The San Francisco call., 1906-06-22
PURE FOOD
LESSON IN
THE HOUSE
Mann Delivers an Illus
trated Lecture on
Adultefa1lts.
Space Before Speaker $
Desk Resembles a
Grocery.
Illinoisan Shows How
Poisons Are Used to
Deceive Public.


WASHINGTON, June 21.-The space
in front of the Speakers desk of the
House today resembled a small section
of a delicatessen store and q corner
grocery with cereals, jams, jellies, tins
of peas, tomatoes corn, bottles of
whisky and wine, imported sausages,
branded cherries and other edibles and
drinkables scattered over the tables.
To complete the picture there was a
standard scales with weights, grad
uate and a funnel These were used
to demonstrate the contention of the
majority of the committee on interstate
and foreign commerce that a pure food
bill is necessary for the protection of
the people. The House went into COM
mittee of the whole for the considera
tion of the bill, Mann beginning the
discussion.
Mann contrasted the features of the
Senate and the House bills, remarking
that it was not the aim of the House
committee on interstate and foreign
commerce to recommend legislation Is
to what the people should eat or drink.
but to call attention to what they were
eating or drinking.
Medicines now on the market adver-
tised in the strongest terms to cure the
opium habit said Mann. contain
enough opium to develop the habit
SOME FORMS OF ADULTERATIoN.
Most of the goods are not aduter-
ated according to Mann, and since the
pure food agitation which was begun a
number of years ago there has been a
decided reduction In adulterations
Yet said Mann, everywhere the
honest manufacturer or dealer goes he
is met by sharp and keen competition
from adulterations or short weights"
Calling the attention of the House to
the action of the Proprietary Associa-
tion in still insisting on the passage of
the Hepburn bill, he said the associa-
ton was afraid to come out in the open
and fight.
He read a letter from the German
American Extract Works, which told
how to make all kinds of liquors.
He said that this firm claimed to make
any kind of liquor out of ethyl alcohol
Black pepper, he said, was fruitful
source Of adulteration, the filler being
sold in fve-ton weights, according to
a letter which Mann read. Pepper ber-
ries, he said, were made out of tapioca
colored with lamp black
The coffee that we drink, mocha
and Java" said Mann, is generally
adulterated with Brazil coffee and
ground coffee with sawdust and even
bread crumbs"
COCKTAIL CHERRIES DYED.
Taking his position between the
tables, Mann began a rapid explana-
ton of every article there Stevens of
Minnesota handing the several articles
to him.
rs he a regular pharmacist?" asked
Gaines of Tennessee, speaking of Mann.
Bowing gracefully, Mann replied that
"the gentleman from Illinois has
borne the title of doctor for many
years He has demonstrated his right
to lecture before the university of the
House"
Taking up a bottle with bright
colored cherries, marked 'Maraschino
cherries" he explained that the cher
ries had been picked green; that they
were then bleached and colored with
aniline dye, and, holding up a bright
colored bit of cloth, he said:
This cloth was dyed with the same
dye"
What are these cherries for?" asked
a member.
Il understand they are used one at q
time in. a well-known drink" replied
Mann. amid laughter. some Of the MEM
bers recognizing the cocktail which
goes with the cherry.
HONEY MADE OF GLUCOSE.
Holding up bottle containing a
light-colored liquid, Mann said it was
honey.
"Yet it never saw a hive, much less a
comb. 1t is fresh from the glucose
factory"
Freezin, he said, was powder sold to
preserve meat. He admitted that it
might keep meats from spelling, but
said that it was most injurious to
health, being composed of sulphite OF
soda and red coal tar dye.
A fine grade of olive oil used by the
Union League Club of Philadelphia
turned out to be cotton seed OIL with
an adulterant.
Taking three cans of tomatoes. Mann
said they were Of different weight, but
all were bought for three-pound cans
THE department stores of New York,
Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington
and the mail order houses sell the
short-weight cans" said Mann. He in
sisted that standard cans ought to be
full weight.
The bill will be considered again to-
morrow.