The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-26
FEDERAL LAW AND
 THE PIE MAKERS Pure Food Act Effects Enor-
 nous Industry ALSO HURTS CANDY MAKER Only Purest Dyes Must Be Used In Future-Many conscientiously
 Trying to Obey the
 Law.
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

SpA coo to every part Ol lfllS great cOun-
 try. Few know, however, that the great
 CT part of the pies sold by bakeries in all cities are made in Boston. Great
 factories in the Hub" are devoted to
 the concoction of "pie filling" The fill
 ing is packed in barrels, tubs, pails and
 sent out to any baker who will buy. As ] the bakers can buy the filling cheaper than they can make 1t at the bakeshop,
 and as 1t saves much time and labor, most bakers arc patrons of the filling factories.
 The average soverign American citi-
 zen who grabs off a few minutes from
 the thread mill about noon and seeks the precinct of a dairy lunch counter is
 sure to eat pie. If he is in Washing
 ton or St. Louis, he probably thinks the
 pie was made right there. Not so. The filling came from Boston, most likely,
 in tub and the local baker provided
 only the crust and the fire. The filling
 factories use real fruit, and an apple pie
 is made of apples, a "punkin" pie of
 pumpkins. It is not the fruit that the
 pure food experts have assailed
 A tub of blackberry pie filling made in 1
 petites of them that gather at the lunch
 counters of Chicago must in the nature
 of things be compounded of blackberries
 and sugar. Such mixture if left to
 itself will ferment and spoil Therefore
 the pie filling factories have been in the
 habit of adding a certain quantity of 1 benzoate of soda to the mixture in order 1 to preserve It. Now comes pr. w. H. Wiley, the chief chemist of the depart ment of agriculture and head of the pure food experts, and declares that benzoate of soda is harmful to health and must not be used The pie filling makers cry out we will be ruined Dr. Wiley says they can made the filling without the use of a preservative by packing it in cans or In glass. The pie men say this will bankrupt them, IS the bakers will prefer to make their own filings rather than to pay for the extra expense. Dr.
 Wiley is obdurate. Then the pie men say they must put up enough filling at each particular fruit season to last whole year, and that 1t cannot be done without
 using preservatives. pr. Wiley retorts, ] Gan the fruit, put up a canning fac tory where you get your fruit"
 | As the prohibition of the use of ben zoate of soda would have worked d great hardship upon manufacturers, and as there Is a difference of opinion among experts as to whether it is harmful or not, the pure food authorities have de- cided that there will be no prosecutions for the use of this preservative in foods
 
 l untl next year. Thus the pack of 1907
 will be preserved as heretofore, but the manufacturers have been warned that they must make arrangements to do without the preservatve for the season ot 1908. All of which affects not only pies,
 but ketchups, jams, jellies, pickels, mince
 meat, salt-fsh and many other articles of food.
 What do the bakers say? Some of them agree with the pie men and think it is q shame. but others are inclined to think the law is a good one and should be enforced. One man prominent in the bak- ing trade, said: "I have been in several countries and have never seen such poor stuff used for filling as in the United States. This fact is the more surprising in view of the fact that the American housewife Is without an equal as pre-
 server of fruits, although her English sisters may excel her in making jams and jelies' The leading trade journals arc inclined to the side of the pie fill l ing makers on the benzoate of soda ques- 1 tion, but taken as a whole they are
 hearty supporters of the pure food law. Of the millions of pies eaten in Amer ica every day, a great number come from the kitchen range and have been prepared by the housewife. She knows how. But even her triumps of culinary achievement have been attacked by the physicians as
 unwholesome. New Englanders who have eaten pie three times day for four score years deny these charges bitterly. The bakery pie with its imported filings an6 it's quota of chemicals is a newer i thing and has expanded it's sphere of l influence with the growth of the quick lunch counter Without pie the dairy lunch cannot exist and it is safe to say that seme way will be found to make the filling and ship it over the country to save the pie it's topmost place on the national noon-day bill of fare. Those candy makers who are united in ! the national association of confectioners, claim they actually made the pure food bill Says the national organization: Law UT llp ldN, DuSlltsS integrity anu cOiN-
 mon sense demand of every manufacturer
 of food products that he shall not only
 use ingredient that is injurious or detrimental to health, or misrepresent his goods by label or appearance, but, also, that he shall make and pack them under i sanitary conditions. which no man who eats food will take exception.
 Nevertheless the candy makers are hay ing their troubles, along with the pie men. Just fifty-one years ago a youn- chemist in England was trying to man ufacture quinine. He did not succeed
 but by accident began to experiment with dark substance which he had obtained in his work. The result was the color 'mauve" Thus Sir William Henry Per kins, as he was called when he died few months ago. opened the way for the mak- ing of anlline dyes. Nearly 2O0O of the dyes are made from coal tar now. The capital invested in the United States in the business is s100,000,00O in Germany the industry gives employment to l20.- 0uJ per sons.
 Almost from the time of this discovery the candy makers have been using coal tar dyes to color their confectons. Dyes used ir candy must not fade, must not taste. and of course. they must not be poisonous. Many have been used in the past, however, which the pure food ex- perts deem injurious. The candy makers under the law may not use any dyes ex- cept those which the government says are harmless. Certain fruit and animal colorings are admittedly harmless and may be used. But the candy makers want to use the synthetic colors be- cause they are better and more easily