CHAPTER 102
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH
AN ACT to amend Chapter 25 of the Revised Code of 1915 of the State of Delaware, by adding thereto a new Article to be known as Article 6 and to include the following new Sections: 824 A, Section 90 to 824 0, Section 104, inclusive, relating to the manufacture and sale of Mattresses and related Articles.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
824 A. Sec. 90. The word "mattress" shall mean any quilted pad, mattress, mattress pad, mattress protector, bunk, quilt or box spring, stuffed or filled with excelsior, straw, hay, grass, corn husk, moss, fiber, cotton, wool, hair, jute, kapok or other soft material, to be used on a couch or other bed for sleeping purposes.
The words "pillows", "bolster", or "feather-bed", shall mean any bag, case or covering made of cotton or other textile material, and stuffed or filled with excelsior, straw, hay, grass, corn husks, moss, fiber, cotton, wool, hair, jute, feathers, feather down, kapok or other soft material to be used on a bed or other article for sleeping purposes.
The word "comfortable" shall mean any cover, quilt, or quilted article made of cotton, or other textile material, and stuffed or filled with fiber, cotton, wool, hair, jute, feathers, feather down, kapok or other soft material.
The word "new" as used in this Article 6, shall mean any material or article which has not been previously manufactured or used for any purpose.
The word "second-hand" shall mean any material or article of which prior use has been made.
The word "shoddy" shall mean any material which has been spun into yarn, knit or woven into fabric, and subsequently cut up, torn up, broken up or ground up.
The word "person", as used herein, shall include persons, corporations, co-partnerships and associations.
Words used in the singular number shall include the plural ; and the plural the singular.
824 B. Sec. 91. No person shall employ or use in the making or renovating of any mattress, pillow, bolster, feather-bed or comfortable (a) any material known as "shoddy" or any fabric or material from which shoddy is constructed; (b) any secondhand material ; (c) any new or second-hand feathers, unless such shoddy, second-hand material or new or second-hand feathers have been sterilized and disinfected by a reasonable process approved by the State Board of Health.
824 C. Sec. 92. Any person engaged in the making, remaking or renovating of any mattress, pillow, bolster or comfortable in which second-hand material is used, or in the making of any new or second-hand feather or down-filled article or engaged in sterilizing and disinfecting any material, feathers, or article coming under the provisions of this Article 6, shall submit to the State Board of Health for approval a reasonable and effective process, together with duplicate plans of apparatus or auxiliary devices, for the sterilization and disinfection of second-hand material, feathers and second-hand articles herein enumerated.
Upon the approval of such process for sterilization and disinfection, a numbered permit for its use shall be issued to the applicant by the said State Board of Health. Such permit shall expire one year from date of approval and issue. Every person to whom a permit has been issued, shall keep such permit conspicuously posted in his office or place of business. Refusal to display such permit in accordance with this Article 6 shall be sufficient reason to revoke and forfeit the permit.
For all permits issued as required by any provision of this Article 6 (not including, however, by the term "permits", the "tags" otherwise referred to in said Article 6), there shall at time of issue thereof, be paid by the applicant to the State Board of Health a fee of Fifty Dollars ($50.00).
Nothing herein shall prevent any person engaged in the making, remaking, renovating or sale of any article herein described, which requires sterilizing and disinfecting under the provisions hereof, from having such sterilizing and disinfecting performed by any person to whom a permit for such purposes has been issued, provided the number of the permit shall appear in the statement on the tag attached to the Article.
824 D. Sec. 93. All places where any mattress, pillow, bolster, feather-bed or comfortable is made, remade or renovated, or where materials for the herein-named articles are prepared, or establishment where said articles are offered for sale, or are in possession of, any person with intent to sell, deliver, or consign them, or establishment where sterilizing and disinfecting is performed, shall be subject to inspection by the State Board of Health to ascertain whether the materials and the finished articles herein enumerated conform to the requirements of this Article 6.
824 E. Sec. 94. No person shall sell, lease, offer to sell or /ease, or deliver or consign in sale or lease, or have in his possession with intent to sell, lease, deliver, 9r consign in sale or lease, (a) any mattress, pillow, bolster, feather-bed or comfortable, made, remade, or renovated in violation of this Article 6, (b) any second-hand mattress, pillow, bolster, feather-bed, or comfortable, unless since last used it has been thoroughly sterilized and disinfected by a reasonable process approved by the State Board of Health.
824 Sec. 95. Each and every mattress or article covered by this Article 6, other than a feather or down-filled pillow, bolster, bed or comfortable, shall bear securely attached thereto and visible on the outside covering a substantial cloth tag, upon which shall be plainly and indelibly stamped or printed, in English, (a) a statement showing the kind of materials used in filling said mattress or article and whether the materials used in filling are wholly new or second-hand or partly second-hand; (b) the word "second-hand" upon any article of which prior use has been made; (c) the number of the permit issued for sterilizing and disinfecting.
Each and every pillow or other article covered by this Article 6, in which feathers or down are used shall bear securely attached thereto and visible on the outside covering a substantial cloth tag, upon which shall be plainly and indelibly stamped or printed in English (a) a statement that the feathers or down have been sterilized and disinfected in accordance with this Article 6; (b) the number of the permit issued for sterilizing and disinfecting the feathers or down ; (c) the word "second-hand" upon a feather or down-filled article of which prior use has been made.
No additional information shall be contained in said statements.
This statement of materials used in filling must be in plain type not less than one-eighth inch in height.
