Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-08

One of the most menacng evils of mod
ern life lies in the adulteration of foods by
INSCRIPTIONS manufacturers and dealers,
who do not hesitate to place health and
even life in jeopardy in order to swell
their gains. 1t Is deplorable that this ten
dency toward malevolent fraud should CO.
exist with the humane efforts of Science
to prolong life and to alleviate human suf-
fering. 1t has become necessary for the
citizen to protect himself from evils which
lie in wait for him in his kitchen and on
his dinner table, at all hours and in all
forms. To this end the National Pure Food
Association has been formed, and its an
nual session here with a large and inte1li-
gent attendance is evidence both of the
extent of the danger and of the widespread
public knowledge that conditions call for a
sturdy fight.
Fortunately chemistry affords a reason
ably certain means of detecting these
frauds. 1t Is within the power of the law
to apply punishments justly. The need is
for more inclusive laws, harsher penalties
and more honest and effective administra-
ton OF the statutes. Inasmuch as the
manufacture and sale of food stuffs consti-
tute In practically all cases an interstate
transaction, the evil is within the reach
of Congress. and the association, therefore,
directs its efforts toward the national leg
islature in the hope of securing proper en-
actments for the protection of the public
health.
The interests opposed to the various
measures proposed by this organization can
not afford to offer open fight. To protest
against the fair laws drawn in the inter
ests Of pure food is virtually a confession
of fraud. To strive for a weakening of the
barriers against adulteration is a plea for
tolerance. Nevertheless the affected inter-
ests are strenuous in their hostility and
work in devious ways to prevent action.
The proposals of the friends of pure food
need only. therefore, to be spread abroad
to apply the test squarely to the case. Sec
rotary Wilson takes the firm stand that
the man who adulterates food to increase
his profits Is a common thief, while he
whose authorizations cause the product to
become harmful to the health is no better
than common murderer. 1t may be in
general accepted as an axiom that all adul-
terations are harmful to the health, for
they necessarily detract from the nutrient
qualities of the food. and, therefore, cause
the product to fall short of the health-giv-
ing qualities expected.
Washington has recently had an expert
ence with an especially obnoxious form of
food fraud, that of the butter limitations.
Thess limitations are not Objectionable in
themselves 10 many people. but the public
without excepting does most emphatically
protest against their sale in the name of
butter. at butter prices, thus constituting
a double fraud. The government has re-
fused leniency to certain convicted oTend-
ers against the oleo laws, and this decision
has greatly strengthened the cause of pure
food, not only here. but elsewhere for il
has served notice upon the food swinders
that the administration stands with the
people in the protection of the larder and
the health and the family purse
Every honest food supplying industry is
deeply concerned in this propaganda, for
In the proportion that frauds are COM
mitted the demand for pure ingredients
and raw materials is lessened. Thus self
interests actuate all the workers for pure
food laws and the effect is certain to be
felt if the organization be maintained at
its present high state of efficiency