Free press., 1906-03-03

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 leg
islatures; many have been offered to
Congress, but al thus far seem objec-
tionable.
It 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 govt commission or officer has the
right to fix food Standards to define
what the people shall and shall not eat,
for what agrees with enc may not
agree with another, and such act would
deprive the common citizen of his
personal liberty. The Postum Cereal
Co., 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 (the re
tail grocer), and, guided by this expert
ence have prepared a bill for submis-
sion to Congress which is intended to
accomplish the desired ends, and mas
much as a citizen of the u. S. has
right to food protection even when he
enters another State, it is deemed
proper that the govt take control of
this matter and provide a national
law to govern all the states. A copy
of the bill is herewith reproduced.
Sec. l governs the maker whether
the food is put up in small packages
sealed, or in barrels, boxes or other
wise.
Sec. 2 governs the retailer who may
open barrel and sell the food in
small quantities. When he puts the
goods into paper bag he must also
inclose a printed copy of the statement
of the maker which was affixed to the
original pkg, and inasmuch as the
retailer 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 them
selves.
The Postum Cereal Co, Ltd, for ex-
ample, have from the beginning of it's
existence printed on the outside of each
and every pkg. of Postum and Grape
Nuts food a truthful and exact state
ment of what the contents were made
of in order that the consumer might
know precisely what he CT 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 further right to a certainty
as to what he eats. Or he may be will
iTo 10 of iOII
part of fruit juices, sugar and a por-
ton of glucose. But he must be sup
piled with truthful Information of the
ingredients and be Permitted to use
his personal liberty to select his own
food accurately.
The people have allowed the slow
murder of infants and adults by tricky
makers of food, drink and drugs to go
on about long enough. Duty to oneself,
family and nation demands that every
man and woman join in an organized
movement to clear our people from
this blight. You may not be able to go
personally to Washington to impress
your Congressman, but you can, in a
most effective way tell him by letter
how your desire him to represent you
Remember the Congressman is in
Congress to represent the people from
his district and if a goodly number of
citizens express their views to him, he
secures very sure guide to duty. Re
member also that the safety of the
people is assured by insisting that the
will of the people be carried out, and
not the Vaccinations of the few for
selfish interests.
This pure food legislation is a pure
movement of the people for public pro-
lection. 1t will be opposed only by
those who fatten their pockets by de-
ceiving and inJuring the people. There
fore, if your Representative in Con-
gress evades his patriotic duty hold
him to strict accountability, and if
necessary demand equitable and hon
est service. This is a very different
condition than when q faction demands
class legislation of the Congressman
Several years ago the butter interests
of the country demanded legislation to
kill the oleomargarine industry and by
power of organization forced class leg
islation really unworthy OF a free peo-
pie. Work people wanted beef suet
butter because it was cheap and better
than much unc1ean milk butter, but the
dairy interests organized and forced
the legislation. The law should have
provided that pkgs. of oleomargarine
bear the statement of ingredients and