The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-08-08
Dirt Eating.

We confess that there is something of the
menace off sashing campaign article in the
term sdirt eating" which might alarm the
reader with the thought that we are about to
pitch into the very benighted enemy and the
reptile contemporary, or that we were about
to apply the term figuratively to class of pol
itirians and other classes of men who seek to
accomplish their purposes by doing mean and
dirty acts. Such, however, is not our pur-
pose. Happily the kind of dit consumption
referred TO but remotely interests the mass of
people, and in time only affects those who en-
gage in it, as clay eating does the poor whites
of the South who have the reputation Of talk
ing their many pecks of Dirt straight.
Leavinaout of the account those indefati-
sions enveloped in dust, and that strange
multitude who never question the origin and
character of ready made pies so generally
furnished at a certain grade of eating houses
and innocently accept as a genuine article
the so-called compounds called coffee, al
ways stopping about such places, there is
every reason to believe that the man who
made the statement (now unfortunately an
adage) that every human being in lifetime
must eat a peck of dirt, was excessively mod
est in his calculations. He evidently labored
under the delusion that as general rule food
is prepared with careful scrutiny and of hon
est materials. He certainly had not taken
into consideration the art of adulteration and
that misnaming of commodities which APP
plies to compound of reas, cEickory, hem
lock bark and what else the compounder Only
knows, the name coffee. No, the maker of
the peck-of-dirt adage must have lived in
dawning days of civilization and long before
Growler remarked to his boarding mistress,
on being asked if he would have another cup
of coffee, 81 never had cup of coffee at
your table and you know it." He never
dreamed of the days Of so much prepared
and worked up food, SO convenient for lazy
ish or busy people to obtain.
There is great deal said about the adul-
teration in food, and all intelligent people be-
lie,e that to certain extent they are cheated
in many of the articles of daily consumption,
but If the exact truth about the matter
should be presented to the public, the best
informed would be greatly alarmed at the va
riety and extent to which it is carried. Even
If only part of the facts were known re-
speeding the adulteration of food, the be-
lever in the peck-of-dirt theory would be the
most unhappy of mortals, if he accepted the
logical inference that his life mission would
be ended with the accomplishment of his dirt
eating task.
For some time the English pc )ple have
been aroused to the Importance of the case,
and have laws for the punishment of those
who adulterate food, no matter wko is guilty
of the act. A year or more since the Lon
don papers devoted great deal of attention
to this subject. Retail dealers were prose-
cuted and the various articles of food which
admitted of adulteration were analysed. 1:
was found that very large per cent. of COM
mon articles like tea, coffee, flour and spices
were more or less adulterated by the use of
cheap and hurtful or poisonous ingredients.
The business there is rnined, and, as a con-
sequence, we have the very cheering intel-
gence that the English are continuing to ship
TO this country the food they cannot sell at
home. This, 1t seems should be an addition
al nducement to us to begin to know what
we buy.
The adulteratlon of food has been encour-
aged by two agencies, viz: A desire to OBJ
tain low-priced food and introduction of
"ready-made" articles, which are found so
saving OF labor as to obtain almost universal
use. The desire to obtain cheap articles of
food has greatly aided the adulteration of the
ready-made, particularly in those things
where several ingredients can be ground and
mixed, which cost less than the unprepared
article. For instance, unground coffee costs
forty cents pound, but the same dealer will
sell ground article for thirty cents. But
the public has been so Indifferent on the sub.
ject that it never stops to consider that the
dealer cannot possibly afford to lose the ten
cents for the sake of grinding a pound of
coffee, and Too often buys the cheaper, thus
combining with the dealer to encourage adult
tsrations 1t is urged that adulteration il
noS Injurious. In some cases il NAV not be.
but pulverized marble or terra alba cannot he
mixed with -four or sugar, and poisonous
drugs put into reduced Article to give it col.
or and strength, without being injurious TO
the health.
AS for the remedy, it rests with the con-
sumner. He must see the need of good food
and then insist upon having it, and cheap.
ness must not lead consumer to purchase
an article at price less than pure one in
an unmixed state can be obtained for. II
VIII be much better to go without the luxury
OF coffee, spices, etc., than to buy an adulter-
ated article because it is cheap.