Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-08-20
Pure Food Law,

| JHc iIhCliNeih pNopiC SiiooiN N'AANO
\ resisting any movement which has for
it's purpose the de-vitalizing of the
pure food law. Some of the claims put
forth for this purpose are misleading
and even absurd, notably the one that
certain chemical compounds are
necessary in the preserving of ketchup
and other condiments to prevent pto-
maine poisoning. The fact is that
ptomaines do not exist in vegetable
products Ptomaines exist only In
meats and fish which are decaying and
it is particularly in fish that the most
They never appear in vegetable pro-
ducts, where decay is indicated by bac-
terra instead of bacilli. Such decom-
position is familiar to every housewife
in the mold which sometimes appears
on her preserves when the air has not
been wholly excluded.
The best possible argument against
| the use of chemical preservatives is the
fact that leading packing houses in the
country are putting up their products
without them, and the well-founded
suspicion that the desire to employ
the necessity of covering up" inferior
materials and uncleanly methods of
packing. The Pure Food law is a good
one, and should be Systematically and
vigorously enforced.
At the same time it should be uni
form in it's application. 1t is very de-
srable therefore that the various State
laws should be made to conform to the
national law, as where differences
exist they can only lead to confusion
and ineffective enforcement. For that
reason it is to be hoped that all the
States will adopt the national law,
which is generally conceded to be eff
fective. The National Association of
meeting at Denver on August 23rd, but
its disposition to depart from the ma
tionaI law, and advocate the passage
of state laws radically differing from
it, has, to a large extent, unsettled
public confidence in the value of it's
work. Commenting upon this attitude
of the Association the New York Jour-
nal of Commerce says:
"The National Pure Food Law,
framed by, prayed for, fought for, and
hailed as the capsheaf of American food
legislation by the State Food Commits
sioners, is now just three years old,
and is recognized as the most far
reaching statutory contribution to the
pubic veal of recent years. True to
their word, the Commissioners, eX-
cept in few instances, set to work
to repeal their old inadequate, diverse
state laws, and substituted new food
laws framed in the language of the
National Act but adapted in their adj
ministrative features to State pur-
roses. This work went on enthusiasts
tically during the Legislatures of 1907
and 1908 until practically all the States,
either through new State laws or adj
ministrativc rulings under the old
laws, were on the basis of National and
State uniformity and the grand re-
SUIT as Noble of Connecticut put it, |
was finally accomplished, with one law
for the entire country |
'In August, 1908, the unbroken front |
of this great movement wavered. The |
National law was denounced in the |
! Of to. fr,1 h.,
and moreover this same National AS |
ISOLATION of Food Commissioners adopt |
ed ill-considered resolutions and ap-
pointed committee to draft a new
Model Uniform Pure Food Law for |
enactment in the various States, This |
occurred at the Mackinac meeting of |
the Association, and although the COM
mittee's report has long been public, |
and the new model law differing widely |
from the National Law has been intro
ducod in several States during the past |
winter. yet it is announced that a new |
campaign will be started in its behalf |
at Denver this month at the 1909 meet
ing of the Association.
"Such campaign will not succeed
and ought not to succeed. If persisted |
in, it will lead either to the withdrawal !
of public confidence and support from
the Commissioners or the discredit of |
the entire pure food movement. and a |
return to old conditions of diverse laws |
IN the States. The present satisfactory |
basis of Federal and State control of |
the production and marketing of food |
products provides glory enough for |
all concerned, and the sooner the Ma |
tional Association returns to it's in
terrupted task of maintaining uniform
ity in the States under the unifying
principle of national law now,
thanks to 1t, an accomplished fact, |
and leaves strange goods alone, the
better it will be"