The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1882-10-11
The Ethics Of Adulteratlon.


Cocoanu. .aells, according to an
article in the Philadelphia Record. are
now used as an adulteratihg mixture
with spice and pepper. Carefully
roasted and finely ground, they produce
a powder which cannot be distinguished
when mingled with the article which
they are used to cheaper. A manu-
facturer of pungent products. when
waited upon by an inquisitive reporter.
made these statements: 1--WE sell to the
trade probably more adulterated goods
than pure. We can't help it. There
is no pretence on our part that the
lower grades of spices are pure. We
simply sell the retailer what he wants.
We sell him spices at almost any figure
pepper, for instance, as low as eight
and nine cents, but it is about as much
something else as it is pepper 1t would
ruin the trade to prohibit adulterat:on,
and, besides, there are not enough
spices grown to supply the United States
alone. If nothing but pure spices We're
sold. !"
This is the specous logic of all who
manufacture or pack goods that are not
what they seem. Perhaps the baser
material commingled with the spice or
other ingredient is entirely harmless
does that make truth of the lying label
attached to adulterated goods: I" Pure
Pepper" s.Pure Cream-of- Tartar" for
instance? IT the ground cocoanut
shells do no harm, why not say on the
label, 'sone-tenth pepper, nine-tenths
cocoanut shells'? It is not true
that manufacturers of goods of any sort
| cannot help the matter, nor that there
! is no pretense on the part of makers or
dealers that lower grades OF given sort
of merchandise are pure. That pre-
tense is constantly held out in various
ways when it is not verbally asserted.
The trade that would be ruined by the
prohibition of adnlteration lie not worth
saving. Then there is the statement
that there are not enough spices grown to
supply the country with a pure article.
Does the admixture of baser matter in
crease the quantity? Does not the actual
quantity of pepper, for instance, re-
main the same, no matter how much
, one '.extends'' the bulk of the pungens
powder with the Havorless dust?
Furthermore, there is the question of
relative cheapness. The buyer of the
adulterated product pays fo. the value
less matter as well as for that which
has its special purpose. and a little
arithmetic will demonstrate that the de-
graded stuff actually costs more than
that which is pure.
E. g.. pound of cream of tartar.
perfectly pure, costs forty cents. An
adulterated article may be produced as
follows:
, Three quarters of +. pound of pure
cream OF tartar. ...-D cents
Aduiterating mixture. 10 :.
Making the pound cost. ..40
But the purchaser gets but three-quar-
tsrs of a pound of the pure ingredient,
j. e., of the material which has the &C
tive quality, and for that he pays forty
cents or at the rate of say fifty-three
cents pound. The formula applied to
any case where there is a purposed
mixture of good and bad materials ol
good and neutral if you please shows
the same result, namely: the buyer of
the adulterated article pays in addition
to the price for the useful the cost of
the useless ingredient.
The statement of the packers OF
s'pure pepper which is not pure or
of any article to which is attached a
lying label-that they sell what people
ask for, is not true. People do not ask
for fraudulent goods; t.sey do not want
cotton fabrics loaded down with clay
and starch; they. do not willingly pay
for material which is not useful when It
is not positively injurious. Who asks
for stone when he goes in eaest of
; bread? No, the premises are false.
The only reason for the course pursued
by those who mix sand with sugar is
that it pays, and it pays because nine
ty-nine per cent. of the people buy
without quest oning. Did they ques-
ton, were they capable of determining
the exact value of the goods they are
buying. the conditions OF trade would
be entirely reyersed-the sellers would
be at the mercy of the buyers. Il Boston
Transcript