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Section 5 placed all slaughter houses under the supervision of the State Board of Health, and subject to inspection by the State inspectors of health.

Section 7 provided that "nothing in this act shall affect or impair the rights, powers or authority of any board or officer not herein mentioned." This section obviously refers to the enforcement of the earlier provisions of the act, and does not affect or limit the application of such provisions.

Section 1 of chapter 329 of the Acts of 1908 appears in a draft of legislation accompanying a petition by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which sets forth that such society represents "that there is need of further legislation for the prevention of cruelty to animals, especially to protect them against cruelty in transportation, and to protect the public against the sale or use for food, or other improper use, of the carcasses of animals which have died in consequence of cruelty, maltreatment or neglect or otherwise than by regular slaughter; and to provide further means and agencies for enforcing the laws in relation thereto by extending the powers of the State Board of Health or its officers or agents or of local health officers or otherwise." The act itself, however, is much broader and more drastic than the petition, and, by providing that the sale, offer or exposure for sale or delivery for use as food of the carcasses, or of any part or product thereof, of any animal which has come to its death in any manner or by any means otherwise than by slaughter or killing while in a healthy condition, in my opinion does in terms forbid the sale -although not the killing of any animal infected to any degree with tuberculosis, notwithstanding that such infection is local, and that the meat derived from the carcass thereof is not in any way affected by such disease.

Replying specifically to the order of the Honorable House of Representatives, therefore, I am constrained to say that in my opinion the laws and statutes of this Commonwealth do not permit meat derived from the carcasses of cattle infected to any degree with tuberculosis, or with any other disease, to be sold as food within this Commonwealth.

To the

State Board of Health. 1909 March 26.

I desire to point out, however, the obvious inconsistency which exists between St. 1908, c. 329, § 1, and other provisions of the laws of the Commonwealth and the provisions of the laws and rules and regulations of the Federal government in the premises.

RECEPTACLE FOR PROPRIETARY OR PATENT MEDICINE OR FOOD PREPARATION LABEL STATEMENT OF CONTENTS - ALCOHOL.

Where a proprietary or patent medicine or food preparation containing alcohol is put up in a glass bottle enclosed in a pasteboard wrapper, the provisions of St. 1906, c. 386, § 1, as amended by St. 1907, c. 259, § 1, requiring that "upon every package, bottle or other receptacle holding any proprietary or patent medicine or any proprietary or patent food preparation which contains alcohol . . . shall be marked or inscribed a statement on the label of the quantity or proportion of each of said substances contained therein," are complied with if a proper statement is inscribed upon the pasteboard wrapper, so long as such bottle is contained therein. If, however, the glass bottle is removed from such wrapper and separately sold or offered for sale, the statutes above cited would require a statement of the quantity or proportion of alcohol contained in such bottle to be inscribed upon the bottle itself.

You have submitted to me an inquiry as to whether, in the case of a proprietary or patent food preparation containing alcohol, which is put up in a glass bottle enclosed in a pasteboard wrapper, the requirements of St. 1906, c. 386, § 1, as amended by St. 1907, c. 259, § 1, are complied with, if a statement of the quantity or proportion of alcohol contained therein is properly inscribed upon the pasteboard wrapper; that is, whether such statement must also be inscribed upon the glass bottle.

St. 1906, c. 386, § 1, as amended by St. 1907, c. 259, § 1, provides in part that:

Upon every package, bottle or other receptacle holding any proprietary or patent medicine, or any proprietary or patent food preparation, which contains alcohol, morphine, codeine, opium, heroin, chloroform, cannabis indica, chloral hydrate, or acetanilid, or any derivative or preparation of any such substances, shall be marked or inscribed a statement on the label of the quantity or proportion of each of said substances contained

therein..

The provisions of section nineteen of chapter seventyfive of the Revised Laws, so far as they are consistent herewith, shall apply to the manner and form in which such statements shall be marked or inscribed.

Section 6 of this statute imposes a penalty upon "whoever manufactures, sells or offers for sale any . . . food preparation in violation of the provisions of this act

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R. L., c. 75, § 19, provides in part that "the required label shall be firmly attached to or printed on the exterior of the said article, on the top or side thereof and in plain sight."

In my opinion, the requirements of these statutes are complied with so long as the glass bottle is within the pasteboard wrapper, if a proper statement is inscribed upon the pasteboard wrapper. The required label is then "on the exterior of the package or envelope." If, however, the glass bottle is removed from the pasteboard wrapper and in this condition sold or offered for sale, these statutes are not complied with unless the statement be properly marked or inscribed upon the glass bottle itself.

