Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-02-20
ADULTERATION OF FOOD.
To What Extent Is Il Prscliced and
How Dangerous 10 It!-A General
Law Should bs Passed 10 Cover
The Whole Mattsr-Artieles Should bs Sold
Under Their Proper Names and La
beIed rure or Compounded,
Chicago rrIbun.. January 80.

by dissertations upon the extent to which
food Is adulterated st the present day.
The whole world is naturally interested
in such an idea, SO that II is easy to at
tract to it the attention of thinking peo-
pie. Not long ego a leading New York
paper secretly purchased hundreds OF
different articles in various grocery
stores, placed them in the hands OF COM
petent analysts, and published the results
Of the Investigation. No cause for alarm
Uas shown, and the question
naturally srose how much discrepAu-
cjes could be explained between
The esruest chsrges made by the one side
ard the facts as proved by the other.
The explanation was alluded to the other
dayt the columns Of the Tribune. The
trouble arises from the confused use OF
the term "sdulteration." Some persons
count all compouDding or mixing to be
Adulteratiou, and others consider that sll
ad1lter2tion is deleteriOus, if not abso-
lusely poisonous.
Here is a question full Of interesting
details. The number of articles Of food
| that are now sold IN grocery stores ready
mixed for use is rapidly increas-
| ing. Ready-made vIctusls sre be-
ming as common articles Of
purchase as readymade clothing
Oae BUYS the finest mlnce- meat and
plum pudding and many other similar
articles nowadays all ready for use,
although his grandmother would have
scoffsd ss anything Of the kind not home
made by her own hands. Writer'S who
speak of mixed aad compounded articles
OF food forget Whist such phrsseology in
cludes. Step into any candy store and
uoti2e the world of delicious bon-bons
aid CONNECTIONS that are simply COM
pounded articles OF food. Consider the
delicate preparations in the lige Of food
for Infants and for the sick. 1t is per-
fectly plain thht when d consultation is
held with view to Condemning poison
Gus or uuwholesome food products one
must not employ any such careless Ian
gusge.
Again, an illogical aud unreasonable
posi- ion has been urged by some cracks il
demanding law against all food suosti-
tutes or limitations. The Absurdity is in
the tsilure to discriminate between such
substitutes or limitations as sre unwhole-
some or deleterluus and those which ere
perfe city harmless AID thoroughly digest
10 e. Not to Ct too mary instances, lake
the case of coffee. During The war, when
Ordinary Rio coffee WIS 30 cents pei
: pound, more than half of The people were
forced to use dandeliOn root aud psrched
! rye aad dozens of other substitutes OF
limitations. This want OF Discrimination
. crept into the oleomargarine legislation
The theory was that oleomargarine was
POISONOUS The feet is that II is as whole
| some as butter, ard this fact Is proven oI
all tbs government reports Snd lnyestig1'
, tions Of the last year.
: There are inst two paints whereupoT
legisla ion is required regarding food pro
ducts. These two must be kept plainly
aud constantly in view to avoid mistakes
Flrst-All poisonous and unwholesomt
articles Of food must De suppressed. R1t,
ten peaches, spoiled meat, and all thing
, uun for food require legislative vigilance
t There Is no dispute on this point, 80 there
, is no need to discuss 1t.
The second point Is that articles @
food, and especially drugs that are mixet
10 order to cnespen them ("i;hous the 10
troductiops Ct any la mtul SUB
| aucP, should be branded Q
| marked or labeled so tina
2 tee BUYER may know exactly what ne /
getting for his money. Tie oleomsrgarln
E Jaw is the first national experiment il
( legislation uf this sort, and consf quentl
. it furnishes 8 guide. The exporter
: gained from that law will be useful IN 81
!. similar cases hereafter. Prior to IN
enac ment of the Law many teslers soil
a oleomargarine under the name Of butter
e aud this was to that extend fraud upc
:, The buyer. Now the law requires ole
II margarine to be sold under its rtgf
4. name, and the fraud is suppressed. Bu
, the oleomArgariue Law in accomplishlD
d this great benefiI also accomplished som
@ very great wrongs. These WronEs ar
= 4lI the worse because needless. The
], We're incorporated in the law chiefly De
l. cause Of the erroneous theor
/. already alluded to that oleoma
le gorine was deleterious to hesih
"A It is no credit to our Lawmakers II the
IS osse important legislation upon so radi
:. cal an error. Oleomargatire comes Int
u the market as q new product and ne
lie discovery. It is perfectly wholesom
is and in that sense pure. Butter mskei
n imagine that Claomargarine is going
re destroy the butter business. Here Is
pr second grave error, for In future srtic
- 1t will be shown that the butter nsEe
IN were mistaken. Butter has average
e. lower IN Prize SLuSo kuo SbAoA%N AitAS
" the oleomsrgarine law than it ranged b.
ne tore, and IL may be hereafter explain'
ne how different the effects OF the oleoms
ed gar!ne act upon the prosperity Of 4
OF butter business have been from what t
IS, bu ter deslers expected.
e. Acting upon Two false theories, Or
that oleomsrgarine was poisonous, al
SO second that IL reduced the price OF butte
is oppressive features in the way OF tax
in aud licenses and other un- Republican o.
ID, un-American burdens were placed up
h. the new and heathful substitute for 90
he ter. The lessons to be Learned from
re should have an important bearing up
ID. fuure food legislation. II new di
d. covery Ia the way Of q food compon
la comes into market It should not be nsst
as condemned Laws should be 80 fran
10 that the new article may have II
mt chance for life and existence. It may
a vacant space in the world. Electro
ect completes against gas. Petroleum co
ire petes against fuel. POdophyliia cenpe'
ice sgainst good old fashioned c.lom
OieomArgsrine completes against but,
Add YET, strange to say, each OF the
, q rivals d Jurisaes, and under the gene
FOR laws Of the universe, there is room
all.
There may be corner in coffee, c
the poorer classes may be compelled