Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-11
Frauds Dog, Donkey, or Steer.

Frauds-Dog Donkey. or Steer
To the Editor Of the Dispatch:
Governments, ancient and modern.
have punished fraud. Honest, moral.
and yirtuous citizens have denounced It
as vice and a crime. So long as vice
and crime are committed secretly they
iniure mainly those directly connected
with them. When they become public
they contaminate society, an the social
compact may become so rotten a, to
necessarily disintegrate. In proportion
to tie success of frauds is their effect
baneful to society. In addition to the
common-law punishments imposed to
prevent fraud Virginia has various
statutes. The manipulators Of Certi-
lizers are required to have prominently
affixed to every package Of goods sold
in Virginia a stamped or printed label,
which shall specify legibly the name Of
the manufacturer, his place Of business,
and the component parts OF such fer
tilizer. Why? Because the goods are
artiicially manufactured or manipu-
lated" They are not natural products.
No intelligent farmer will purchasc
manipulated manure unless the pack
ages are labelled. Yet our people will
purchase bogus food without attempt
ing to discover if it is clearly or health
full. There is a statute providing for
the inspection of butter, lard, flour, &c.
also, one that Furnishes with fine and
Imprisonment those who knowingly sell
any diseased, corrupted, or unwhole-
some provisions without making the
same known to the buyer; and lastly,
every act done with the intent to de.
fraud or cheat is a crime. Should one
Of your butchers knowingly sell I'M
wholesome provisions for good, health
full food, he would be punished by fine
and imprisonment. Should he sell
mule-meat for beef, or dog-meat for
pork knowingly, he would be punished
and perhaps outlawed as " fraud and
cheat. as one who balances the health
and virtue of your community in one
scale and bis sordid gain in the other.
If m unbroken chain of circum-
stances, supported by facts sufficient to
produce moral conviction, is evidence,
then we have the evidence that acts are
daily and hourly publicly committed on
your streets, with " the intent to defraud
and cheat" There is evidence that
some. and perhaps many, Of your gro
GERS and middle-men are openly selling
On article Of food, as butter the pro-
duct Of cows milk that is simply raw
beei-tallow. hogs-lard, or other animal
fat, chemically treated, cOlored. and
churned in buttermilk or skinned
sweet-milk. IL butcher is punisha-
bic for selling dog for pork or donkey
for beef, shall the family grocer pass
fee who sells tallow, lard, &C., for
butter: When the physician prescribes
milk and butter for the invalid mother
or child he does not expect chalk and
water or tallow and lard to be admins
tered.
Why are not these artificial buffers
labelled by the makers Of or dealers
in them? Why is their character KEEP.
concealed from the purchaser: There
can be but one answer; They are
frauds and cheats. So great has been
public Indignation and outcry against
these frauds in the North and West,
where they are made and known, that
recently the organ Of the manufac.
turerS has announced that their pro-
ducts are labelled when they leave the
factories, "and the labels are removed
By the gr0cers and middle-men.' If
this is true, then the middle.men COM
nit the fraud and cheat. If untrue, it
is in order for them to speak and act.
And while up will they explain why
these bogus buffers are sold as the
products of diaries that do not ex-
ist? Ii is charged, without denial.
by the press Of those States whose
laws require these limitations to be la
belled that they are labelled at the fac
tories in characters so small that no
one can read them without the aid of
microscope. These bogus products can
be sold at a profit Of from 5 to 10.
per pound. They are sold in your mar
ket for few cents less than the best
butter. Honest butter, sweet and good,
cannot be made at this season for less
than 25c. per pound. Until lately these
limitations could be detected by the
sense Of taste, smell, or sight, and, as
shown by DR.. Richardson, Division Of
Chemistry, Agricultural Department Of
the United States. had barely trace OF
butter fats or soluble fatty acid To
avoid easy detection the best limitations
are now mixed with a small per cent.
Of real butter.
Science and art have been taxed to
enable man to defraud his fellow-man.
So long as these efforts are confined to
dollars they affect finance and virtue.
When brought to bear on food of daily
consumption they affect finance, virtue,
cleanliness, and health Of the public.
These limitations are on the tables of
your hotels, boarding-ho and pri-
yate families. Your citizens know not
if they consume as food the fat Of dogs,
donkeys, or steers. Nor can the writer
inform them. They certainly do not
eat the product Of cows milk.
If these products are Clearly, health