Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1906-03-10

Inc 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
jectlonable.
1t has seemed difficult for politicians
to formulate 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" to de-
fine 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 per-
sonal liberty. The Postum Cereal Co.,
Ltd, perhaps the largest makers or
prepared foods in the world, have nat
urally close knowledge of the needs
of the people and the details of the
business Of the purveyors, (the retail
GROCER. and, gGided by this, experience
Congress which is intended to accom-
push 'hN hNHll GU CllDt anu
as citizen Of the U. S. has a right to
food protection even when he enters
another State it Is deemed proper that
the govt take control of this matter
and provide national law to govern
all the States. A copy of the bill is
herewith reproduced.
Sec. governs the maker whether the
food Is put up in small packages sealed,
or in barrels, boxed or otherwise.
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
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
1t is represented to him which relieves
the retailer of responsibility of the
truth of the statement and throws 1t
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 its
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 or she was eat
ing. A person desiring to buy, for in
stance, 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 certainty
as to what he eats. Or he may be
willing to buy at less cost jelly made
part of fruit juices, sugar and portion
of glucose. But he must be supplied
with truthful information of the ingre-
dLents and be permitted to use his per-
sonal 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 60
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 per-
sonHlly to Washington to impress your
Congressman, but you can, in 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 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 injurlng the people. There
fore, il your Representative in Con-
gress evades his patriotic duty hold him
to strict accountability and II necessary
demand equitable and honest service.
This is a very different condition than
when faction demands class leglsla-
ton 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 free peo-
pie. Work people wanted beef suet
butter because it was cheap and better
than much unclean milk butter, but the
dairy interests organized and forced the
legislation. The law should have pro,
vlded that pkgs. Of oleomargarine bear
the statement of ingredients and then
let people who desire purchase 1t for
Just what 1t is, and not try to kill 1t by
| a heavy tax. Manufacturers some
times try to force measures 10 their