It appears from the evidence that the statute which is assailed by appellants was one, among others, passed to prevent the adulteration of articles or to provide for the publication of their composition. That both purposes are within the competency of the state can hardly be denied. A discrimination is, however, asserted to have been made in the exercise of the power, with the following results: (1) The imposition of the burden of analyzing and labeling the ingredients of mixed paints, from which burden the manufacturers of paste paint and manufacturers of mixed paints containing only the ingredients specified in the act are to be free. (2) Holding up to the prejudice of dealers in and users of mixed paints containing ingredients other than those specified, branding them as suspicious or adulterated, and rendering them unsalable or less salable than mixed paints containing the statutory ingredients, though more efficient than the latter for certain purposes. We can see that expense will be cast on the manufacturers of mixed paint not containing ingredients enumerated in the statute, but that such paint will be branded as adulterated is not easy to accept, and seems to be opposed by other allegations in the bill. It is averred that the complainants have a yearly increasing trade in the state of North Dakota, which has at tained to many thousands of dollars per annum, and that, by the high quality of their goods and by advertising, they have attained an enviable reputation for them. How the firmness and profit of that trade, how the excellence and degree of that reputation, can be affected by revealing the composition of the goods, is not by us discernible. Manufacturers who use inferior materials because they are so, or from a mistaken opinion of their quality, though they have statutory sanction, would be more affected than complainants. Consumers of paint, we may assume, like the consumers of other kinds of goods, seek excellence in them, and, where excellence is demonstrated by use, will care little of what pigments it is composed. This, however, is anticipating somewhat, and we will pass to the statute, consider its purpose, and see whether its classification is justified by that purpose.
We will omit from citation the cases in which this court has passed upon the power of the states to classify objects for the purpose of government. A review of them is not necessary in this case. Counsel have collected and analyzed them, applied or rejected them as they have thought they supported or opposed their respective contentions. We have declared many times, and illustrated the declaration, that classification must have relation to the purpose of the legislature. But logical appropriateness of the inclusion or exclusion of objects or persons is not required. A classification may not be merely arbitrary, but necessarily there must be great freedom of discretion, even though it result in 'ill-advised, unequal, and oppressive legislation.' Mobile County v. Kimball, 102 U.S. 691, 26 L. ed. 238. And this necessarily on account of the complex problems which are presented to the government. Evils must be met as they arise and according to the manner in which they arise. The right remedy may not always be apparent. Any interference, indeed, may be asserted to be evil, may result in evil. At any rate, exact wisdom and nice adaptation of remedies are not required by the 14th Amendment, nor the crudeness nor the impolicy nor even the injustice of state laws redressed by it.
Keeping these principles in mind, let us examine the North Dakota statute. Its purpose, as expressed in the title, is 'to prevent the adulteration of, and deception in the sale of, white lead and mixed paints.' It attempts to accomplish this purpose by the following requirements: (1) All white lead and compounds intended for use as a substitute therefor must be labeled to clearly show the per cent of each mineral therein. (2) All mixed paints must show their true composition, unless made of pure linseed oil, carbonate of lead, or oxid of zinc, turpentine, Japan dryer, and pure colors. (3) All substitutes for linseed oil in the preparation of paints must be clearly shown on the label.