New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-01-31
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ing lard. will be panied to hear that by pro-
cess peculiarly nasty-we beg pardon, Out IN
Webster's biggest dictionary there Is no Word
so proper to use-lame hogs, sick hogs, I'M
washed hogs, whole hogs, with hogs found
dead in the street, are thrown undressed and
uncleaned into i rG;;i5r, and the steam let on.
The component parts of hog are thus severed,
the solid parts sink, the lard is drawn OIL ana
sent to market as a beautiful, steam-reflned
article. What is then done with it is known
only to the initiated There are those who be-
lieve that 1t suffers another change into that
mysterious and exaspeTating grease known as
"boarding house butter" which, spread upon
hot and hideous abOminatiOn called bread,
made from that kind of flour of which we have
recently spoken, and hoated down into the hui
man interior by pure Java coffee made Of
beans or something worse, alleviated by blue
milk fr0m the carts, and tempered by sanded
sugar, has tendency TO produce that state OF
the physical system known as dyspepsia, and
which we are sure not seldom ends in strings,
and stTychnia, and justifable felo-de-se. In
such case, the ingenious extractor of the essence
of pig in Cincinnati may be regarded in strict
moral sense as q murderer but there is a crafty
way of taking off people of which the gentle
grand juries never take cOgnizance.
We know that this story of commercial adul-
teratiOn and cozenage is an old and stale
one but we submit that it is a relief to write
about it and to gTOwl at it. In the Augustan
days of Joseph Addison, that graceful essayist,
who was an excellent judge of brandy, and
died a martyr to his passion for trying it,
complained in The Taller (NO 1917 of "a GER
"tain fraternity Of chemical operators, who
"raise under the streets of London the choicest
"products Of the hills and valleys Of France;
"who squeeze Bordeaux out of the sloe, and
"draw champagne from an apple, thus doing
"great injury to his Majesty's customs and to
"the bodies of many of his subjects" Substi-
tute "Interna Revenue for "his Majestys
CUSTOMS" and of thee, 0 American Republic
the fable is narrated
It is not at all credtable to human nature
that such phrase as "tricks Of trade" should
have become stereotyped, and that such thing
as adulteration should have been reduced to
something like a mystical science, known to
adopts and transmitted by tradition or in little
books from one generation of sharpers to
another Everybody knows it. 1t is no
secret that there is. secret. y" Cduedt
"empt0r"-"Let the buyer lOOkOut'-is
maxim of the benevolent common law; but
how is buyer of small stores for family
use to be continually on the lookout for poison
in the ounces or the pounds which he pur-
chases for a daily or weekly supply OF his
kitchen? He must trust the small tradesman,
and he Gf he be honest himself) must trust the
large one, and the large one is too often the
last to be safely trusted. In all quarters Of the
globe the work Of sOphistiCatiOn goes on. In
an evil hour here at home, the convenience
and also the profit Of grinding and granulatiOn
were discovered, and since then nobody has
been sure of good cup of coffee, no
body has sprinkled pepper on his chop without
fear and trembling no housewife has been GER
tain of the spices which she used. And the
general quality of all articles Of this descrip-
ton has steadily deteriorated. 1t is so in every
thing In solids there is sham and in fluids
there is destruction. What stuff the imbibers
of "pure old Bourbon" swallow, to the aston
ishment of their innocent and insulted stOm-
achs, is known only to the " mixers'-what dia
bolical ponidge is sold under the honOred
name of "hger,n it is not probable that the
brewers will tell us, unless they happen to
quarrel among themselyes-what dried foliage
is smoked or chewed as tobacco perhaps the
cabbage gardens and the brave old oaks could
inform us.
But we considerably abstain from details. If
one is to be fed upon witch soup (recipe in Mae
BETH, or cat-meat, ignorance is certainly bliss
But the best of the joke and striking proof
of the adaptability of man to circumstances,
is that the world is like certain hearty individ-
uals who do not care what they eat or drink,
and go on trustfully swallowing the most
dubious dishes and beverages, fearfully and
wonderfully made In this very carelessness of
the purchaser is the strength and safety of the
adultercr He expects and he gets nothing
worse than an occasional grOwl, which does not
in the least diminish the amount OF his monthly
bills against his patrons. He knows very well
that by sticking to the sale of inferior goods,
he gradually debauches the taste Of the neigh
b0rhoOd and brings down the standard Of ex-
celence. Having destroyed the paates OF five
or six of the blocks about his premises, he is
thereafter at liberty to dust, and mix, and gen
orally bedevil his wares without the least fear
of detection. He is responsible for thousands of
stomach-aches, but he never hears of one of them
If an epidemic shonld break out in the yicinage
nobody can tell whether it is to be attributed
to bad air, bad sewage, bad water, or bad gro
ceries. The retailer has pocketed his money;
the wholesalesman has pOcketed his, and the
undertaken has smilingly pouched his gratuity,
and it is all right
Under such circumstances is tat all strange that
the bills Of mortality swell So and that the grim
old Reaper gamers such weekly crop OF tender
children and of tough adultsH The wonder Is
that anybody lives in such localities, and that