Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-09
A PURITY LAW WANTED
Hearing by the House Committee on Com
Opposition to the AduIteration of
Food, Drugs and Chemicals-
Menace to the Country.

AS"N
sions in this city. on the general subject
of the adulteration of food and the best
means of regulating or preventing the evil.
The committee was present In full force.
while fully 100 delegates and friends of
the movement were present, a number of
ladies being among them.
Joseph q. Blackburn Of Ohio, president
or the National Dairy and Food Associa-
ton, was the first speaker
Mr.. Blackburn said he and his associates
present appeared in the interest of a prin-
ciple, not of detail. which was the desire
LOT pure FOOD, drugs and chemicals. He
the recent pure food congress to sneak
He called upor Col. Aaron Jones of Indiana
master of the National Grange, Patrons of
Husbandry.
Desire of the Farmers.
Col Jones said that he cana as the repre-
sentative Of the farming interest, as repre-
sented through the grange. with members
In every state in the Union. All that the
farmers want is such stringent laws as will
prevent any man or set of men from mix
Ing impurities with foods of any kind and
selling the compound as pure food Col
Jones believed the people of the country
were as much entitled to laws that would
protect them against the men who make
ana inf1ict adulterated and impure food
upon them as against those who break
through ana steal their property.
FRANKLIN Dye. secretary of agriculture of
New Jersey, Endorsed all Col Jones had
said. Protection against dishonest men is
all We ask he said. ;,
What the GrOcers Demand.
George A. Shearer of Illinois next smoke
Tor the National Association of Retail Gro
GERS. He said the association which he rem
resented advocated three principles both in
state and national laws-first articles deie-
ferrous for food should be positively pro-
hibited; second. articles even If not so dele
FERROUS should be so branded that the pub
nee would always know what it buys; third
law enacted that will protect innocent
dealers who may have unknowingly vio-
lated the law. Many retailers, he said buy
mixtures for pure goods, and they should
not be made to suffer therefor. The man
u1acturer VITO Is dishonest should be pun
1shed rather than the innocent retailer.
An officials Testimony.
Maj. Levi Wells, dairy and food commits
sioner of Pennsylvania, and representing
the agricultural department of that state
next spoke.
1T is claimed" he said, that 80 per cent
of all manufacture goods sold in PennsyI-
vania are ACCELERATED, and what we want
is that all such goods shall be labeled and
sold for just what they are. Laws in diff
ferent states vary, and national law on
lLlS SUBJECT Is the only one mat We believe
can be enforced under any and all condi-
lions. The principle is what we advocate,
rather than any particular bill"
Favor the Brosius Bill.
E. T. Abbott, representative of the Ma
tional Bee Keepers Association and all in
dustrial societies of St. Louis, next spoke
for the honey interest. 'All we ask is
common honesty" he said. 1.-The glucose
industry is great one, and large amount
of money is involved, and the bee keepers
do not ask for a law that will injure that
or any other industry. AS honey dealer
am perfectly willing to compete with
any other honest man; but I do ask that
men who mix glucose with honey SHAH be
compelled to sell 1t as a mixture and not
as honey. We come not with a diversity
of bills. but unanimously in support of
the Brosius pure food BILL"
Geo. l.. Flanders, assistant secretary of
agriculture of New York, said that the law
should put integrity at a premium in max
ing pure foods. No man in any state should
be allowed to manufacture mixture of
anything and sell 1t in all the states as
pure Vermont maple syrup"
Only national laws can stop such frauds
as that and hundreds of similar ones" said
Mr.. Flanders.
F. B. Thurber, president of the United
States Exporters Association, followed in
a strong Endorsement of the Brosius bill,
which. he said, was the best thought-out
scheme to prevent the difficulties now con-
IIOullNS exporters because Oh impure IOOUS.
Mixed lard and mixed flour are the two
articles that are giving the importers the
most trouble. "a heavy hand must be laid
on all people who manufacture deleterious
goods" he said in closing.
Impurity in Drugs.
w. s. Thompson of this city spoke on the
subject of impure drugs, and said that the
Brosius bill seemed to fully meet the re-
quirements of that trade. Drugs are not
GO lay aly odu Cd he ~,
former times, and yet the one article of
opium has been so mixed as to allow it to
be retailed at so cents per ounce, when the
pure article Is worth s.. The drugs most
commonly adulterated are opium, Peruvian
bark and chemicals. The passage of the
proposed bill would not particularly affect
proprietary medicines, as it refers more
properly to standard drugs.
Drs. c. T. Wyche of South Carolina and
]. NJ. King of Tennessee spoke briefly in
Endorsement Of what had already been said.
Authorizations Menace the Country.
]. c. Shrader. delegate from the state
board of health of Iowa, spoke of the sani-
tary feature Of the movement in the in
terest Of the whole people. "Adulterated
foods and drinks will destroy this country
sooner than either war or pestilence," said
Mr.. Shrader.
Mr.. Flacus of West Virginia asked that
the law compel all manufacturers and pack
label their goods. THAT would give manu-
facturers of first-class goods fair chance
to compete with dishonest manufacturers"
w. B. McMeechin said: There are now
eleven states each having different pure
food law. Give us a general national law
on tina subject and then we can all know
where we are at
What Has Been Done.
In answer to questions by Chairman Hep
burn, Mr.. McMeechin said three former
congresses had been held, that 300 dele
gates were present at the one just closed,
representing forty-six of the states and ter
ritories, including Porto Rico The dele
gates were, he said, largely appointed by
the governors Of their states, while some
were chosen by organizations and associa-
tions.
William Frear, chairman of the execu-
tive committee Of the recent congress- pre-
sented the amendments to the Brosius bill
as agreed upon at the session of the con-
gress, which Mr.. Hepburn assured him the
committee would carefully consider.
II. e. Adams. food and dairy commission
er of Wisconsin, discussed the power of
Congress to pass laws prohibiting the man
ufacture and sale of impure food. He ad-
vocated the passage Of the Babcock bill,
yet urged the passage Of some law that