The evening times., 1899-01-20
FRIDAY. JANUARY 20, 1899.
Pure Food.

Pure Food.
Mankind has a genius for raising great
hullabalooo about matters of small con-
Germ compared with the Importance OF
things that are almost entirely neglected
The present is only the second annual ses-
sion of the Pure Food and Drug Congress,
which is about the only body that has
ever paid much attention TO a subject that
is obviously of the highest moment. Men
rage and wage ceaseless war and undergo
Unspeakabie suffering in order to get
food, but have no apparent concern about
whether il is what it purports to be.
whether il is what they strive for, after
they get it. Food is the first. most impe
rious and constant demand of all life, the
chief spur 10 ell industry, paid for with
ceaseless toll and infinite risk. II should
be what is paid for.
No modern student of physiology will
deny that in a general way a man is
what he eats; that on the quality OF his
food depends the measure of his nourish-
ment and on this depends the amount and
the quality OF his work, mental or muscu-
lar. No intelligent physician doubts that
half the ills and no small share of the sor-
rows of life come from maI-nutrition, due
TO the quality OF food men eat and to a
digorderod state of The nervous system or
digestive organs produced by adulterated
as we'll as badly-oooked food. II was no
exaggeratiOn when Arthur Keeps asserted
that many o. the blunders of great men
might be traced 10 this cause. or when
sl,a half
bles of life spring from vexed duodenum
or an agitated pylorus. That Americans
buy and waste too much food is undenia-
Bile A New York alderman proposes to
feed all the poor OF the city from the re-
fuse of the kitchens of prosperous people.
Americans also eat too much food. Yet
for all that some are starved. What they
eat. partly because il is adulterated, does
not nourish, and il requires too much en-
ergy for its digestion and disposal. This
is a frequent cause of functional disorders
that sometimes lead to organic disease.
Clearly, if legislation is ever effective and
if it is ever 10 be employed to protect the
innocent from The operations of the wick
ed. it should be applied TO the subject OF
food.
One of the constant purposes of science
and invention is to cheaper production or
10 find substitutes for things in common
use of which the supply is limited or the
production costly or difficult To effect
this is TO increase consumption 1t is con-
ceivable that a substitute may be an i'm
proYement on the original article. In the
case Of food stuiIs, however science works
under many difficulties. There are vital
processes which the psychologist is still
unable to explain. The chemist may
counterfeit the appearance and perhaps
even the flavor of a particular food artf-
Gle, like butter, and he may even COM
bine the constituent elements, and yet his
product may be deficient in something
which he is unable to supply. He maj
produce good food article, but il is not
The one Eor an exact substitute for the one
he initiates. The physiologist is unable
TO account for the failure of an artificial
substitute TO give the nourishment of the
original.
In certain circumstances there may be
no objection 10 the manufacture and sale
OF substitute articles or TO the adulteration
of original articles of food, as long as peo-
pie know what they are buying, and the
liberty 10 adulterate does not render the
consumer liable TO be defrauded in his at
tempt to purchase the genuine and pure
food. But il may be necessary not only
TO surround the making of substitutes
with regulations 10 prevent the use of un-
wholesome ingredients and their sale as
original ana pure substances. but even TO
prohibit the production of certain substi-
tutes because il is impossible to stop their
sale or their use by the helpless consum-
ers. under false pretences.
Much has been done recently to learn
what foods are best and cheapest for diff
ferent classes OF workers, but this is OBJ
viously misspent labor as long as we are
subject TO aduiteration. The matter of
pure food naturally comes first. OF the pro-
priety of State legislation only those who
profit by adulteration have any doubt, and
in many States laws have been enacted TO
protect the public. II is found, in practi-
cal experience that owing to the facilities
for interstate commerce and the diff
Guilty of excluding from one Commonwealth
the adulterated articles allowed TO be
made in another, and also TO have the ad-
vantage OF the United States courts and
their agencies, a Congressional enactment
IS most desirable The Pure Food and
Drug Congress now in session is using its
influence in favor OF the bill introduced at
the last session. bill which, as the presi-
dent of the body affrns, is a compromise