Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-08-13
Very Peculiar Jellies.

JELLIEs, generally, are frauds. They
may be described, indeed, as base, double
frauds. They are not what they seem,
either in size of tumbler or in quality of
article. They look beautiful and tempt
ing, and accomplish that peculiar feat of
making ones mouth water as speedily as
anything. Every lady visitor to res
taurant looks with envy at the clear,
bright color of the iellies that occupy the
post of honor on the top of the pickle
bottles in the windows of the establish
ment. If she be a visitor from the country
she generally insists that her husband
shall carry home a sample, to be tested
on the first opportunity. Woman-like
she "learns," with Goldsmiths heroine,
g too late that men betray." Her beauti-
full currant jelly is villainous mixture.
1t has no more relationship to the cur
rant jelly which she has stored in her
cupboard than butyric acid has with
truth. In fact, it has no connection, not
even of the most distant kind, with cur
rants at all
Jellies and canned fruits constitute one
of the most grossly adulterated branches
of the manufacturers business. They
are made principally at the East, although
there are some manufactures in the West
But by far the greater proportion of the
jellies in general use which are
sold in tumblers are manufac-
tured by a few firms who carry
on extensive works in New York, Phil
adelphia and other Eastern points The
business has grown to immense proper
tions. 1t is to-day so large that the sup
ply of fruit is altogether inadequate to
meet the demand.
The result is that there has been a gen
eral resort on the part of jelly manu-.
facturers to processes of adulteratio n
In this case, unfortunately, the articles
used are not always harmless. They are
often very deleteriOus, always most Of
fensive. In jellies, calves feet glue is
the principal thing used, which, sweet
ened with sugar and colored by aniline
dyes, is passed Oft upon the innocent pub
lie as being the very fruit itself. Of
course the very general adulteration
enables the manufacturer to sell tum-
bier of currant jelly to the purchaser at
far less than would have to be paid if
nothing but the Simon pure" article was
used. But the advantage thus obtained
by the consumer of cheap article is one
not worth possessing 1t would be far
better to pay the price necessary to Sc
cure the pure currant Jelly than to be de-
frauded by paying less sum for a foul
compound, consisting principally of glue,
with some dangerous chemical prepare
ton thrown in to give the glue the neces-
sary color. But = the race of fools is i'm
mortal" and the genealogy of knaves
stretches back to the flood, and will con-
tinue unto the coming of the millennium,
The value of currant and other fruit
jellies consists principally in the citric,
melic and taTtaric acids that they CON
tain. The artificial jellies are altogether
innocent of any of these acids. They are
simply glue.-Chicag0 Times.
IT was considered a deed of magnan-
unity for San Francisco street crowd to
allow Chinaman to depart with his life,
after having killed two immense dogs
that had been set upon him by some Of