Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-10-24
PUIE FOOD LAN IS
B(|G[Y IO GROC[RS
Customers Questions About the
Kinds and Quality of Goods
Makes EN- Nervous
WOMEN GETTING lNoulsITIvE
They Have Heard About the New Law
And Are Demanding Pure Goods
Price Having Something to Do With
ouality-Inspectors Having Some
Trouble.
Special to Tlmes-nepub.iean.

Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, Oct. 24.--If YOU wish to
see your grocer or butcher turn red,
yellow and green, all in the space of
four seconds and then become dazed
and unconscious of what is going OH
around nin and finally shrivei into an
isnoramus, so in and d K him for some
lard, ask what kinds of lard he has
and all the time keep looking at him
smiles, which is as much as to say:
The food and dairy commissioner will
catch YOU if you don't watch out"
There is not a grocer or butcher In
the state OF Iowa but is signing for
the good old days when people came
to the store and asked for lard and
pouSht according to the price with
out any regard To what it was made
oil. 1t complicates things so to have
TO explain and a great many Of the
Srocers and butchers don't know a
great deal about the ingredients of a
pound of lard anyway. Formerly
there was 5-cent lard and 1o-cent lard
and tWo-for!a quarter lard. l. was
just question OF the pocketb
solely.
Now there is lard, which is pork
lard and there is lard compound which
may be composed of almost anything
that is white and looks smooth and
greasy. If it is lard it is lard and If
it amt lard it must have on the out
side of the package: This lard COM
pound is composed of the following
ingredients and none other" and the
ingredients must all be named. 1t has
already been discovered by the food
and dairy commissioner that the quail
ity of the product has had nothing to
do with the price at which it has been
selling in this state. Now women are
getting inquisitive. The law gives
them right to know what is in the
stuff they buy and the grocer and but
cher under a penalty Of being fined and
imprisoned is in a place where he has
to tell That is the reason the grocer
and butcher turn all sorts of colors
when you ask them for lard and there
comes far-away look in their eyes
If they become convinced that YOU
have gotten hold of copy of the pure
food law they are worse bothered than
ever.
There are any number of honest gro
GERS and butchers who are trying to
live up to the pure food law. They
recognize that it is a good thing and
recognize too that for years the whole
salers have been selling them stuff
that was not pure and that they, the
grocer and butcher, have been fooled
as we'll as their customers. There are
a great many others who know all
about what they buy from the whole
saler and they think the pure food law
a very troublesome piece OF legislation
The more the public in buying gro
ceries and meats impresses on the
butcher and grocer that they have read
the pure food law and are liable any
time to send what they buy to the
state food and dairy commissioner FOR
ANALYSIS the sooner the pure food law
will he in good working order.
If an article of food is anything else
than what it is claimed for 1t as the
pure article, in other words, II IL is
adulterated or colored in any way In an
attempt to cover up inferiority, or pre-
served with anything that is injurious
to health, it is Illegal. Adulterated
foods can be sold, but the package la
bel must say just what is on the in
side of it.
The state food inspectors are having
trouble and at the same time some en-
ioyment at the hands of the butchers
and grocers. They go to grocery
store and ask for some hamburger
steak or some lard, and then begin to
ask questions about what Is In the lard
or hamburger About this time the
grocer begins to get uncertain as to
whether he is dealing with an inspector
or not. The other day Commissioner
Wright went to grocery store in Des
,Moines and asked for samples of lard.
IF prosecution is made against gro
Ger for selling adulterated food the
chief point in the evidence is what did
the grocer represent the article to be
when he sold it? IF he said 1t was
pure pork lard when half of it was beef
tallow. he is liable to prosecution.
When Commissioner Wright asked for
samples of lard the grocer blushed. He
brought out some, and when asked to
saw what they contained he was visibly
confused. Finally he threw himself
upon the "mercy of the court" and
confessed to Wright that he didn't
know what was in them, but that he
had good reason to suppose they
were not all pork lard.
Jrp in the mort ern part of the state
a grocer put on bold front and told
the inspector that he always told the
customers Just what was in every
thing. He gave the inspector samples
of his lard. He claimed his custom
ers bought the lard compound made
of beef tallow as readily as they ever
did. Just then some women who were
regular customers came in and the in
spector being there, the grocer had to
tell them that the lard compound was
made of beef tallow. They didn't buy
1t, but took the pure pork lard. Nine