The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-05-05
FOOD

II uIu DOt take the senatorial pure-IOOo
investigating committee long to strike the
trail in the matter Of food deliberations.
The testimony of the first witness. DR..
Wiley, chief chemist of the United States
Department of Agriculture, is calculated to
make us wonder where I'VE are at both
in respect of national honesty and national
health. DIR. Wiley. by the way. is a native
OF Indiana. a graduate of Hanover College
and of the Indiana Medical College, and in
the early seventies teacher of science in the
Indianapolis High School and later pro-
fessor at Purdue University. For some
ing scientists Of the country and as a high
authority in technology. especially in rela-
ton TO food products His testimony, based
on personal Investigations and analyses.
shows that a majority OF the food products
of daily consumption. including some of the
most important. are adulterated or counter
feited with various degrees of injurious re-
suits. That imitation coffee berries made of
molasses and -four nodded into natures
shape are mixed with the genuine and sold
as high-grade coffee. or that Vermont
maple sugar" is manufactured on a large
scale in a Western State out Of common
brown sugar and an extract OF hickory
bark. may be creditable to American in
ventiveness n ingenuity. but it is not very
creditable TO American honesty nor agree
able to contemplate from a dietetic point
of view.
According to DR.. Wiley, fully 20 per cent.
of the articles of food and drink manufac-
tured in the United States are more or less
adulterated or tainted with frauds. The
adulteration of lard with vegetable oils. of
honey. syrups and sugars with glucose, Of
coffee with chicory and of chicory itself
with other articles. of baking powder with
alum. of cheap sugars with ground stone.
of butter with oleomargarine. and Of wines
and liquors with all sorts of poisonous in
gradients, are but a few Of the many phases
of The evil. There is some satisfaction in
knowing that we are not exceptional in this
regard. although in no other country is the
evil as unrestrained as 1t is in the United
States. For many years it has been recog-
nized in European countries as a matter
diiih III lliuScnl icSiSldllOH. bSlOTe the
present law on the subject in Germany was
passed there was a humorous story current
there illustrating the extent Of adulteration.
1t was to the effect that, three flies Toasted,
the first on flour. the second on sugar and
the third on fly poison, and the last was the
only one that survived.
That the evil has reached such dimen-
sions in the United States az TO call for
repression there can be no doubt. There is
no greater crime against the public than
the aduiteration of foods and drinks. 1t
robs the stomach as well as the purse, and
either starves or poisons rich and poor.
young and Old. Several States have already
enacted laws on the subject, and all should
do so. But in the absence of state laws,
and especially Of uniformity in their provi-
sions and enforcement. it is the opinion of
many that Congress should pass a law on
the subject that will be of uniform applica-
ton throughout the United States. The
senatorial investigation just begun Is in
tended to obtain facts and lay the founda-
ton for such legislation. Such a law would
be somewhat Of a new departure in federal
legislation, but Congress has already made
a beginning in that direction by laws regu-
lating the manufacture and sale of oleo-
margarine and filed cheese. AS one of the
declared objects of the Constitution is to
promote the general welfare" it would
seem that Congress may legislate to prevent
the adulteration of articles of food that are
of daily and universal consumption.