National Pure Food Law, deal particularly with the adulteration and misbranding, not only of foods, but of all sorts of medicines and liquor. Their effect, however, is limited entirely to such articles as make up interstate commerce. If an article is made and sold within the boundaries of any single state, it is not subject to the national law, nor could this national law be applied to the production or sale of any article from a farm unless that article was well enough known to be generally distributed. For example, maple sirup, widely advertised and generally sold, would be subject to the provisions of the national law. Butter and cheese, sold locally, would not be subject to such a law. It is evident, therefore, that this law does not usually apply to farm products, unless, as in the case of some sausages, for example, a widely advertised campaign has been instituted to promote their sale.
There are, however, in the different states, laws which do apply locally and which prohibit adulteration of all sorts. In New York State, for example, the law says that no person shall, within the state, manufacture, produce, compound, brew, distill, have, sell, or offer for sale any adulterated food or product, and the law further specifies that an article shall be deemed to be adulterated:—
"1. If any substance or substances has or have been mixed with it so as to reduce or lower or injuriously affect its quality or strength.
"2. If any inferior or cheaper substance or substances have been substituted wholly or in part for the article.
"3. If any valuable constituent of the article has been wholly or in part abstracted.
"4. If it be an imitation or be sold under the name of another article.