New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-11-28
ADULYER1TI0ES or rood.

A committee o the National Board Of Trade urge
the enactment If systematic laws, State ana Ma
tional to suppress adulteratOns. They nave, per-
hans. knocked most Of the powder out of their
cartridge by saving as they do H. substance, that
none of tine staple articles Of food # drink IN our
markets are go commonly aduterated as to be dam
gerous to health life and that the chief reason
for cnactug the thirty mine new laws which their
recommendations call for-one in each State for IT.
internal commerce and one national law for foreign
and interstate dealings. ana tor the territories and
the District of Coumbia-5 tue protection of deal
CTS.
Heretofore two kinds Of laws have been in use.
In this country several of the States have for years
past had statutes imposing punishment upon SELLER
found guilty of aduiteratiOns, although not proyld-
lng any special means of detection and proof. Eng
land has for some years maintained legislation IN
yolying different prnciple-aUthOr zing censor
ship or inspec ion Of provisions in market and off
cial analyses OF suspected samples Wisconsin. last
March. enacted a law of this desrr ptiln. These
laws create public Analyst and local inspectors,
and authorize either the inspectors or municipal au
thorltes or even individual purchasers. to submit
samples of goods IN market for examination. The
Analysts report becomes evidence. IN prosecution
under the law Of whatever adulteraiIOn be detects
Under this system, if you suspect your grocer of
selling sanded sugar or exhausted tea. or the like
you buy parcel y0u notify the dealer that it is
bought TO be submitted to the public Analyst you
submit it accordingly and if the Analyst finds fault
with the goods you complain to a magistrate, and
the dealer Is arrested and brought up for trial
Upon con yctIOn hei5 liable under the English law
Of 1879 to penalty OF goo or for a second offence
to six months imprisonment What mas really him
dcred the of the English law has been its
verify OF course a law imposing such heavy pun
shments must be treated i'll the courts as penal
law. requiring strict construction and only to
be enforced in the clearest cases The magistrates
have entertained all sorts of technical objections
and have required the painest proof from prosccu-
tors. In one instance what the statute forbade was
making sale of any adulterated article " TO the
prejudice Of the purchaser" A milk-dealer who
was prosecuted urged that the inspector who bought
the sample was not prejudced" by the adulter.
ation for he got all he wanted which was a scmple
for examination. In another instance thc inspector
sent his assistant to buy the sample, and the dealer
objected on his trial that the inspector ought to
have come himself Both these objections were sns-
tanned by the magistrates, and the defendants were
discharged To be sure the decisions we're reversed
Dy the Queens Bench Judges. and the first one men-
toned was even more ctf3ctually squelched by n
later act of Parliament. But they show the disad-
vantage OF making law too severe. 1t is not one
time IN ten that prosecutors viii appeal from an
erroneous decision In another instance an inspector
bought sample Of whisley which was exam.
ined and found watered but the baTkeeper showed
that notice was posted in the ROOM % spirits sold
here mixed ," and the court said that was good
defence In another the Inspector when he bought
the sample, told the seller he meant to have 1t ex
ahmed but forgot to add the words by the public
analyst; and for this slip the seller was set free
In an illinois prosecution last year the County |
Attorney proved ten sales, day after day, of adu
erated milk but the court let the seller oft because
it not proved that the milk was not aduterated |
when he himself acquired it, The trouble is that |
the offence is not deemed very heinous and Will not
bear heavy penalties. A lcnient law allowing easy |
rules of proof will be the most seryiceable