St. Paul daily globe., 1888-02-09
PURE FAMILY LARD.
Chemical Tests Made of Sam pies Of
Family Lard.
ALL WERE ADULTERATED,
And Some Samples Contained Not One
Particle of Hog Fat---A Sav0ry
Mess.

WASHINGTON, Feb. S.-The inquiry
with regard to lard and its compounds,
begun two weeks ago by the senate
ON mittee on agriculture, before which
is pending the bill to require lard COM
pounds to be stamped, was continued
to-day, and interested parties to the
number of twenty-five or thirty, COM
prising manufacturers, attorneys and
experts, were present. Mr.. Hill, of
Boston, an employee of Squire u Co.,
who are the proponents of the pending
bill, produced samples of various COM
pounds in tin pals, which he had pur-
chased i'll open market and caused TO be
chemically examined. He testified as
to the compounds i'll each specimen.
but the same matters were more fully
covered by the next witness, Prof.
SharpleSs. OF Boston. who had made the
examination. 4 sample bearing the
stamp of Armour Il Co., ''pure refined
family lard was found TO contain
about to per cent of hogs lard. with 20
each of cOttonseed oil and beef fat. A
sample of Fairbanks & Co.'S Chicago
''prime refined family lard" was made
proportion of beef fat and cottonseed
oil. A sample bearing the stamp of
HalStead Il Co., pure family lard"
and another from the same firm stamped
in Spanish pure lard. registered" ETC.,
contained, so far as the tests had been
carried,
NOT 4 PARTICLE OF HOG LARD,
but were made entirely of beef fat and
eottonseed oil. MIR. Hill, who produced
these samples. said he never heard of
the firm "HaIStead & Co." before, but
had purchased the samples in a respect
able neighbOrhood in New York.
SQuireS' attorney produced package of
pure leaf lard put up by SQuireS IL
Co. and purchased in open market by
Prof. SharpleSS, which the latter testi-
fled was entirely hog product ana con-
tanned no trace of anything else. He was
questioned at length about the methods
of test and the comparative healthful-
ness of hog. beef fat and cOttOnseed oil.
With regard to cOttonSeed Oil, he said
its healthfulneSS as an article of diet
was still a mooted question. 1t was not
matter for chemists, but medical men,
to decide. Mr.. Hill and Mir. SharpleSs,
being crosS-eXamined, testified that the
bulk of SquireS' product was a quality
of lard inferior to that produced, but
bore the stamp pure lard in contra
distinction to pure leaf lard" 1t was
entirely hog product, derived, how
ever, from the trimmings" of the hog,
including a portion of the leaf. Mr..
Fairbanks, of Chicago, took the witness
stand and described to the committee
the history of the mode of lard product.
Twenty-Five years ago lard oil was
pressed from the hog product, leaving
the stearine, hard, waXy substance, for
which there was little demand. Then a
firm i'll New York conceived the idea of
mixing
STEARINE WITH ORDINARY LARD,
and formed a compound which gave
better satisfaction, especially iR warm
countries. than the pure lard. Then the
packing houses in making lard got to
dumping into the pans everything
heads, feet, etc.-and made a product
which was offensive, having, as witness
said, "hOggy taste" The refinerS
east about. for something TO neutralize
this and found il in cotton seed. Out of
hundred tierceS of packers lard the re-
tiners got about one tierce of mud and
filth ''aS black as your coat" To the re-
fined product they now added % per cent
of cOttOnSeed oil and 15 per cent of
Stearine, which compound comprises
seven-eighths of the lard now ON the
market. Once or twice, when the COM
pound ran short. the pure lard had been
supplied TO customers and witness was
overwhelmed at once with complaints
that the consumers were dissatisfied.
The trouble with Mr.. Squires, witness
said. arose from the fact that witness
firm had secured a large part of Mr.
SquireS' trade. especially in New Eng
land. and that gentleman had agitated
the passage of the bill because small
dealers would not take out license to
sell the compound, as required by the
bill, and as no license would be re-
quired to sell the pure hog fat lard they
would resume the purchase of lard
manufactured by Mr.. Squires. The de-
mand for the legislation did not come
from the people. The constantly i'll
creasing sales of lard made by witness
firm proved that the public wanted
their lard. Wien asked why he did
not label it as compound lard then he
said that American people were not
educated UP to the use of oils yet. He
objected to being compelled to change
the brand refined lard" because that
label was part OF his stock in trade
The hearing will be continued to.
morrow.