Chap. 431.—An ACT to prevent deception in the sale of paint, turpentine,
linseed oil and any substitute therefor; to provide for true labels for the
same; and providing for enforcement thereof; and providing penalty for
the violation thereof. [S B 159]

Approved March 24, 1922.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That no person, firm or corporation shall expose for sale or sell within
this State any paint, turpentine, or linseed oil, or any substitute
therefor, marked and branded in any manner so as to tend to deceive
the purchaser thereof as to its nature or composition, or which is not
labled or marked as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 2. For the purpose of this act an article shall be deemed
to be improperly marked or misbranded :

(1) If it be an imitation of, or offered for sale under the name
of, another article ;

(2) If the contents of the package or container as originally
put up shall have been removed in whole or in part and replaced by
other contents, or if other contents shall have been placed in such
package or container;

(3) If the package or container, or its label shall bear any
statement, design or device regarding the ingredients or substance
contained therein, which statement, design or device shall be false
or misleading in any particular.

Sec. 3. The term “paint” as used in this act shall include oxide
of zinc, red lead and white lead (basic carbonate or basic sulphate),
dry or in any kind of oil, or any compound intended for the same
use; paste or semi-paste paint, and liquid or mixed paint for use
on buildings, fences, and structures.

Sec. 4. The label required by this act shall clearly and distinctly
State, in the English language with letters and type of such size and
shape as to be easily legible, the name and residence of the manufac-
turer of the paint, or of the distributor thereof, or of the party for
whom the same is manufactured, and also the name and with sub-
stantial accuracy the percentage of each ingredient, both solid and
liquid, contained therein. In the case of paint, other than white paint,
where more than one coloring material is used, the several coloring
materials may be shown by their combined percentage, in which
case it shall be necessary to state the name and with substantial
accuracy the chemical analysis of each of such constituent coloring
materials; such label shall also show the net measure of the contents
of the container in United States standard gallons or fraction thereof
in case of liquid or mixed paints, and in weight avoirdupois in the
case of paste or semi-paste paints.

Sec. 5. No person, firm or corporation shall manufacture for
sale, within this State, offer for sale or sell within this State any
linseed or flaxseed oil unless the same answers all the chemical tests
for purity recognized in the United States Pharmacopoeia, unless
the package or container of same shall be stenciled or marked plainly
with letters not less than two inches in height and one inch in width
“adulterated linseed oil,” provided that these letters upon packages
or containers of one gallon capacity or less may be reduced to one
eighth of the said size; nor shall any person, firm or corpuration sell
or deliver such adulterated linseed or flaxseed oil otherwise than in
the original package or container without informing the purchaser
at the time of the sale that the article is not pure linseed or flaxseed
oil; nor shall any person, firm or corporation manufacture for sale,
offer for sale or sell any linseed or flaxseed oil as “boiled linseed
oil” unless the same shall: have been put in its manufacture to a
temperature of two hundred and twenty-five degrees Farinheit. Noth-
ing herein contained shall be construed as prohibiting the manufac-
ture or sale of such compound or adulterated article, provided the
container is plainly marked and the purchaser notified as prescribed
above.

Sec. 6. No person, firm or corporation shall manufacture for sale,
within this State, offer for sale or sell within this State, under the
name of “turpentine” or “spirits of turpentine” or under any name or
device of which the word turpentine forms a part, any article which
is not wholly distilled from rosin, turpentine gum or scrapings from
pine trees, unmixed or unadulterated with any other substance, un-
less the package or container containing the same shall be stenciled
or marked plainly with letters not less than two inches in height and
one inch in width, “adulterated turpentine,” except that these letters
upon packages or containers of one gallon capacity or less may be
reduced to one eighth of the said size; except such turpentine as
may be produced from turpentine gum extracted wholly from pine
wood, which turpentine is known as “wood turpentine,” and except
a mixture of wood turpentine and pure turpentine, as above defined,
in both of which cases the package or container containing the same
shall be stenciled or marked plainly “wood turpentine” with letters
as prescribed above; when such wood turpentine is mixed or adulter-
ated with oil, benzine or any other foreign substance of any kind
whatsoever, the container shall be stenciled or marked plainly “adul-
terated wood turpentine” with letters as prescribed above. No person,
firm or corporation shall sell or deliver within this State such adul-
terated turpentine or adulterated wood turpentine otherwise than
in the original package or container without informing the purchaser
at the time of the sale that the article is not pure turpentine or pure
wood turpentine. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as
prohibiting the manufacture or sale of such compound or adulterated
article, provided the container is plainly marked and the purchaser
notified as prescribed above.

Sec. 7. The having in possession by any person, firm or corpo-
ration dealing therein of any article hereinbefore described and not
properly labeled and marked as provided in this act shall be con-
sidered prima facie evidence that the same is kept by such person,
firm or corporation in violation of the provisions of this act and
punishable under it.

Sec. 8. The commissioner of agriculture and immigration shall
be charged with the proper enforcement of this act, and shall, with
the approval of the board of agriculture and immigration, have
authority to establish and promulgate such rules and regulations in
regard to inspection, analysis and sales of paints, turpentines and
linseed oils or compounds or substitutes therefor as may be necessary
and proper and as in his judgment will best carry out the provisions
of this act. Said commissioner and his assistants, chemists, experts
and agents shall be duly authorized for the purpose and shall have
access and ingress to all places of business, stores and buildings used
for the manufacture or sale of paints, turpentines or linseed oil and
flaxseed oil, and shall have power and authority to open any package,
can, tub, or other receptacle containing paints, turpentines, oils or
compounds that may be sold in violation of this act or any section
thereof.

The chemical work incident to the execution and enforcement of
this act shall be done in the division of chemistry of the department
of agriculture and immigration. The copy of the chemist’s analysis
of such samples or specimens of paints, turpentines, linseed o1l and
any substitutes therefor, as defined in this act, secured by the commis-
sioner of agriculture and immigration or his assistants, duly certified
to by the said chemist, shall be admitted as evidence in any court
of this State on the trial of anything involving the merits of such
paints, turpentines, linseed oils, and substitutes therefor. The results
of such examination, analysis or test shall be published, together with
the names of the manufacturer, dealer or agent whose tag or label
was found attached to the container of such paints, turpentines, lin-
seed oils, and substitutes therefor, along with such other information
as may be of interest to the purchasers or to the vendors of such
paints, turpentines, linseed oils and substitutes therefor.

Sec. 9. Whoever violates any of the provisions of this act or
any section thereof shall be fined not les than twenty-five dollars nor
more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned in jail not more than
sixty days, for each offense.

Sec. 10. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any articles
hereinbefore described which are in this. State, in the hands of man-
ufacturers, jobbers and dealers at the time this act goes into effect.

(11) Nothing herein shall apply to sales by any manufacturer
or jobber in quantities to any industrial plant, or to public service
corporations, and any manufacturer, or jobber, may have on hand,
keep or store in this State paints, linseed oil, or turpentine not
marked or branded in accordance with this act, if the same are
intended to be shipped into another State.

This act shall become effective on and after September first, nine-
teen hundred and twenty-two.