Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-04-07
Frauds in Trade.


impositious of which they are daily the dupes
While we inquire, "who is honest2" one
might in the same breath ask "whal is hon
est2" The very soul of trade seems to be
to clip and shave, to alloy aud adulterate in
every conceivable way that can thwart de.
lection. If any article or commodity looks
like, tastes like, smells or feels like the gen.
uine, there are always the simple and the
unsuspocting to take it. And the fact that
swindlers can still afford to advertise indi.
Gates that their constituency Of fools is far
from being extinct. There is hardly an ar
ticle of commerce that might not reveal in
many cases some well-executed "trick" ei.
Their in unscriptual measure or spurious in.
gredient. Do not be deceived. When a
merchant Aaunts before you the brave adver.
tisement, 1--WE defy analysis" he gracefully
says that you without the means Of analysis
are as powereSs to detect his fiction" as a
nursing babe. The happy formula for mix.
ing the cheap with the costly, the wholesome
with the poisonous, has been discovered, and
he knows full well that the FIVE senses are not
the test.tubes to resolve his compound.
To attempt to sum up the frauds of trade
would be like counting the stars of heaven of
which the seen are but an inklng of tn unseen.
A few instances will servo to illuminate the
subject. 1t is known that brown paper goes
every week by cargoes to Cuba, where, after
absorbing the juice of tobacco stems, it is
wrought by process of "6ue art" into the
"pure Havana" whose fumes inluce that
dreamy and poetic frame OF mind. That
nine.tonihs of all the port wine used for
medicinal purposes, because pure, is pressed
from the grapes of logwOod, needs no proof
Would there have been BaGchus among the
ancient deities, had such a vile potation been
drunk by the Greeks? And if Charles Lamb
in his generation called whiskey "wst dam.
nation" how could he hope to vilfy Alright
the decoctions sold in the American saloons
of to-day? Tel is another article of con.
sumption over which there hang many mys-
teries of trade. The peculiar aroma of the
celestial leaf is as often the product of art
aud poison as Of nature. If candy could
only separate itself into its elements before
ones eyes, the alarm given by sight would
certainly save the stomach though it cheated
the taste. S;rup, sugar, flour, ground spi.
ces-anythiug in fact, capable of adultera.
tion-enshroud many a secret for the chem.
list to expose. AS for the herbs, drugs
and compounds known as patent" no lau-
guage, it is believed, is adequate to speak
their RIGHTEOUSNESS.
1t were well both for his stomach and his
exchoquer if every consumer could have
little laboratory Of his own where he might
try of what sort each substance is. Thus a
kind of conscience, the offspring of policy,
might be instilled into the unscupulous mer.
chant. 1t requires faith equal to hundred
grains of the seed to believe that the contents
Of box Of mustard are neither deficient in
weight nor spurious in quality. Even salt,
the symbol of preservation, is sold, long after
its saver is gone.
lie was a shrewd observer who said he
would not trust the apostle Paul to meas.
urc his grain. But the remark, though a
little tart" suggests principle underlying
more than half Of all the business DONE 1t
is simply suicidal to any farmers interests
not to own a set Of scales to verify the weight
of every article so bought. Commercial con-
intermittent, throbbing with greatest energy
when the trick has been detected. The
prompt and courteous salesman whose face il
radiant with goodwill, does not scruple to
shrink pound Of tea with his coarse paper.
True, trivial matter to you, but quite
lucrative one for him IN the aggregate.
We are constantly reminded that this is
the centennial year, when the essential fea-
lures Of American civilization shall be judged
by the worlds tribunals. Will the whole
truth be known, and shall what seems fair
and genuine without be opened, analysed and
exhibited in component parts2 If the expo
sition is to be mere assortment Of tInseled
appearances, little will DO known Of the in
ward nature of American products. But
then another line Of articles than those passed
over counters may be expected to go to Phil
adelphia, and all those helnous machines and
processes that vitatO the pure and whole.
some will, in all likelihood, remain in dingy
vaults and collars away from light and sight