Ontario attorney Martin P. Gallagher helps craft state legislation

The April 2, 1953 edition of The Argus-Observer recounted Ontario attorney Martin P. Gallagher’s stint in Salem helping state legislators craft bills of interest to Malheur County residents --- particularly those in the farming and ranching business.

His work was part of a service the State Bar Association provided lawmakers.

One of the bills he worked on would control the use of vegetable fats in place of creamery products in frozen desserts like ice cream and frozen bars. The vegetable fats were being widely used in other states, including California, and were being introduced in Oregon.

The legislation would have prohibited the use of the words cream, dairy or creamy on products that use any animal fats, which at the time were known by the name mellorine. And products that used mellorine were to be required to announce that on the package in type as large as any other type on that package.

Another measure Gallagher helped write was to require the licensing of individuals who apply pesticides to crops. Courts had declare the previous limits on pesticide application unconstitutional.

And finally Gallagher said he worked on a measure that would limit the activities of “rainmakers.”