The tag required by this Article 6 to be attached to any article covered by this Article shall be not less than six square inches in size.
It shall be unlawful for any person to imitate, counterfeit, sell, or have in his possession any imitated or counterfeited adhesive stamp required under the provisions of this Article 6.
It shall be unlawful to use, exclusively, in the said statement concerning any mattress, pillow, bolster or comfortable, the word "felt", or words of like import, if any other than garnetted materials are used in filling, or the words "curled hair", or words of like import, if other than curled hair is used in filling.
It shall be unlawful to make any false, untrue or misleading statement, term or designation on such tag, or to remove, deface, alter or in any manner attempt to remove, deface or alter such tag, or the adhesive stamp required by this Article 6, or cause to be removed, defaced or altered any statement on a tag placed upon any article included in the provisions of this Article 6.
824 G. Sec. 96. The State Board of Health shall upon application to them by any person entitled thereto, register such applicant, and assign a registry number by which number said applicant shall thereafter be known and designated in applying and enforcing the tagging, inspection and adhesive stamp provisions of this Article, and thereupon he shall furnish to such applicant adhesive stamps in quantities of not less than one thousand for which the applicant shall pay ten dollars for each thousand stamps, which said payment and charge shall constitute an inspection charge for the purpose of enforcing this Article.
824 H. Sec. 97. The State Board of Health is hereby authorized to prepare and cause to be printed adhesive stamps which shall bear a replica of the seal of the State, the registry number of the person applying therefor, and such other matter as the State Board of Health shall direct.
824 I. Sec. 98. It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, lease, offer to sell or lease, to deliver or to have in his possession with intent to sell, lease, deliver or consign any article covered by this Article, unless there shall be attached to the tag required by this Article, by the person manufacturing, renovating, sterilizing or offering for sale the same, an adhesive stamp prepared and issued by the State Board of Health, as hereinbefore provided.
824 J. Sec. 99. All fees collected under the provisions of this Article 6 shall be paid to the State Board of Health, and when so collected and paid, shall thereafter be by the said Board of Health placed in a separate fund, to be known as the Bedding Fund, into which all moneys collected under the provisions of this Article 6 shall be paid, and from which all expenditures necessary in carrying into effect the provisions of this Article 6 shall be paid.
All moneys in the Bedding Fund, from time to time, are hereby specifically appropriated to the State Board of Health, for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Article 6, and for the payment of salaries and expenses of inspectors, employees, and for research, or any other necessary expenses of said State Board of Health, connected with the enforcement of this Article 6.
824 K. Sec. 100. It is the intent of this Article 6 to prevent both the manufacture and the sale within this State of any of the articles enumerated in Section 94 of this Article 6, except in conformity to and in compliance with the provisions of said Section 94. Inasmuch, however, as some of the articles so enumerated may be made, or the material used in the manufacture or renovation thereof may be processed, outside of the limits of this State, it is hereby expressly provided, that where the person or concern so manufacturing any such article or processing any such material shall so have or operate his or its plant outside of the limits of this State, the State Board of Health may, in its discretion in lieu of a physical inspection of the plant of such non-resident person or concern, satisfy himself by examination of the product so made or possessed by such non-resident or by such other means as said State Board of Health may deem adequate, of the propriety of issuing to such non-resident, the permit required by the provisions of this Article 6, or of renewing or keeping in force a permit so issued. But in the event that any time the said State Board of Health may deem it necessary to make physical inspection of any such plant or factory of said nonresident, then and in that event he shall be entitled and empowered to require the payment by such non-resident, of such sum as may cover the reasonable traveling charges entailed by such physical inspection, and to refuse to issue, or to revoke or suspend any permit, until or unless such charges are so paid.
824 L. Sec. 101. The State Board of Health, through its officers and employees is hereby charged with the administration and enforcement of Article 6 and shall have the power to take for evidence, at any trial involving violation of this Article, any article made or offered for sale in violation of this Article. The State Board of Health shall make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations for the enforcement of this Article.
824 M. Sec. 102. Any person violating the provisions of this Article 6 or the rules and regulations adopted thereunder, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than Ten Dollars and not more than Fifty Dollars for each offense, and, in default of the payment of such fine, to undergo imprisonment of not less than ten days for each separate offense; provided that the total term of imprisonment at any one time for additional offenses shall not exceed ten months.
Each mattress, pillow, bolster, feather-bed or comfortable made, remade or renovated, sold, offered for sale, delivered, consigned, or possessed with intent to sell, deliver or consign, contrary to the provisions hereof, shall constitute a separate offense.
Each imitated or counterfeited adhesive stamp made, used, sold, offered for sale, delivered or consigned contrary to the provisions of this Article shall constitute a separate offense.
The State Board of Health may revoke any permit issued under the provisions of Article 6, if the person to whom the permit was issued has violated any provisions of this Article 6 or the rules or regulations established thereunder.
824 N. Sec. 103. If the provisions of Article 6 aforesaid cannot take effect in their entirety, because determined to be unconstitutional as to part or parts of said Article 6, nevertheless all the remaining provisions of said Act shall be given full force and effect, as fully and completely as if the part or parts so determined to be unconstitutional had not been included in said Article.
824 0. Sec. 104. The provisions of this Article 6 shall be in full force and effect beginning with July 1st, 1929; provided that the provisions of this Article 6 shall not apply to any mattress, pillows, bolsters, feather-beds or comfortables, as provided for in said Article, which any dealer in this State may have on hand, in transit or purchased and not delivered on July 1, 1929.
Approved April 1, 1929.