Omaha daily bee., 1889-03-11
FROM THE HAWkEYE STATE.
A Dangerous Lot of OH Is Found by
the Inspectors.
SHOWS A CLEAR CASE OF FRAUD
The School Election Is Interesting g
Des Moines--A swindlcr Heard
From-Safe In British
Columbia.
Dangerous Oil.

DEs MONIES, Ia, March 1o-ISpecial to
THE BEE The Iowa state board OF health
has, in addition to its other duties, the care
and protection of the public against the use
of unsafe and dangerous illuminating oils.
A fwes year ago the legislature established
an oil inspection department, with a state
inspector and several deputies. 1t is their
duty to inspect all illuminating oil that is
offered for sale in this state, and see whether
1t igntes at what is called an unsafe point,
then brand all that passes the proper test
and see that no oil is sold that is not properly
branded The state board of health has de-
cided that oil that flashes at 105 degrees is
entirely safe for public use, and oil that will
not meet that test is dangerous and must not
be sold for use IN Iowa A few days ago one
OF the officers of the state board noticed a
car load of oil ON the track in this city, that
was branded very high, much higher than
the law required. Suspecting that there
might be some fraud about IT he wrote TO the
local health officers at Corning, to which
place it had been consigned, requesting that
samples of each of the thirty-three barrels
be sent to the state board of health to be
tested. This was done, ana the test showed
that all of the samples but one flashed below
the Iowa test point. The exceptional sample
flashed at l09 degrees, but several flashed
as low as 80 degrees. The barrels
were all plainly branded "approved February
II, 1889, test us, signed with the name of one
of the deputy inspectors, Mr.. Stone. The
brand the barrels was deception of
nearly twenty degrees, and should have been
rejected as a low grade, unsafe and illegal.
Mr.. Stone has reported to the board that he
did not place the brand upon the barrels, and
does not know how to account for it. 1t is
evident that somebody has committed great
fraud, and the retail dealers who received
the car load of oil at Corning have been noti-
fed that they must not sell it in Iowa. The
penalty for dealing in uninspected or fraudu-
lent oil is very severe. The statute bearing
on this point is very explicit, and fixes as a
penalty for violation. fine of $500, or i'm
prisonment for six months, or both.
1t is possible that in this case the inspec-
tors brand was put on the barrels before the
oil was put in or when good grade of oil
was there, and afterwards that the barrels
were filled with rejected oil and sold for
high grade At any rate, someb body has been
perpetrating great frEud, and the state
board of health proposes to discover the cul-
prits. The parties who have received this
car load of oil will have to bear the loss un-
less they can recover from the parties of
whom they purchased OF course they are
at liberty to ship it out OF the state to places
where no inspection is required, as in Ne
braska. 1t is said that most of the oil re-
iccted in Iowa as unsafe Is shipped to Omaha
and sold to the Nebraska, people, who are at
the mercy of dealers in this respect, and have
no guarantee of the safe character of the
product they buy. Thissis not the first in
stance of violation of the inspection laws that
has been discovered. and, the health officers
are disposed to be very severe and thorough
IN Furnishing vioators of the law. Its good
results generally have been very marked,
and it is very rarely that an accident from
the explosion of dangerous oil is known in
Iowa.