Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1899-05-11
FOODS AND DRINKS.
Nearly Everything We Take into
Our Stomachs Is Adulterated.
Chief CHEMIST WILEY'S TESTIMONY
Statement Of Florence Kelly Regarding the
Sweat Shops Of Chicago The Law
Regarding Child Labor Evaded
by Employers.

Chicago, May 4.-According to DR.
II. W. Wiley, chief chemist of tn,
United States department of agricul
ture, who was called to the stand yes
terday to testify before the senatoria
and pure food investigating committee
now in session here, fully 80 per cent
Of the articles Of food and drink manu-
featured and used in this country ar,
frauds. All kinds of dairy products
he said, as well as nearly every variety
Of condiments, including even coffee
in the berry, were adulterated. Senator
Mason did the examining of the wit
ness.
DR.. Wiley was the first witness before
the committee, which opened its first
session yesterday in the Grand Pacific
hotel. Senator William f. Mason
chairman of the committee, was the
only member present. Senator Harris
did not arrive until to-day and Senator
Wetmore is i'll.
In his testimony before the commit
tee DR.. Wiley gave in detail the meth.
DDS of manufacturers in adulterating
different articles of food. Foods and
drinks which contain ingredients that
are deleterious to health were reviewed
by him at the afternoon session. In
milk, he said, the most common prac-
tice is the abstraction Of the fatty sub
stance in taking away the cream. A
common practice among dealers was
the adulteration with water, and in
addition to this preservatives are used
tono small extent to prevent the liquid
from souring. In butter the common
way Of defrauding the public was the
substitution Of other fats, both animal
and vegetable, for the natural fat Of
the milk. Both cottonseed oil and
high grades of lard were employed in
this work.
Honey, DR.. Wiley said, probably was
a more abused article in the line of
adulteration than any other. The prin-
clpal method of adulterating lard is
the mixing of vegetable oils with the
natural fat of the hog. All kinds of
pure oils, he said, were heating to the
system as well as great aids in digest
ing.
Another fraud which is carried on to
a very great extent is the selling of
cotton-seed oil for olive oil.
Probably among all the food men
toned by DR.. Wiley, none attracted
greater attention than the adulteration
of coffee even in the berry. In recent
Investigations, he has found molasses
and flour moulded into berries, colored,
mixed with the genuine and sold as
high grade coffee.
According to DR.. Wiley there is very
little pure beer made in this country.
Fully 10 per cent. of the beer which is
sold in this country is made of some
other article than malt. In regard to
the extensive use of glucose witness
said that it was not Objectionable for
food purposes If used in moderation.
Very little pure jelly is manufactured.
There also is a great amount of adulter-
alton in the manufacture of vinegar.
DR.. Wiley said Vermont maple sugar
was manufactured in Davenport, Ia,
out of brown sugar and an extract of
hickory bark and it was not deleterious.
In fact, he said, it was impossible for
chemists to distinguish the two. The
sugar was the same and the natural
ether that gave the maple sugar its
flavor and distinctive quality was too
infnitesimal to segregate in an analy-
sis. The extract of hickory, he said,
was about the same as the naples
flavor.
Spices, he said were adulterated and
peanut shells were palmed off as ground
cinnamon.
THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION.
Washington, May 4.-The industrial
resumed its public hearing
in its headquarters at the Bliss build
ing yesterday. The first witness was
Florence Kelly, for four years chief
factory inspector of Illinois. Her
dealt particularly with sweat
shops in Chicago. She painted the pic
ture in dark colors. OF the 200, 900 fac
tory workers in Illinois she said $50, 900
were in Cook county. Practically all the
ready-made clothing and much Of the
so-called merchant tailor work of the
city was sweat shop work pure and
simple. The conditions surrounding
the works were unsanitary and harm
full in a marked degree. Child labor,
she said, was also used in direct de-
nance OF the l4-year age limit in force
in the state. She said the en-
ployers had no difficulty in evad-
ing this law and securing age certif-
Gates for the children. Many of these
little ones, she declared, worked for
the first year for nothing, with the
promise of 81 a week at the end of that
time, and ultimately, perhaps, So or "a
per week when they had reached the
top of the ladder in their line. She
strongly advocated the passage of
law similar in It's general provisions to
the Sulzer act now in force in New
York.
This Ought to Settle IL.