Churchill standard. (Fallon, Nev) 1903-1908, 1906-06-02

enacted in Massachusetts. Since hat
time other States have enacted and
enforced food laws, until at the pres
ent time twenty-five States are seri-
ously attempting to regulate the char
acter and quality of the foods sold in
their markets. In three additional
States laws relating 10 the purity of
dairy products are enforced, and in
several others a beginning has been
made.
Food Regulation Abroad.
Food Legislation has received much
attention abroad and the more ad-
vanced foreign countries have effective
food laws and enforce them rigidly.
1ne subject of the purity of foods is
more widely studied in the United
States now than at any previous time.
The people as a whole are better in
formed on the subject than ever before,
and there is a constantly increasing
demand for definite information. In
response to a very large number of
inquiries regarding the matter the bull
letin of the Bureau of Chemistry has
been prepared as a popular statement
regarding the nature and extent of
food adulteration, and includes simple
tests by which the housekeeper or re-
tail dealer may determine some of
the more prevalent forms of adultera-
ton practiced.
The demand for information on this
subject is now very general. and, as
is often the case when public interest
is deeply aroused, there is an unfor-
tunate tendency toward exaggeration
which frequently amounts to sensa-
fiano1iupn Such an attitude lG nf
course to be ~deplored, and unless 1t is
checked must sooner or later react
unfavorably. 1t is not unusual to
speak of some of our typical foods as
poisoned, and of the manufacturers as
poisoners. Such administrations are
frequently eXaggerations 10 the point
of untruth. Deleterious substances
are in many cases added to foods. At
the same time the word poison has a
very strong and distinct significance
and should not be applied to any one
of the substances ordinarily added to
foods, except in the sense that they are
harmful. The word "poisoner" signi-
fies a person who Intentionally and de-
liberately administers an article in
tended TO result fatally. or at least
very disastrously to health.
The Juggling of Words.
During recent years there has been
a tendency to confuse the minds OF
many by an incorrect use of certain
words frequently used in the discussion
of foods. 1t is the policy of some man.
H%facturers to limit the word "adulter-
ated" to foods to which have been
added substances of lower value than
the foods themselves with the inten-
tion of increasing the weight or vol
ume. This limitation is certainly not
justified by the English language mol
by the facts. and such a restriction o.
the term is entirely unwarranted. The
word "adulterated' properly describes
a food to which any noncondimenta
foreign substance, not properly con.
shutting a portion of the food, ha!
been added. The fact that the added
substance may be at times of a greater
commercial value than the food itsel.
has no bearing on the question. Con.
versely, the word pure" Is properly
applicable to foods that are unmixeC
with any foreign substance. 1t may
be wholesome OF unwholesome, but
this property is not indicated by the
word pure" or "adulterated." This
definition is not, of course, complete
The claim is made by some manu-