Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-05-14
State Food and Dairy Depart
ment Makes Some Important
Discoveries
STATE LIQUOR LAW! VIOLATED
Some so-called Soft Drinks Contain
Il Percentage Of Observation-Disclosures
ist crssne Gives Out Figures On the
c.ssit;on d lowe. Fruit Crop, Com
s5s5sis5f5 a. X; 81 iflaH IA
pared to 1907.
special to T,mes-Republican.

1 Special to Times-Republican.
Des Moines, May 1.-THE laboratory
3of the state food and dairy commits
Sloners department for the next sew
Aral days will resemble in some re-
4 epects q "soft drinks" emporium. Sort
drinks are to be put thru the test to
zee what they are made of and 1t Is
aiready ascertained that some Of them
not only do not comply with the pure
S0od law, but are In violation OF the
nuact law as well unless the persons
selling the same have taken out. a
mulct tax license.
Va short time ago one of the state
food inspectors brought in seine 'ara
elder. 1t was given into the hands Of
Hrof. y. Raymond Chittiek. the DEPART
ment chemist and his examination dis
{ Hlosed the fact that tho the hard
cider was being sold by a reputable
t0cer Il in fact contained 4 per cent
I S& alcohol which is more than Is or
1aAarily contained in beer. The gro-
| - was notified over the telephone that
while the hard cider did not conflict
with the pure food laws 1t did conflict
with the mulct law and that unless he
wanted the temperance people to get
1fter him he had better not sell any
more, Is
81 lust now the department IS work
ing on another line of soft drinks"
There are manufactured beverages
that go by various names but which
are nearly always found TO be one and
4 the same things. They are given fancy
I names similar to Ruby Foam and Sill
ver Plume The label on the bottle
says they are temperance drinks and
.fntoxicating and ghealthful. When
the cork Is pulled there Is pop and
IL liz and when the stun Is poured into.
glass there is considerable amount
of foam on top that resembles drink
I that has made at least, one American
city famous.
A bottle Of this material was put
thru the laboratory test at the de-
partment's laboratory the other day It
has finished part of the route, enough
to ascertain that there is 2 per cent
+ of alcohol in It This is little less
than the standard amount Of alcohol
Ia beer. The department is yet ignor-
sant of the methods by which the stuff
( Is made, but when the laboratory ex-
elimination is comp,eted this will be
known. It is supposed that 1t is Moth
Steamed to get some of the alcohol out
- 4 a
decrease the percentage of alcohol.
ss An Investigation of the mulct law,
8 however. has disclosed that a beverage
containing any alcohol is not tenn
perance drink or at least does not es-
cape the requirement for paying the
nnulct tax. The law requires certain
things concerning intoxicating drinks,
h prohibiting their sale unless the mulctI
tax Is paid and provides that a bever-
age shall be considered Intoxicating If
ut contains alcohol. 1t does not fix
any minimum or maximum amount Of
alcohol that it can contain, but pro-
vides that IL 1t contains any alcohol
8 At all 1t shall be deemed intoxicat-
ling.
Incidentally 1t has been learned that
i Agiarke amount of this so-called tenn
: perance or soft drink business is ga-
ms on in the state in which the bever-
/ age Is sold as a soft drink" by per-
sons who make no pretense at paying
tho mulct tax.
While the pure food law is not vio-
lated in these soft drinks" the mulct
law Is. and the goods in many in
stances in the smaller cities and towns
! are being handled by grocery stores.
In order that the public may have the
Formation, Mr.. H. r. Wright, the state
food and dairy commissioner. will put
the Information ascertained from the.
! analysis OF these products in the next
, bulletin to be issued
Wesley Greene, state horticulturist.
today gave out the first estimates of
this years fruit crop based on careful
reports from all sections of the state.
{ The figures show that in practically
everything the state this year will have
equal or better crops than in 1907. The
report Of the condition of the fruit for
/ this year at this time, in com garrison
with the crop of last year is as fol- 1
lows:
1905. 1907.
L.