Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1906-11-08
About Flour.
Editor Republicans:

| 1NAtOi NSpuOliSuh'
Allow me to say that it seems
as though the Pure Food Depart
ment seems to be looking up
most everything imaginable
except what they should investi.
gate, and that is Pure Flour.
am miller of II years expert
ence. l built my mill myself and
control it myself. 1t is of a
modern order, 100 barrels. And
now the day has come that the
Merchant Mill and the Exchange
Mill must either shut down and
quit making flour or else put in
additional machines to adulterate
his flour. In my estimation it is
strictly against the Pure Pood
law to adulterate flour.
There is patent owned by a
company in ST. Louis called the
Alsop Process Co. This process
feeds electricity into the flour
for the purpose of eating the
gluten and destroying it and
thereby making the flour much
winter, and will probably raise
just as we'll, but it certainly
weakens the flour, It's hasn't
the strength any more, but the
Alsop people have sold thousands
of these machines and it has
caused the ingenious minds of
the miller families to study up
something to evade the Alsop
Patent and is likely just as
healthy, and this is all kept
secret. / believe it to be mis-
leading the consumers of flour
and bread. The people do not
know what they are eating.
They suppose the flour they use
is pure as the wheat can make;
but can it be so?
A large proportion of the flour
that is used by the people of the
United States today is treated
with acids or electricity. Yes,
my dear sir, these millers, as
far as l know, are using these
different processes in secret.
This is for the purpose of whiten-
ing the flour, and of course the
flour takes like wild fire, because
the bread is whittier, as the
neighboring mills improve the
color of their flour and their
representative salesman warrants
the flour to be winter, and make
winter bread than any other mill
IN the neighborhood. They
introduce it and it forces the
neighboring mills to either put
in one kind of process or
another to eat up the gluten, the
main strength OF the -four, the
real nutriment. But the people
don't know this is done. Why |
don't the millers tell them? 1t
is because if the people knew
what it took to make the flour so
white, they would be looking for
pure flour, even though it was
dark compared with the adul-
terated -four. Now it comes our
turn to either shut down or else
adulterate. And how can II
consent to put any process into
my mill and pass it out to my old
customers whom l have dealt
with so long? They are innocent
today of what kind of flour their
bread is being made of and 1
must put this process into my
mill, and l must not tell them.
l must only say: ''my flour is now
just as white and good as any on
the market" But can l do this
with those hundreds of families
that l have suckered, as l might
say, up till the present time.
l could brand my flour adulter-
ated, just like my neighbors flour
is, but they would be likely to
say, she is jealous of better mills
than his, and we won't notice
him"
And l therefore believe it my
duty to lay this matter before
our law makers and let them lay
this one side or investigate as
they see fit. But it is now a
torture on all mills.
believe nearly all the mills in
the United States would rather
this process had never been
thought of, but if the consumers
of flour could be posted on these
facts, they would certainly come