Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-03-07
"OFFIClAL IMPARTlALITY."
The Disputed Ohio Baking Powder Re-
port-The Royal Company Furnish II
to the Public-A Food Commissioners
Remarkable Distinction Between on
oial and Unoffi cinl Facts.

TnG D1hnutru ohto Aho-
port-The Royal Company Furnish IL
to the Public-A Food Commissio oner's
Remarkable Distinction Between ON
oiaI and Unoficinl Facts.
To the Editor:
The Royal Baking Powder company
takes great pleasure in laying before your
readers the following abstract Of the off,
cial baking powder report Of Food COM
missioner Hurst, of Ohio. copied from the
Cincinnati, o., Enquirer, where it origin
ally appeared. over the exact contents Of
which some of the baking powder manu-
facturers are quarreling.
This company had nothing to do with the
examinations Of baking powders in ques-
tlon, nor with the preparation of the report.
We believe the investigations to have been
faithfully and impartially made. That the
facts brought out were SO emphstically in
favsr Of the Royal Baking Powder
was matter of course. and surprised
no one. All official and other
impartial investigations show the Royal to
be the purest, strongest and whOlesOmest
baking powder made. The fact that Com
missioner Hurst, after resigning, in the in
terest of one of the baking powders which
had been shown TO be impure by his own
report tries to figure out something else,
makes no exception to the rule, for his ef-
fort Is only made after he became free
from the restraints of official impartial
GV" That is, we're he still confined by his
oath TO an Officially impartial or true
statement Of facts, he could not have writ
ten his letter in favor of the baking pow
der which he before showed to be 10. so per
cent. impure, and which he placed fourth
in his official classification. This admis-
sion places the eex-commissioner and his bak-
| ing powder protege in most unenviable po-
sition, for 1t convicts them Of using adver-
tising matter admittedly at variance with
the official facts; but 1t entirely relieves the
public and ourselves from further interest
| in any statements the commissioner may
make outside of his official report, or In ad-
vertisements based upon them intended to
boom the impure baking powders.
The original official report Is made spe-
cially of Importance, however. We have
carefully compared the following with the
original official report on file at Columbus,
Ohio. The percentages showing impurity
and strength are correctly transcribed. The
statements of fact and opinion quoted are
condensed, but convey the meaning Of the
original accurately, while the deductions
drawn by the editor from the facts and
opinions are remarkably fair and impair
tial:
From the Cincinnati, o.. Enquirer.
The Ohio State Dairy and Food Commits
sioner, Gen. S. II. Hurst, has made public
| Circular No. 81 the results OF the Com
missions investigation of baking powder.
This commission was formed by the legis-
lature, with instructions to make an exam
ination of the food supply Of the state, and
to give report of such examination to the
public. The examination of the baking
powders was made by Professor II. A.
Weber, state chemist, and, relating as it
does to an article Of daily use In the food
of almost every one, is of particular in
| terest.
The rather startling fact is brought out
by the report, that Of the thirty different
brands Of baking powder analyzed, COM
posing about all those sold In the state,
twenty of them are made from alum, a sub
stance declared by the highest medical
authorities to be injurious to health when
used in food.
The commissioner elassifiss the baking
powder into three general divisions, ac-
cording to their value:
1st Cream of Tartar Baking Powders;
I'd. Phosphate Baking Powders;
Sd. Alum Baking Powders.
The object of baking powders is, when
mixed in the -four and subjected to mois-
ture, to generate a lesvenlng gas in the
dough, which will raise the bread and
cause it to De porous and light. The Com
missioner eSniains that the best baking