Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-05-22
FIGHT FOR PURE FOOD.
II Has Almost Put an End to Adulter-
alton Once So Common.

American manufacturers whose busi-
ness extends beyond the shadows or
their factory walls has almost gone
out of existence. "No profit in adul-
teration is the explanation. Even the
most persistenlly dishonest manufac-
turers are learning about the lack OF
profit.
| Cause of this moral regeneration
Food and drugs act of June 80, 1906
i-called the pure food law in popular
speech-the poor food law by those
who have worried their heads with
questions as to how the act shall be
administered.
No one has yet gone to Jail on ac-
count of a violation of the law. Rob-
ert y. Harper, president Of the Wash
ington board of trade, president of
national bank and all-around respec-
table citizen of the nations capital,
would have gone behind the bars had
President Roosevelt been able to per-
suade Police Judge Ivory G. Kimball
that that is the best place for him.
Not a Brain Food.
Harper was found guilty by a jury
of his peers of concocting prepara-
ton and selling it as a cure for head
ache and a brain food. He called 1t
"curforhedake" and a "brainfude,'
hoping by this crude imitation or
Rooseveltian spelling to evade that
UhInn
forbids the use of brands or labels
that are false or misleading. The fal-
sity lies in the invitation to the pros
pective purchaser to believe that he is
buying a cure for headache which at
the same time is a brain food. AS a
matter of fact. the buyer was getting
an acetanilid preparation that eased
the ache by putting brake on the
heart.
Mr.. Harper, having manufactured
the stuff i'm the District of Columbia,
was fined $500 for the offense. Hav-
ing sold it in the District of Columbia,
he was fined $500 for that Had he
made it in Maryland and sent it into
the District of Columbia to be sold he
would have been fined only 5000. That
is because the Federal government
has no power to punish a man for
making dope" within the territorial
limits of a sovereign state. It's Juris-
diction attaches itself only after the
stuff crosses a boundary into another
state.
Doctorine Coffee.
That there is no profit in adultera-
ting articles of food may be inferred
from the fact that "a large burlap
bags of coffee, worth probably $500,
were burned by the government Off
cials who had seized it because no one
would claim it. They found it in
freight warehouse at Nashville, Tenn.
Each grain had been coated with lead
chroniate, which is probably better
known as chrome yellow.
Each berry looked good to the eve
Before the enactment of the pure food
law it would have sold well on the
market because of it's beautiful looks
But the owner or owners, when they
learned that the government inspec-
tors had possession of it, knew that
they would have to pay more in fines
for their attempt to hide the defects
than the whole consignment was
worth. So all the men in Nashville
who sell coffee solemnly declared that
they knew nothing about its owner
ship.
A few weeks ago 10000 gallons of
wine were seized in New Orleans be-
cause the liquid had been adulterated
and misbranded. The man who made
it simply threw up his hands and ask
ed the government to give it back to
him so that he could put an honest
brand on the containers. The gov
ernment put him under a heavy bond
conditioned upon the faithful perfor-
nance of the agreement. and let him
take it back.
Glucose In Syrup.
Another New Orleans, seizure was 30
barrels of syrup branded "open ket-
tie" The government chemists found
that instead of being of the highest
quality cane syrup, the liquid contain
ed a considerable percentage of corn
syrup, or, as it is probably better
known, glucose. That stuff was also
taken back by the now saddened man.
ufacturer. who shed tears as he
branded the barrels truthfully and
figured the amount of his loss on that
little transaction.
And good old Tama Jim Wilson,
Secretary of agriculture, is the man
to whom theoretical credit is due for
this wonderful change that has come
about in less than one year after the
law was put into full effect. AS secre-
tary of the department of agriculture
the primary responsibility is upon
him. Associated with him, by the
terms of the statute, are secretaries
Cortelyou and Straus.
But the real credit for the great
change-that is, the credit for the
work accomplished-belon to the
members of the board Of food and
drug inspection, composed Of DR.. Har-
vey W. Wiley, whose name is sufficient
to tell who he is; DR.. Frederick L.
Dunlap. associate chemist of the de-
partment of agriculture, and George
Patrick McCabe, solicitor for that
part of the executive branch of the
government. They are the ones who
thrash out the hard questions con-
cerning the construction to be placed
upon the law and decide the chemical
questions that come along every day
A Supervisory Board.
When the very knottiest questions
of chemistry come along President
Roosevelt has a board of five most
eminent chemists, under the presiden-
cy of Doctor Remsen, of Johns Hop
kins. to tell him whether Wiley and
Dunlap have come to correct conclu-
sion in respect to the matter now un-
der discussion. That RemSen board
is now working on the question
whether benZoate of soda. the preser-
vative found in nearly all condimen-