New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-03-25
FLOUR INSPECTION.

FLOUR INSPECTION.
II is hard work for honesty to maintain itself
against swindlipg in the City of New York. An
attempt has lately been made and failed, onthe Corn
Exchange. among the lovers of fair dealing, TO
establish Flour Inspection system which shall
guard the purchaser and consumer OF that article
from the cheats and impOsitions which are rife IN
the -four trade. Fifteen years ago New-fork had
an inspection system The -four sent to this mar
ket to be sold examined by inspectors appointed
for the purpose and branded according to the
quality BY this system the purchaser knew what
he was buying. The inspectors brand settled the
question of quality. In the growing love OF
perfect free trade. and the still more ardent desire
to multiply the opportunities of swindlng, the
system fell through. Roguish manufacturers
and dealers gradually got into the habit
of branding their own flour and calling
it Just what they pleased. They piled
smutty wheat bran into barrels and stamped it su'
perfne flour. The honest dealer could do no more
with the genuine article. The consequence has
been that for years the NewYOrk market has been
crowded with flour of every imaginable variety of
the old respectable stamp of superine." Flour fit
only for hogs food and that suitable for family use
have alike been pressed upon purchasers as '' SUI
perfne" The old system sufficed to carry along
the attempted fraud and the persistent rOgues have
made nobody knows how much money out of it.
The evil has at length become so oppressive that
the necessity of remedy, which shall serve as an
effectual protection to the buyer, has become i'm
perative. The ingenuity of the manufacturer and
dealer has been exhausted in deyising modes and
terms TO set the matter right, but each recurring
year has only exhibited additional complications in
the trade Ii the reader will but turn bis eye to
the daily price current he will find remarks
well illustrated in the quotation price of "super-
fine" -four. He will find it ranges all the way
from sc 10 to $40 so. Thus, man who sends an
order or goes to buy barrel of -four, or a thousand
barrels, cannot know what he buys till he has
made personal examination of his purchase. He
il compelled to rely on the seller 10 great extent,
and where the seller is rogue no cheats him all he
can.
To correct yilainOus system this
would appear to be the spontaneous wish of
every nan pretending to even a show of fair deal
ing and honesty. And il is hardly to be believed
that when the evils of it are fairly set forth and
open attempt is made 10 rectify them, a suf-
fcient degree of brazen dishonesty can be found in
what is called respectable business circles to pre-
vent reform end to continue the old swindling
system But the fact is SO; and il disclOses a con-
dition Of morals in the class engaged in the -four
traffic at once disgusting and infamous. Such
persistentand deliberate determination to continues
fraudulent system will, however, work its own
This may be bad world generally, but the rogues
cannot be allowed TO swindle publicly. The most
L will do is TO submit to hypOcrtical rascals. The
system of allowing the manufacturer or dealer in
-four TO cheat the consumer all he can is fast de-
strOyiIg the confidence OF purchasers in the New
York market. The New England markets, being
the nearest, have already manifested this want Of
confidence in the most significant manner. New
York was formerly the favOrite resort of New-Eng-
land dealers for -four. II is nov deserted by them
as far as possible, both Baltimore aud Phladei-
phs enjoying decided preference. What is
known as the fat-hOop or Genesee flour was Tor
merly in such good repute among Northern con-
sumers, that it was hard to sell any other. 1t is
low almost universally repudiated for the round
hoop Of Pennsylvania and Maryland. What has
happened in contiguous markets will happen IN
tbos. more remote. And the fact that 1t has hap
pened in more remote--as in England andOnthe Con-
tipent-narkets of far less intrinsic value bat far
more signifcan. in their influences, is the reason
why the attempt TO establish rigid system of in
tpection has been instituted. This attempt may
fail at FIST, but it must succeed in the end, for
Nev-York cannot afford the accumulated detri-
ments u her trade which persistent. rascality in
terpOses.