Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-03-01

People now demand the right to
know exactly what they eat
To be told by maker or retailer that
the food is pure is not satisfactory.
Candy may contain pure" white
clay or pure" dyes and yet be very
harmful. Syrups may contain pure"
glucose and yet be quite digestible and
even beneficial. Tomato catsup may
contain a small amount of salicylic or
boracic acid as a necessary preserva-
tive which may agree with one and
be harmful to another.
Wheat flour may contain a portion
of corn flour and really be improved.
Olive oil may be made Of cotton seed
oil. Butter may contain beef suet and
yet be nutritious.
The person who buys and eats must
protect himself and family, and he has
a right to, and now demands, a law
under which he can make intelligent
selection of food.
Many pure food bills have been in
troduced and some passed by State
legislatures; many have been offered
to Congress, but all thus far seem OBJ
jectionable.
1t has seemed difficult for politicians
to formulate a satisfactory bill that
would protect the common people and
yet avoid harm to honest makers and
prevent endless trouble to retailers.
No government commission or officer
has the right to fix food standards"
+n Trrbo 10 1NnnrN1A shall and
shall not eat, for what agrees with one
may not agree with another and such
act would deprive the common citizen
of his personal liberty. The Postum
Cereal Company, Ltd, perhaps the
largest makers of prepared foods in
the world, have naturally a close
knowledge of the needs of the people
and the details of the business of the
purveyors Che retail grocer and, guild
ed by this experience have prepared
bill for submission to Congress which
is intended to accomplish the desired
ends, and inasmuch as a citizen of the
Z. S. has a right to food protection
even when he enters another State it
Is deemed proper that the government
take control of this matter and pro
vide a national law to govern all the
states. 4 copy of the bill is herewith
reproduced.
Section / governs the maker wheth
er the food is put up in small pack
Sges sealed, or in barrels, boxes or
otherwise.
Sec. governs the retailer who may
open a barrel and sell the food in
small quantities. When ne puts the
goods into a paper bag he must also
enclose a printed copy of the statement
of the maker which was affixed to the
original pkg. and inasmuch as the re-
taller cannot undertake to guarantee
the statement of ingredients he must
publish the statement of the makers
and add his own name and address as
a guarantee of his selling the food as
it is represented to him, which relieves
the retailer of responsibility of the
truth of the statement and throws it
upon the maker, where it properly be-
longs.
The remaining sections explain
themselves.
The Postum Cereal Co, Ltd, for ex-
ample, have from the beginning of its
existence printed on the outside of
each and every pkg. of Postum and
Grape-Nuts food a truthful and exact
statement of what the contents were
made of in order that the consumer
might know precisely what he or she
was eating. A person desiring to buy,
for instance, strictly pure fruit jelly
and willing to pay the price has a right
to expect not only an equivalent for
the cost but a further right to a GER
tainty as to what he eats. Or he may
be willing to buy at less cost a jelly
made part Of fruit juices, sugar and a
portion of glucose. But he must be
supplied with truthful information of
the ingredients and be permitted to
use his personal liberty to select his
own food accurately.
The peODle have allowed the slow