The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1879-12-20
Number 49,
ADULTERATION OF ARTICLES
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4
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| Competition has become the bane of
modern civilization. 1t has been carried
to such fearful extremes that there is hard
| ly an article of commerce which has not
been subjected to deterioration or adulte-
ration Adulteration, especially, has in
| Jured the quality of almost everything that
the consumer purchases. In regard to a
| large percentage of goods which the far
mer buys, he has no assurance whatever
OF the quality fhis purchase. His tobacco
may be largely adulterated with molasses,
sugar, aloes, Hcorice, gum, oil and lamp
black, alum, tannic acid and iron, logwood,
and such savory leaves as rhubarb, chico
/! ry, cabbage, burdock, coltsfoot, and an
| excess of salt and water Chemicalanal-
| ysis has shown that all these ingredients
have been literally used to season the
| weed to make it more heavy and less valua-
! bic. The adulteration of garden and field
seeds is loss of thousands of dollars an
nually to the farmer. Turnip seed is adul-
| terated with rape, wild mustard or char
! lock, the vitality of which has been de-
| stroyed by kiln drying at high temper
ture; old turnip seed is also used for dilu-
ting fresh seed; and it is well known to
| not few of our large dealers that such
|
! ton. Clover seed is often dyed-one of
! the commonest frauds being to dye trefoil
ana sen 1t FOR red clover, the brown tint
and metallic look being given by weak
solution of logwood and alum. When
! white clover seed has become changed by
age and has lost its yellowish color, it is
dyed with an infusion of tumeric and then
toned down with the fumes of burning
sulphur; in fact, these fumes are used to
brighten up all sorts of seeds that have
acquired a dull, dead look by reason of
! age, but they destroy entirely their vitality.
This fungoid growth of adulteration
! runs along all the lines of commerce and
through all the branches of manufacture,
and is the poisonous outgrowth of this
! vile system of competition, which is the
/ chief corner stone on which our half
| fedged scientists build their political econ
! omies. If the cooperative methods of
doing business recommended and partial
ly adopted by the Patrons of Husbandry
had done no more than to make the term
/ competition, and all it implies, contempt
bic to men of sober and thoughtful minds,
4 it has accomplished an amount of good for
which the next generation will be CRATE
full When competition has been rooted
out by the better principles and practices
Il adulterations in articles of commerce will
have passed away-Sbirit of Kansas.
In the game of politics now being
played in the National House of Repre-
sentatives, the farmers of the country have
made point worth noting. On the 4th
of December, Mr.. Aiken, who is
; member of the National Grange,
7 presented a memorial from that body,
asking the enactment of laws which will
, relieve the country from the exactions of
transportation companies; and requested
that it might be read. Mr.. Garfield, of
7 Ohio, objected, saying it was not custom
ary to read memorials, except when COM
, ing from State Legislatures. Mr.. Aiken
: explained its import and Mr.. Garfield
J withdrew his objection Speaker Ran,
: dali took it upon himself to say that in
i i view of the fact that the paper came from
T large and influential body, it should be
read The lawyers and politicians of oul
own day are recognizing the importance
> of the fact, never forgotten by their elder:
:, and their betters of the early days of the
Republic, that without a prosperous ag
- riculture there is no national prosperity
= and in the future we may expect better
things of them. And one of these is the
enactment of law providing for a Sec
retary of Agriculture, who shall have
F equal powers with other Cabinet officers
in his own line. Such bill was intro
y duced at the last session by Col. Henry
l. L. Muldrow, of the first district of Mis-
d sissippi, and he has promised to push thu
d measure the present session. Indeed, it i
lie among the Southern members of Con
/ gress that the farmers of the country ma,
IS look to find their staunchest friends; moi
le perhaps, because these gentlemen are s.
y much more friendly to them and to agri
is culture than the Northern representative.
ie but because the States the former repre-
ID sent are agriculturally, if not otherwise, i
n deplorable condition, which Souther
n representatives recognize and are seekin
s. to improve.-Ne7v York PAPER,
There are many masked faces IN lite
% and if by some superhuman power thes
ST masks ShOuld he suddenly torn OH VIVA