The Springfield herald., 1906-03-02
selection of food.


a right to. and now demands. 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 all thus far seem obJec-
| tionable.
| 1t has seemed difficult for politicians
| to formulate a satisfactory Dill 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 one 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 close knowledge of the
needs of the people and the details OF
the business of the purveyors CHE re-
tail grocer). and, guided by this expert
ence have prepared a bill for submits
sion to Congress which is intended to
accomplish the desired ends, and mas
much as 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. governs the retailer who may
open a barrel and sell the food in
small quantities. When he puts the
goods into a 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 guaI vntee
| 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 1t
upon the maker, wher properly be-
| longs.
The remaining sections explain them
selves.
Tie 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 truthful and exact state
ment 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 right to
expect not only an equivalent for the
cost, but further right to certainty
as to what he eats. Or he may be will
| ing to buy at less cost a jelly made
| part of fruit juices, sugar and por-
tion 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 you 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 a 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 n pure
movement of the people for public pro
lection. It will be opposed only by
those who fatten their pockets by de
ceivine and iniuring the people. There
fore. if your Representative in Con
gress evadcs his patriotic duty hold
him to strict accountability, and if
necessary demand equitable and hon
est service. This is a very different
condition than wi en n faction demands
class legislation of the Congressman
Several years ago the butter interests
of the country demanded Legislation tC
kill the oleomargarine industry and b,
power of organization forced class leg
islation really unworthy of n free REQ
rle. Work people wanted beef suci
butter because it was cheap and better
than much urclean milk butter. but the
dairy interests organized and forced
the legislation. The law should have
provided that pkgs. of oleomargarin
bear the statement Of ingredients ant
then l0. people who desire purchase Il