Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-07-24
Food AdnlteratI0n.

The crime of food adulteration is be.
come of so common occurrence as to
call for the attention of the authorities.
in order that it may be suppressed.
Conscienceless men, greedy of gain.
have gone into the practice of fraud
Systematically, and to such extent that
one scarcely feels safe in eating or
drinking anything not made by himself.
Just now spurious butter, known as
oleomargarine or butterine, is attract
ing attention, though this is but one of
numberless frauds in the way of articles
of food prepared of very questionable
material. II is useless to argue that
the substitute for butter is as good as
butter, or at worst is harmless. If it
be as good, let the product sell on its
merits as it would sell. The public
has been very patient about this and
similar lmpositions, but patience will
be exhausted and turn must come.
No man has more right to sell an article
under false pretenses than to obtain
money In that manner. Really that is
exactly what is done when spurious
butter, adulterated pepper, or made"
liquors are sold for the genuine. The
practice IS not peculiar to America.
The wooden nutmeg man has his coun-
terpart in England and France. and
elsewhere; but in those countries a
movement is making looking to the
suppression of the swindle. In Paris a
municipal laboratory has been estab-
hshed, and there all suspicious articles
are submitted to rigid scrutiny, and the
number of convictions for adultera-
ton has increased about 1000 per
cent since 1850. OF 1851 samples of
wine submitted for analysis, 1,911-or
nearly o-thirds-were bad, and of
6,25S miscellaneous articles examined,
1,565 We're good, 1923 passable, ZOOS
bad but not injurious, and 562 danger
ously bad. The same per cents. prob
ably obtain i'll America, and there is
enough in this showing to call for a
rigid examination of suspicious articles,
and proper punishment of all convicted
offenders. 1t is only too certain that
nearly every article of food has imita-
tons or dangerous admixtures. Flour
has plaster of Paris, candy has terra
alba, butter has lard and tallow, brown
ed coffee has burnt peas and beans, and
pepper has common banks and almost
every conceivable form of convenient
dirt, to give bulk and weight. The
practice comes from the desire to secure
wealth faster than honest dealing will
Justify. 1t is swindle from beginning
to end, and no honest man can counten-
ance it In any of its stages. The man
who would sell a mixture of tallow and
lard for butter would hardly hesitate to
unlawfully gain money by other dis
honest means. The merchant who
knowingly handles the cheat in trade is
no better than he who makes it. The
whole business is disreputable and dis
honest, and the monetary profit gained
therefrom is no more honestly acquired
than had it been pilfered from the cash
drawer. There is little doubt that de-
falcations and thefts are encouraged by
such more than questionable tricks in
trade. This feature of the swindle is
bad enough, but it becomes infamous
when articles harmful to health are put
on the market in the guise of whole
some food. Offenders in these things
should be sent to prison along with
others no more dishonest, but who
shorten the process of theft by taking
the money at once or raising it on
counterfeit security. - Indianapolis
'OlT7dI