The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-07-21
CALLS FOR HELP.
Secretary Crumbine Organizes
Pure Food Crusade.
win Try to Stop Outside Dis
plays Of Groceries.
APpEAI.C ~ WOMEN.
APPEALS TO WOMEN.
Asks the Club Leaders to As
sist in Reform.
General Clean Up of the State
Is Desired.

Secretary S. J. Crumbine, OF the KAN
sas state board Of health, has called up
on the officials of the women's clubs OF
Kansas to aid him in a campaign
against the outside display" of the
grocery store.
He has written letters to Mrs. May
BeneviIe Brown and other prominent
club women, and it is expected that the
movement will prove popular with
the clubs Of the state. The club women
will then act as individuals, and inter-
oede with their grocers to abolish the
outside display.
The outside display of the grocery
store" said Mr.. Crumbine today,
Ought to be prohibited by law, and
some towns and cities in Kansas are
taking action through their city ordin-
ances. Outside displays are not only
subject to the unspeakable dedlation
which so often occurs but they serve
as a roOsting place for flies and catch
all for the dust and pulverized manure
which is constantly flying through the
air on the business streets. Flies are
now recognized as one of the most com
mon ways by which disease germs are
spread. The fly feeds upon diseased
matter, and then merely by contact
with fruits and vegetables inoculates
them with the poison.
Topeka who still continue the old habit
of displaying their green groceries and
fruits outside the store are taking the
precautiOn to cover their displays with
better than nothing. but it does not
serve as protection against dust and
dirt, nor from the dogs.
L know that If the club women
should take this matter up in their club
meetings, they could very soon bring
the grocers to time. A grocer who dis
covered that his outside display was
proving unpopular with his women Gus
toners would very quickly find some
other way TO exhibit his fruits and veg
etables.
Pure Food Law Proving Effective.
There is another way the women's
clubs can help the state. and that is
by studying the requirements of the
pure food laws and insisting that their
grocers supply them with foods which
Will pass muster. There is a vast
amount of popular interest in the pure
food proposition just now, and the
statesmen for wholesale grocery houses
inform me that the retailers are de-
manding of them a better grade of
goods=gOOds which Will not come un-
der suspicion as having been adulter-
ated or doped with artificial coloring
matter.
After a number of conferences
with the representative of the lead
ing packing houses Oh the STATE II mas
been decided that they will all stop
using artificial coloring and preserva-
tives on the same date that the ma
tional pure food law goes into effect
The date is October /. They want to
act in unison on this matter. because
if one packer should omit the arti-
fetal colOring. it would make his
product look inferior to that of other
packers. We don't want to injure the
business of any packer, and we feel
that they are trying to do the right
thing bv u.s. It would be impossible
ment of our new food rules until Oc-
tober /. even if this agreement had
not been made, for the chemists at
the state university and agricultural
college are away on their summer va
cations and we have no funds for
making food analyses
JetmOre Packing House Destroyed.
81 have received word from the
county health officer of HOdgeman
county that he has found the eondi-
ton of local slaughter house at Jet
more to be very bad, and that he has
compelled the owner to destroy the
building and erect new one. 1 sup
pose that the health officers in all the
various counties are investigating
their local packing houses now, and I
believe that there Will be a general
cleaning up of the small concerns
which supply local trade with meat.
"The wellington exposure has done
much good all over the state. At Wei
lington it has resulted in a general
campaign for better sanitary condi-
lions in the town. The town will be
cleaned up, and an ordinance passed
prohibiting sidewalk displays of fruits
and vegetables. The health officers
there say that they want to make a
good job of it, now that they are
started The owners of the yelling
ton packing house have not been
arrested. because they have agreed to
every requirement imposed by the
board of health They have turned
out their offal fattened hogs TO grass.
and will not butcher them till fall
The packing house will be cleaned up
to the satisfaction of the board of
health. and I do not anticipate there
will be any further trouble with
them"