Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-03-09
TIE ALUM BAKING POWDERS.
Action Of the Massachusetts, State Board
Of Health.


Pure Food Law.
The Massachusetts State Board of Health
like the State Food Commission of Ohio
publishes the names of the alum powder
found on sale within its jurisdiction as tn,
most effective way to prohibit the sale o.
what it classes as detrimental article of food
The report names twenty-seven brands OF
alum baking powders detected many OF
which will be recognized By housekeepers
who have been using them under the repre-
sentation that they were pure and wholesome
cream of tartar baking powders.
Being cheaply made these goods are sole
to the retail dealer at price that affords him
large profit, and the retail dealer, probably
unaware of their nature, is induced 10 push
their sale in place of pure powders upon
which the profits are smaller. In this way
they are being placed in considerable quaint
ties into the hands of consumers who have
not suspicion of their real character
Alum baking powders have been legally de-
clared adulterated articles of food in the
State of New York, and several parties have
been convicted of violating the Food adulter-
alton laws in selling them.
The prevalent method of disposing of these
goods where it is not prohibited by law, is BY
accompanying each package with gift or
lottery ticket. In several States acts have
been passed making this misdemeanor In
such localities manufacturers of alum baking
powders who regard the law have been COM
PEELED TO reduce the price from 80 or 40 to
20 cents per pound, at which rate they are
now generally sold without a gift. As an il
iustration Of the low value of the alum bak-
ing powders the fact is stated than one of
them, no worse than the others, is sold at )
cents pound. The extent to which the
poorer classes, who are their chief users, are
imposed upon when they are charged from
20 to 40 cents for a similar article is quite
apparent.
The following are the names Of the alum
baking powders as given by the reports of
the Massachusetts State Board of Health
ALUM BAKING POWDERS:
Davis's, A&P
Henkle, State
Silver Star, Silver King,
Ne Plus Ultra, Welcome,
Enterprise, Old Colony,
Can't Be Beat, Crystal,
Eureka, Centennial,
international, Gem.
Puritan, Windsor,
Albany Fayorite, Sovereign,
Golden Sheaf Dasey,
Burnett's Perfect, Geo. Washington,
Forest City, Fleur De Lis,
Feather Weight.
While many of the alum baking powders
named are only known locally, others are
found in almost all sections of the country.
Those of largest sale are made in New York
and Ohio. An avoidance of the brands named
by the Ohio and Massachusetts State author
ties, will not insure against the use of the
Objectionable articles altogether. for the
manufacturers when the fact is published that
a particular brand contains alum, will simply
change the name, and the sale goes on as
before. Large quantities of these goods are
also sold in bulk, by weight, while there are
hundreds of different brands put up by small
dealers in different parts of the country where
the public analyst is not yet known,
Official examinations like those by the
Mass lchusetts and Ohio authorities, which
give reliable information as to the real quail
ties of articles of food and furnish guide by
which consumers can determine the pure and
wholesome from the impure and dangerous
without chance of mistake, are of great pub
lie benefit.
The Massachusetts analysts have also tested
the various cream of tartar and phosphate
baking powders sold in the State, and their
report that the Royal baking powder is super
Tor to all others in purity and wholesomeness,
and contains nearly 30 per cent more strength
than any other, is quite as important to con-
sumers as the information relating to the
alum powders. The exact determination as
to strength of the several brands was as fol-
lows, the figures representing the number of
cubic inches of leavehing gas from one onnce
ofpowder: Royal, l26. Is Cleveland's, 1917
Congress, Sl,2 Horsfords 95.l.
A very earnest effort is being made to Sc
cure the passage by Congress of law that
shall foster the trade in pure food The pro-
posed law provides for the examination of
manufactured articles of food, drink and
drugs, and for the publication, in the name r
already adopted in Ohio and Massachusetts,
of the names of those brands found adulter
ated or injurious to health. A law of this
character, that shall impose suitable penal
ties upon importers and manufacturers of
such commodities, will be of vital Importance
to the whole country.
Many persons use the phrase lin trice"
who have no conception of its meaning, A
trice is the sixteth part of second of time.
The hours are divided into sixty minutes, the
minute into sixty seconds, and the second in
to sixty trices. However for some quick
motioned person. it would be well to have
the subdivision of the minute carried still
further.
Mr.. William Curtis of this place, put his
shoulder out yesterday while wrenchng an
axe from log, in which it was stuck. DIR.
Brickett attended him. Mr.. Curtis has un-
dergone the same trouble five times before,