Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1891-12-31


There are few subjects more easily
treated by a skillful writer. who de-
sires to scare up sensation, than the
adulteration of food. 1t is unfortu-
nately true that there are dishonest
men engaged in the food traffic, as
there are In every other kind OF bust
ness known to civilization, and IL Is
also true that dishonest man, espe-
cially IL he be driven by competition,
will sell dishonest goods. 1t there
fore happens that substances are sold
TO the public, sometimes, as food,
which are either not food at all, OF
inferior In quality TO those which
they are represented TO be. This is
AN evil, to expose which Is distinctly
within the province of the public
press. No greater service can be rem
dered, at least OF a secular character,
than to put the reader on guard
against frauds of this character. Nc
small part of the success OF the Amer
lean Analyst is due to the fact that
we have performed services of this
character fearlessly, constantly, and
with some measure of skill. 1t is one
thing, however, to expose an evil,
and entirely different thing to de-
scribe it in such way as to destroy
public confidence. This latter is the
error into which sensational writers
are almost certain to fall. The reader
Of one of their articles must neces-
sarily lose confidence, either in the
purveyor or in the writer or the arti-
Gle, and 1t is fortunate, for everybody
but the writer, that the public gener-
ally may be credited with enough
common sense to distrust the writer
rather than the great body Of reputa-
bic dealers, The so-called Exposure
of the Tricks of Trade" is tolerably
certain to be so sweeping and general
as to be unworthy OF respect, and the
general reader recognizes this fact. A
conspicuous example of this kind of
journalism was the recent publication
of column article in the New York
Sun, on "Adulteration of Coffee" 1t
begins with the statement that "Pure
coffee Is expensive, and therefore
there are immense quantities OF stuff
sold as pure coffee which are in real
ity compounds Of various substances
which cost less" Then, after speci-
flying ~chicory, acorns, mangel-wur-
eel, peas, beans and four" as some
of these substances, the writer says:
"The estimate has been made that
the people of the United States who
buy spurious coffee under the name
of pure Mocha, Java, or Rio are cheat
ed annually to the extent of about
SIS, 000,0 600" Now it may be true
that this estimate has been made.
Any other absurd estimate may be
made at any time, by anybody, with
perfect ease. The question remains
whether it is worth while to waste
printers ink on the publication Of it.
Other sample statements in the
article referred to are these: "The
general public without expert knowl-
edge is utterly unable to distinguish
the counterfeit" "The purchaser,
therefore, has absolutely no protec-
tion short of chemical or microscope
cal analysis" "Very few persons
will take the trouble to protect them
selves from such imposition" "There
is a process so as to pro-
duce an article that will deceive some
experts" The only safeguard the
writer of this article suggests (al-
though he does admit that some
dealers sell honest goods is to buy
green coffee, roast it yourself, and
grind it with religious exclusion Of
any adulterants. Evidently the
whole tendency of such an article is
mischievous, and it does gross in
justice to most reputable class Of
business men. Nobody of ordinary
intelligence doubts that coffee is
sometimes adulterated. Nobody
questions the notorious fact that
what is sold under the trade name Of
coffee, at less than the market price
of pure coffee, is mixture. The in
ference, however, that people are
cheated to any appreciable extent Is
unquestionably false. Not one grocer
in hundred sell these mixtures I'M
der the claim that he is selling pure
coffee. The customer, unless phe-
nomenally Ignorant, knows that
when he Is buying collector 20 cents
pound he is not getting coffee, and he
is, therefore, not cheated. If he really
wants pure coffee, and will tell his
grocer so, he will not be cheated once
in five hundred times. AS was said,
it is the mission Of the American An
alyst to expose the tricks Of dishonest
dealers. This we do without fear or
favor, but the rehearsal of well-known
facts coupled with the inference that
the great body of dealers in stand
ard article are guilty Of deliberate
swlndling, is work that is unworthy
of any first-class periodical. -Ameri-
can ANALYST.