The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-02
DEFY FOOD LAW.
Many Dealers Will Pay No At
tention to It.
Federal Government Unable to
Enforce Its Provisions.
HAS No MACHINERY.
Prosecutions for Violation Fall
Upon Private Citizens.
No Officer Charged With Look
ing After Illegal Acts.

New York. Jan. 2.-The new year
finds the federal government impotent
to enforce the provisions of the pure
food and drug laws. There is no ma
chinery to enforce it. the only posi-
BILE manner in which it can be put into
operation being through complaint
and p fosecution by private citizens be-
fore the United States district court.
There is no appropriation to pay in
spectors and superintendent and it
VIII be several months before congress
can make such an appropriation and
organization can be perfected in the
several states. There is no officer of
any sort in this city at present charged
with enforcing the law.
Employ Glover Subterfuges.
There is a disposition on the part of
many dealers in drugs, groceries and
spirits to evade the provisions of the
new law through clever subterfuges.
Whtie there is large element dis
posed to meet the law squarely and
comply with all of its provisions there
Is an 'undeniably large contingent of
merchants in this city who are willing
TO seize upon plausible pretexts for
evading the law. So, as in the past,
consumers will continue to be suffer-
erS.
The violators are egged on and coun-
seed by trade organizations, which
have issued bulletins and circulars adj
N-s1ng how merchants may safely defy
the law. This is done under cover of
suggestions for complying with the
law.
In one instance grocers are advised to
continue coloring their products and
using question: BILE personalities under
the plea that the department of agri-
culture has not yet found out what
oolorings and preservatives are injur-
ious and limiting that even when a color |
ing material is declared to be harmful |
1t may still be used misunderstanding to |
the subterfuge of labelling it truthfully |
and selling it to the unsuSpccting trade. |
In otner trades. particularly the |
liquor trade, circulars ADVISE evasion |
or downright defiance-of the laws.
Authorities All at Sea.
Meanwhile the authorities in Wash |
ington are all at sea as to the interpre-
taIion of the provision of the act and |
last Saturday admitted that they could |
not advise the merchants of Ohio and
New York as to whether blended
whisky should be so labeled or wheth-
er it could be called whisky" at all.
The drug trade is in a chaotic state.
Some jobbing houses have advised the
retail druggists that the government |.
does notR7intend to senferce- the pro- !;
vision of the law relating to labelling Il
drugs until October next, while drug
trade journals warn their readers that
the government will sternly enforce
every jot and little of the law from to-
morrow morning on.
Some of the most famous lawyers in
the country, including Mr.. Choate
have advised clients that the pro-
visions of the law are so obscure, con-
Trajectory and impracticable that they
had best ignore them and await the
decision of government officials.
In short, the grocery, drug, candy
and liquor trade is in a state of unrest
and uncertainty. There seems to be
no common ground upon which the
government officers and the dealers
may meet
While most reputable dealers pro-
fess to be anxious to. obey the letter
of the law, others profess to see OBJ
stacles and loopholes which encourage
them to ., temporize and the honest
dealers feel forced to follow their lead.