The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1878-11-28
CROOKED SUGAR.


means Of fixing the grades of imported gu
gars than the Dutch color standard (which
was demonstrated in the Demerara cases to
be no standard at alb, has led to the disclosure
of an almost universal system OF fraud In the
adulteration Of sugars, which, for pure and
unmitigated wickedness, has scarcely paral-
lei In any of the sensational crimes of the day
The purpose of these adulterations OF re-
fined sugars has been to defraud the govern
ment by false valuations and the trade by OBJ
tanning eKorbitant prices for an inferior, DEL
eterious and even poisonous article.
Samples from the different reneries in
New York have been analyzed by competent
chemists, and in every Instance they have
been found to contain more or less glucose
and other authorizations. ell of them OF o poi
sonous nature. The New York Tribune pub
| fishes table of forty-five analyses OF sam
pies from different refineries, some OF which
! show as much as per cent OF water and ID
per cent of impurities, These Impurities con-
| sist in the main of glucose, substance made
from starch, and even from rags, and murlate
of tin, or tin dissolved in muriatic acid.
The glucose Is used to give body and weight
and the tin poison to improve the color
Syrups are also adulterated with these and
other substances even moro hurtful to the
health. One specimen showed preclpitate
which contained muriate Of tin and copper.
Another sample Of sugar-house syrup,
! from one Of the largest refineries, showed 70
| per cent of glucose and but 80 per cent OF
sugar syrup. Still another sample had been
treated with suphuretted hydrogen gas, and
contained sediment composed Of copper and
acids
Glucose, as we have said is manufactured
of starch or rags, at b cost Of less than two
cents pound. and Is carried to New York by
the car load, to bo used in adulterating q
number Of articles, such as sugar, syrups,
honey. candy, preserved fruits and confec~
tions. It is said to be most harmful to the
stomach, while the copper tin and acids used
with it are deadly poisons.
| It Is hard indeed to realize that human
| beings can resort to such hdeous crime as
| wholesale poisoning in order to gratlfy their
Unsuitable rapacity. This is about tho most
atrOcuus shape that vice has taken in these
modern days, when vice Is q cOld-blooded
science. It comprehends robbery OF the gov
ernmcnt and robbery Of the people, as well as
the poisoning Of men, women and children in-
discriminatory
/ Tho facility with which the government is
robbed proves concusively that the present
method Of valuation OF refined as well as the
Dutch standard In raw sugars, by color and
appearance. Is absolutely unreliable. High
grades of raw sugar are made to resemble
low grades by dscoloration, and are thus in-
ported at duty of from one and three quar-
ters to two and one-quarter cents per pound
| hoe, RIB Frr, md
quarter to four cents per pound. This is the
first step In the long process OF fraud. To
refine this sugar honestly involves loss OF
10 per cent, to cover which loss the govern
ment allows drawback on expectation Of
$40 per cent per pound. Tho refiner more
than makes up this loss with glucose, costing
less than two cents, for which the govern
ment pays him at the above rate of 4-10,
Ordinary sugars. even the very lowest grades,
are manipulated In tho same way.
This Is the process by which the govern
ment is swindled, but the cheat and fraud on
purchasers s even greater to say nothing Of
the misery and suffering engendered by this
system of wholesale poisoning That this
systematiZed crime is great injury to the
interests of Louisiana must be apparent We
make no low grades Of sugar, and we have
no motive to make our fine sugars take on
tho appearance Of being worth less than they
really are. Our sugars are thus brought into
competition with Demerara and Cuban sugars
of equal quality, which, by dscolorations,
have paid duty as the meanest Of articles.
Then, again, our raw sugars and syrups are
sent back to US refined, at prices we cannot
afford to sell the raw article for, even with
= IF 5nt tart Ia
sell to Now York one pound OF pure sugar
and it comes back to us 10 per cent glucose
and poison. and but 30 per cent sugar, or moro
than three pounds for one, and at Low or
price per pound than we sold it for originally.
A more infamous fraud Ia all respects has
never been devised, and there can be no pen
nlty Of tho law Of which those who have been
parties to it are not deserving. The proof
appears to bo plain in every instance. and an
Indignant and outraged public demand tho
punishment Of these base criminals. The
frauds Of the whisky ring are virtues as con-
trasted with the refined cruelty and rapacity
of these New York sugar refiners, who, by
their wicked and nefarious practices, have
been dealing out disease, suffering and
death to the whole human race They
have with their poisonous compounds
entailed the most painful and fatal dis
eases of the kidneys and stomach upon
thousands of people, which have heretofore
bafIled all medical skill. but which are now
fully explained These disclosures are horrl-
flying and startling beyond expression One
refiner testified that after witnessing the pro-
cess he had forbidden the use of sugar or
syrups in his family He had seen the copper
Innings of vacuum-p pans eaten through by
these violent poisons, and yet he went on re-
filming for other people, for all the world except
his own family. and thousands of people have
been the unconscious victims Of his
thrift This is murder, murder OF the
cruelest, most atrocious and subtle kind, and
as slch it should be punished. Even now
these adulterations are crime against the
revenue, aud every culprit against whom
there is any proof should have a separate and
ol,r for