The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-01

GEORGE L. DINGMAN RETURNS
Says 1t Was Great Gathering
Pure Food Law of Great Inn
pOrtanee Was In
dOrsed.

George Il. Dingman, assistant dairy
| and food commissioner has returned
from the meeting of the NaronaI
Grocers' association at Milwaukee highly
eIated at the honor done to Minnesota
at that convention.
1t was a great gathering, 191 delegates
from tWenty-seven states being in at
tendance. The bulk Of the representation
was from the West. Besides the VAST
amount of routine work, and the pro-
gramme of excellent papers read, which
was all very important to those present,
the association discussed, amended ana
Endorsed the pure food bill drawn up by
the committee of nine appointed for THAT
purpose at the associations previous
meeting in Cleveland The law as IN
dorsed, and as likely to pass with few
amendments. is one of great Importance
20 the pure food interests Of the country
This bill" said Mr.. Dingman yester-
day, provides in the first place for a
government department of dairy and
food, With adequate provisions for ham
ding food stuffs in transit While food Is
in transit going from an Eastern manu-
featuring point to seTse of the Western
states the government officials have
| authority to investigate it, and if it is
found to be Illegal it can be condscated
| and destroyed This will relieve the
states Of very hard part Of their work
| IN detecting the goods after they have
| reached their destination
Another important provision is one for
the establishment of a uniform standard
of tests for all food stuffs This is an I'M
perative necessity. As it is now there is
no uniformity. In vinegar, for instance,
some states have as low a test for acidity
as %, while in Minnesota the standard
for .acidity is As. So long as different
states have these variable standards, the
barring of a food product in one state is
not going to drive that product off the
market as it can get into other states
within the law. This uniformity CT
standard will be of the greatest inn
portance'
Mr.. Dingman had the honor of being
the only man in the Mississippi valley
asked to read paper before the con-
vention. The official accounts of the con-
vention relate that in Mr. Dngmans
case the time limit was removed. and he
was several times urged to proceed. while
for half an hour after his address was
finished he was kept standing to answer
questions fired at him by other delegates.
Mr.. Dingman says that Minnesota was
accorded high praise by all the delegates
present. The excellent work done in this
state was commented upon on all sides,
and Mr.. Dingman was kept busy answer
ing question as to how the Minnesota
department managed to make so fine a
record. No other state in the Union has
a better record for work done in this d.
rection than has Minnesota and this is
generally recognized.
Minnesota's Plan Indorsed.
Other states were especially pleased to
hear of the Minnesota departments plan
of cooperating with the jobbers and deal
ers, and this method is now being taken
up in many other states.
When the pure food law was being dis
cussed and amended, jobbers from all
over the country, who were in attendance
at the convention were invited to par
ticipate in the discussion of the COM
mittee and to give their views on every
provision of the law.
The convention Endorsed the proposed
Corliss amendments to the interstate
commerce act, and asked for a repeal of
the 10-cent tax on tea. The resolutions
passed stated that various decisions OF
the supreme court had seriously inn
paired the effectiveness of the interstate
commerce act, and that the law in its
present form had proved impotent to pro-
teet the public interests in relation to the
transportation service of the country IN
the prevention of unreasonable exactions
and unjust determinations on the part or
the carriers Congress- was asked to
speedily enact the Corliss amendments
of relief from unwarranted advances in
rates of freights and of protection
against the pernicious practice CT giving
preferential rates to large dealers
1T was further stated that the tax on
tea was taking annually from the pockets
of consumers IS, Coo. and that the war
being over the cause for this eXaction
had been removed.
1t was further resolved to recommend
to the next national convention that the
meeting Of 1904 be held in San Francisco;
and it was recommended that the various
state associations should hold their state
meetings early in the year so that they
might be better able to bring before the
national conventions matters of i'm
portance.
A resolution was passed indorsing the
action of the United States senate in
passing a bill providing for the establish
ment Of department of commerce and
requesting that the house of representa-
tives concur by passing a similar bill