Harry Carr v. Federal Trade Commission

WOODBURY, Chief Judge

(dissenting).

The basic wrongdoer here was the owner of the material who was also the one who provided the false labels innocently affixed to it by Carr before he shipped it in interstate commerce at the owner’s directions, that is to say, Nichols & Company, which agreed to a consent order to cease and desist. It seems to me that the order against Nichols & Company should have satisfied the Commission since it nipped the wrong at its source. I think Commission action should have expended itself against Nichols & Company, for in practical effect Carr acted innocently in its place and stead when he affixed its labels to its material. However, I cannot agree that the Commission went beyond its statutory power in issuing its order against Carr.

Garnetted wool is fibrous wool in an unspun state but it is not virgin wool. It is produced by mechanical means from wool which has once been felted or woven, to wit, “reprocessed wool” as defined in the statute. I see no escape from the conclusion that in consequence it is a wool product, i. e. something produced or made out of reprocessed wool, and therefore under the statute should have been accurately labeled for what it was by Carr who manufactured it for introduction into interstate commerce.