The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1908-01-09
NORTH DAKOTA'S CHAMPION
Of Unadlteraed and Properly Labeled Foods, Bread
stuffs, Beverages Paints, Drugs and Medicines


against him. Brides offered, personal
damage suits instituted. masses Of
supposedly aggrieved interests work
ed up to protest. persuade and appeal
to him and to the legislative body be-
hind him, personal threats made-all
have resulted alike in the discontinue
of the aggrieved Interests" A Pc
culiar feature of these fights is that
most manufacturers feeling them
selves unfavorably affected by his
work have ultimately acknowledged
that they were gamers by it. 1t is,
in fact, as easy to meet competition
upon one standard as upon another,
the only real requisite being that
there is a recognized standard, and
that is precisely what the North Da-
kota statutes have supplied. That a
slightly higher price may in some in
stances have to be charged for the i'm.
proved commodity has never been
seriously objected to by the consum-
ers, who feel that they "know what
they are getting, anyhow" and it can
hardly be urged that this situation
works any permanent or serious hard
ship upon the producer.
Perhaps the most spectacular and
insistant fight thus far made-and lost
in the effort to overthrow "the
North Dakota idea," of which Ladd is
the foremost exponent, is that in which
lie has lately beaten prominent mixed
paint manufacturers. This litigation
has recently terminated in the courts
-unsucccssfully to the plaintiff inter.
ests- and is now matter of history.
A volume might be written of the de.
tails of this fight, going down through
6. long list of phases, beginning with
the usual premise, assumed by the
manufacturers, that their products
were equal or superior to those
Which could be produced from the in.
gradients which under the professors
working code are held to be standard.
Ladd literally intrenched himself "be-
hind fence" on this proposition
(albeit 1t may be said that this was
in part through the ultimate co.opera-
ton Of the paint manufacturers them.
selves). and Ladd's paint fences" are
now famous for what they have proved
as to the relative covering value and
durability of various prepared mix.
lures. A representative of promi.
nent manufacturing company when
inspecting the fence" one day re.
marked "that paint, there, Indicating
one) seems to be about the poorest
you have" do you know whose it
is?" asked the commissioner. And
when the inquirer knew, from the rec!
ord, he went away musing upon the
frailty of the manufacturing substitu.
tionist-his own company chief among
them.
The latest, and, it is said, the great
est, undertaking of Commissioner
Ladd, is in his fight against so.called
"bleached" dours. If his undertaking
along this line has been carefully
planned, so also has been the in
trenchment of the manufacturers, and
already a legal battle royal is under
way. What is to come out of it should
hardly be too confidently counted upon
until the courts have had their say.
1t is sufficient to note that much
hinges upon the success or failure of
North Dakota's legislation and the
commissioners Interpretation of it as
covering the present bleaching process
used In the manufacture of this CON-
modify. 1t would hardly be too much
to predict that outside milling inter.
ests will not suffer the case to 70
against the flourmakers selling in
this state If active legal support can
prevent it. for flour bleaching by chem.
ical and other processes has long since
come to be an almost inseparable part
Of the milling business as now con,
Quoted. But Commissioner Ladd's own
affiliations with the leading authorities
along legal and technical lines should
not be underestimated. Let it be
borne in mind that he has for years,
as an attache of the United States ag.
ricultursl experiment station, been in
touch with the leading government
chemists and food experts, and that
in this branch of the pure food fight,
as in others, much may hinge for the
entire country upon the success or fail
ure of present litigation. Ladd has
not yet been beaten upon any techni.
cal, legal or administrative part Of
his work. He is considered the strong
man of the West if not Of the country,
in his calling, and If he is to be beaten
In his great climacteric undertaking it
will be because the flour manufactur.
ers have better cards." better sup.
port or a better contention for their
side Of the case-and Commissioner
Laid, who is an expert, thinks they
have not.
King Buys Theater Boxes. 49,,
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