The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1888-01-17


resorts to the same means. He must
either do this or give-up his business.
So, even to a man desiring to conduct
his business in an honorable way, the
temptation to adulterate is often very
strong.
To these two main causes may be
added third, which, though of minor
Importance, SIZE is worthy to claim q
no1nent's attention. There are not q
few people who are Wiling to buy
adulterated goods, knowing them to be
such, simply because they are cheaper.
This is true of many well-tO-dO people
whoyhave false ideas of economy and
do not seem to. realize that impure
goods compared with genuine are dear.
at any price. 1t is especially true of
poor people, who, unable to afford the
lure, take what they can get.
In connection with the causes of
adulteration, it is pertinent to inquire
who are, the parties guilty of adultera-
tion?A HIsome cases, it is the manu-
facturers; in, others, the retail dealers.
Some of the authorizations practised
require the work to be done on large
scale and involve extensive machin-
cry, which the tradesman does not
possess. For instance, there are whole
sale spice grinders, roasters and grind
ers of coffee, DISQUALIFICATION of
mustard, vinegar, annattO, snuff, sugar,
confectionery, spices, etc., are usually
practised by the manufacturers.
Aside from the advantage of having the
necessary machinery and other means
for performing his operations'on large
scale, the rnanufatturer takes the re-
sponsibility of adulteration off the
shoulders of tens of thousands of re-
tailers, who Immediately supply the
public, so that the guilt is confined in
some degree to comparatively small
body of manufacturers whose opera
lions are conducted in retirement and
secrecy and whose premises are not
accessible to the public.
Many ways in which the retailer
can practise adulteration to advantage
will readily suggest themselves.
Where the tradesman himself does not
adulterate' but knowingly and lpur-
posely buys of adulterating manufac-
turers, he is q party to the fraud and
is held as guilty as the actual perpe-
traitor of the .adulteration.
Although the manufacturers and
tradesmen are mainly responsible for
the existence of adulteration, some
blame must be attached to that por-
ton of the public which will sanction
the practice by knowingly purchasing
adulterated goods.
The subject of food adulteration is
one of sufficiently high Importance to
engage the earnest attention of the
statesman, the fnancier, the sani-
tartan, and the moralist. 1t is really
great national question, closely at
fecting the pocket of the consumer, the
revenue, and the health and morals of
the people. Let us consider it in it's
various bearings.
The pecuniary side of this question
relates to the consumer, the manufac-
turer, the retailer, and the public
revenue.
In the first place, the consumer suf-
fers loss. The profit of adulteration
comes from the sale of articles so
adulterated as to be greatly inferior in
value to genuine wares, price being
demanded for these mixed goods,
yielding larger profit than could be
obtained by the sale of unadulterated
goods-indeed, they are often sold at
the same prices as the pure article.
The sellers increased profit is just so
much the consumers loss. 1t is quite
probable that the loss of the consumer
is, in most cases, more than equal in
amount to his taxes. This loss falls
more especially on the labOring por-
ton of the population, who are COM
PEELED to buy the goods they use from
the cheapest shops, where the sale of
adulterated articles prevails to the
greatest extent. .lunD
In the next place, adulteratiOn
tends to injure and ruin the more
scrupulOus and honest competitors, be
they manufacturers or retailers, since
the dealers in adulterated goods can
greatly undersell those, who take pains
to handle only pure articles. Dr.
Again, the state suffers loss. A
large part of the public revenue being
derived from duties on articles of con-
sumption, the more these articles are
adulterated, the smaller is apt to be
the total amount Of the real value of
goods thus consumed. 1t is hardly
possible toestimate accurately the eX-
act loss to the government coming
from adulteration. On this point some
careful calculations were made in
Great Britain, based on analytical re-
suits and covering aperiOd of one year;
and the amount of revenue known to
be lost to. the government was found
to be, at the lowest calculations, fif-
teen millions of dollars, while twice
that amount would probably have
been nearer the exact sum.
If we turn now to the sanitary bear
ings of the subject, we find that adul-
teration is, beyond all doubt, a serious
and Important question in its relation
to public health. roo
In the first place, the adulterating
substances used may lin themselves,
be harmless but prove prejudicial by
reducing and weakening the natural
properties of the article to.which they
are added. Although this does not APP
ply to foods to any great extent, it is
especially true in regard to medicines.
The proper doses of the various reme-
dial agents have been determined in
most cases by long series Of careful
observations, and experiments. and, in
different doses, the same medicine may
produce very different effects. There