The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-05-19

the press Room, which is the finest in the west.
The battery of presses consists OF three
eight-page ] ourn s. an hour, printed, folded
and counted. The best time to call Is from S:lo
to 4so Inquire At the eaee Of the
Necessity Of Pure Food Laws.
The last legislature of North Dakota
gave that state new pure food law. me
previously enacted law was considered de-
fective and had VIGOROUSLY lacked en-
forcemant, as was demonstrated by z. r.
Ladd, chemist Of the government expert
mont station at the North Dakota agricul-
tural college in Bulletin No. 6s," pub
lished last September. The revelations
contained in this bulletin were doubtless
instrumental In bringing about the enact
ment OF a new law. Thru authority given
by 1t the trustees Of the agricultural col
lege have made Professor Ladd the food
commissioner Of North Dakota. With his
special knowledge Of the subject OF food
adu1teration, he ought to be able to ac-
complish much good even with the small
enforcement appropriation OF only Sl.b0O.
We assume that there has been much less
aduIteration IN foods sold In Minnesota
than in North Dakota because Minne-
sofa for many years maintained dairy
and food department which has been tire
less In enforcing the rigid food laws,
which, by the way. were added to and
improved by the last legislature. Yet
from time to time the dairy and food COM
missioner reports the discovery Of adul-
iteration that is both dishonest and dam
gerous to health. It is worth while. there
fore, to call attention to some Of the re-
suits of Professor Ladd's examinations Of
foods, even tho they be an old story In
North Dakota now. They furnish another
reminder of how in this age Of multitudin-
GUS and prepared foods the individual con-
sumner Is wholly at the mercy Of an un-
scrupulous or careless producer or vender.
Professor Ladd found that nearly all the
jellies and jams and preserves examined,
such as strawberry, currant, raspberry.
orange. pear, consist largely OF other fruit
Jelly mainly apple, artif1cially favored,
containing preservatives and often colored
in imitation Of the real product. Some of
the jellies were found not to contain a
trace Of the fruit they claimed to be-.
One blackberry jelly was found to be
starch paste sweetened, colored with coal
tar dyes to initiate blackberry, preserved
with fornalin and sulphurous acid and
artifclally favored, Truly this is a de-
lectable dish to set before an invalid 1t
III hi OF an
rate. Some coal tar dyes are poisonous,
all of them are detrimental to digestion,
and Of course have no food value. Form
ain is such a powerful preservative that
it is often used to preserve animal tissues
indefinitely as in laboratories and the dis
secting rooms of medical colleges. Food
literally treated with 1t is obviously diges-
ton proof. If the amount Of such food
taken into the stomach is not large it may
not do any particular harm, but the salts.
faction Of eating it will be about all the
consumer can get out of 1t. And as fol
food treated with sulphurous acid, the
name is enough. Fornalin and sulphurou:
acid were forbidden by the old North Da
kota aaw, as by the present. OF thirty
three jams, jellies and preserves examined
not one was without some chemical pre-
servatives of a dangerous or deleteriou:
nature. These authorizations were no
confined to the cheap class of goods, bu
appeared in the highest-priced as well, ant
were made by producers "of the highes
standing in the commercial world
OF eight samples of catsup all wer
colored with coal tar dyes, seven contained
chemical personalities, and two of then
had much more Of the preservative thai
was necessary to tprevent decay. On
sample contained ar excessive amount o
salycilic acid as a preservative. Salycili
acid causes palpitation Of the heart, sleep
lessness, headache. and is especially liabl
OF injure the health il cases where weak
ness of the kidneys or digestive organ
exists. In canned corn and succotash sui
9phurous acid, eaccharin (coal tar sugar
and formalin were found popular; in pea
formaldehyde, fornalin and salycilic aci
were common; in tomatoes formaldehyd
and formalin were most frequent; in por
and beans salicylic acid, forn1alin and sui
phuous acid were the standbys. In lemo
extracts the absence of oil Of lemon wa
conspicuous and the presence OF coal ia
dyes not uncommon. These dyes wer
found to be present in SO per cent of tn
samples of cheap candies examined.
An, interesting part Of the bulletin !
that devoted to breakfast foods. It is re
assuring to learn from this that while tn
extravagant claims Of the makers ar
scarcely borne out by examination. mos
of them are valuable foods. and that the
do not contain dangerous chemical preser
vatives. One innocent manufacturer, how
ever, in his ignorance of physiologics
chemistry labeled his really good food i
manner that is terrifying to the in
formed. "--.'' says the label, sis tn
only food containing all the elements j
their proper proportions necessary to SUP
port the human system, the phospnates {
brainmakers. the nitrates or muscle max
ers, the carbonates or heatlnakers.'' 9.
little inquiry says Prof. Ladd, ''woul
have shown the manufacturers that NJ
trates are plant food poisonous to MAJ
while the carbonates are mineral product
that furnish no heat whatever Surely
little learning is a dangerous thing.
These northern Minnesota people are n
longer content with saying that the