THE SOLDIERS' HOME IN CHELSEA CHARITABLE CORPORA-
PURPOSES OF

TION
SAILORS.

INCORPORATION SOLDIERS

AND

The charitable corporation called the "Trustees of the Soldiers' Home in Massachusetts," created by the provisions of St. 1877, c. 218, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in the city of Chelsea a home "for deserving soldiers and sailors and such members of their families as said trustees may deem to be proper," may receive in such home or institution any deserving soldier or sailor, who has served in the organized military or naval forces either of the commonwealth or of the United States; and the transfer contemplated by St. 1908, c. 199, § 3, providing that "all real and personal estate held by said trustees shall revert to the commonwealth when the purpose for which the trustees were incorporated shall have been accomplished," may not be made upon failure to find inmates for the institution who have served in the late war of the rebellion.

mittee on

Executive

I have your letter of April 8, in which you inquire, on behalf To the Comof the committee on finance of the Executive Council, "in re- Finance of the gard to the future transfer of the Chelsea Hospital by its board Council. of trustees to the Commonwealth."

1909

April 14.

By the name "Chelsea Hospital" you doubtless intend to designate the home for worthy soldiers and sailors maintained in the city of Chelsea by the "Trustees of the Soldiers' Home in Massachusetts," a charitable corporation created by the provisions of St. 1877, c. 218, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a home "for deserving soldiers and sailors and such members of their families as said trustees may deem to be proper." The Commonwealth has repeatedly appropriated money in aid of the institution so established. See Res. 1905, c. 50; 1906, c. 53; 1907, c. 12, etc. In addition to the annual appropriation so made by the Commonwealth, there have been from time to time other appropriations for the construction of additional buildings for the use of the institution. See Res. 1905, c. 77; St. 1906, c. 48; Res. 1907, c. 105, etc. In 1908 the charter of the corporation (St. 1877, c. 218) was amended by St. 1908, c. 199, which provided, among other things, for the representation among the trustees of the institution, three of whom are appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Council, of the voluntary associations known as the "Massachusetts Division, Sons of Veterans, United States of America," and the "Department of Massachusetts, United Spanish War Veterans." In section 3 of this act there is a provision that "all real and personal estate held by said trustees shall revert to the commonwealth when the purpose for which the trustees were incorporated shall have been accomplished," a provision probably attached to the act for the reason that most of the property held or controlled by the corporation was donated or paid for from appropriations made by the Commonwealth.

Upon these facts I assume that in substance you desire to be advised whether or not "the purpose for which the trustees were incorporated" is to be deemed to have been accomplished when there may be no longer deserving soldiers or sailors who have served in and are veterans of the war of the rebellion. It is to be observed that the purposes of the institution, as expressed in St. 1877, c. 218, § 1, are not in any way limited to deserving soldiers or sailors who have served in any particular war, or,

indeed, to soldiers who have served in any war; and in my opinion such purposes are sufficiently broad to include and apply to any deserving soldier or sailor who has served in the organized military or naval forces either of the Commonwealth or of the United States, and cannot fail so long as the United States or the Commonwealth may maintain a regular military or naval force of enlisted soldiers or sailors. It is therefore my opinion that the transfer contemplated by St. 1908, c. 199, § 3, may not be made upon failure to find inmates for the institution known as the "Soldiers' Home in Massachusetts" who have served in the late war of the rebellion, and that other deserving soldiers and sailors who are not veterans of that war may be eligible to become inmates thereof. In reaching this conclusion I do not deem it necessary to consider whether or not the provisions of the section above referred to are effective at any time to secure in the manner contemplated the transfer of the real and personal estate held by the trustees of such institution.

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INSURANCE ACCIDENT AND HEALTH DISABILITY -FORM OF
POLICY INSURANCE COMMISSIONER - APPROVAL-EX-
ERCISE OF LEGISLATIVE POWER BY MINISTERIAL OF-
FICER

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.

A proposed act, vesting in the Insurance Commissioner authority to approve the form of every policy of accident or health disability insurance issued in this Commonwealth, and constituting such approval a condition precedent to the issuance and delivery of such policy, without prescribing any standard form therefor or directing what, in substance, such policy shall contain, would be unconstitutional under the Constitution of Massachusetts, Article XXX. of the Bill of Rights, as a delegation of legislative power to a ministerial officer.

Committee on

1909

By your letter of April 5 you seek my opinion upon the To the constitutionality of a proposed act relative to accident, health Insurance. and disability insurance, which contains the following pro- April 21. visions:

SECTION 1. On and after January first, nineteen hundred and ten, no policy of accident or health disability insurance shall be issued or delivered in this commonwealth that does not provide for a period of grace in the payment of premiums of at least thirty days during which

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