At that time, electric refrigerators were expensive; thus, most people used block ice for cooling food.

The lower courts had relied on Frost v. Corporation Commission 278 U.S. 515 (1929) to conclude that a license is not necessary if existing businesses are "sufficient to meet the public needs therein.

"[1] The Supreme Court struck down the requirement that businesses selling ice obtain a license as violating the Due Process clause of the Constitution.

It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.

[2] We may strike down the statute which embodies it on the ground that, in our opinion, the measure is arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable.