The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-01-30
Pure Food Authorities Over
Country Coming to
His Rescue.
ARE NOT CONVINCED
BY REFEREE BOARD
President Has Hornets Nest Stir
red Up-The Decision May
Strengthen Pure Food Law.
By ]. c. WFLLIVER.

The pure food authorities of The va
rious States which have pure food laws
are coming to the rescue of DR.. Harvey
W. Wiley Government chemist and
food expert.
DR.. Wiley passed into sort OF
eclipse when the Presidents unofficial
referee board of famous chemists de-
cided that he was all wrong about the
use OF benzOate OF soda as 81 pTeserva-
tive. The experts said II didn't do any
harm, either to the food or TO the
person eating II, even when taken in
doses several times that used commonly
ln preparing foods
There was intimatiOn that DIT WILEY
would resign. But he didn't. He has
been through so many years Of this
tight, and il has been reported so many
times that he might quit ia disgust
that everybody familiar with the ante
cedents knows IL would take something
bigger than a reversal of his opinion
10 pry him out Of his position. The
doctor. proposes to stay and fight, and
his friends are staying with him.
Siding With Wiley.
State chemists and pure food com
missiOners from many States are TAX
ing sides with Wiley. They insist. in
letters to the President. to Secretary
Wilson, and to members Of Congress,
that Il would be no less than a calamity
10 have Wiley Unseated at this time
AS a rule, they refuse TO be convinced
by the experiments Of the referee
board and insist that no change m
regulations ought 10 be made till the
publication in tull OF the report on that
boards experiments. Il is in6tated by
the Wiley protagonists that there must
have been something wrong with the
conditions surrounding the experiments
~ the referees
The pure fOOd law was fathered IN
Fe two houses by Senator Hepburn
and Representative Hepburn Both
these gentlemen have been called upon
by delegations OF the state food author
tiles insisting that, instead Of unload
ing Wiley, the law ought TO be strength
eued to make his work more effective.
President Roosevelt has had some
thing OF q hornets nest about his own
ears. too. he has been receiving and
listening TO delegations on both sides
Of the question. trying to make him an
expert in the chemical and physiolOgi-
cal questions involved
Increased His Troubles.
The President has created tVyo boards
on the food law, and each time he
seems To have added to his troubles,
instead Of ending them.
The pure food law provides for the ap-
prevail OF pure food regulations by a
board composed Of the secretaries Of
Agriculture, the Treasury, and Com
merce and Labor. This is board No. /.
The chief chemist was originally a sort
OF scientific adviser 10 this board. When
his rulings became the subject OF much
protest. Secretary Wilson hired q new
chemist. DR.. Dunlap, who came from
the University OF Michigan, and created
a board on chemistry, consisting OF Wi
ley, Dunlap and the solicitor Of the
department George =. McCabe. This
satisfied the anti Wiley people for "a
time; but not for long. The new board
Tod
protests began to come in again.
The President resolved the matter by
appointing his unofficial board of lead
ing chemists In big educational institU-
tons These made most thorough
study of the sodium beEZOate question, /
and overturned all the Wiley views on
Instead OF accepting this supreme /
Court decision ana forgetting all the /
determinations by the lower courts
the Stat" chemists and food commits /
food advocates are now assailinE the I
supreme court OF chemistry Ia the most /
extreme manner.
One Form of Attack.
One form the attack has taken. is a /
demand TO know what business such a /
board has intruding it's views in such
a question. The law does not provide /
for il, there is no appropriation TO pay
salaries or expenses and in general II (
is declared utterly eXtTa-Iegal The /
people Who Ike TO criticiSe the Presi-
dent ind il I'm another occasion for
him with executive usurpa-
ton, and this time they allege that .
by this process of uSuTpatiOn he has
succeeded in taking all the teeth out
Of the food law
What the state pure food authorities.
and other friends of the law want Is .
the establishment by law of standards .
Of food; that is specification OF adul- .
-erants, preserVauvess and COlOTinE mat
tiers. which may or may not be used.
and specific Statement OF the prODor-
tons which may be employed if thew
are allowed at all.
The movement for establishing. stand /
ards has gained a good deal Of ground
as a result of the referee boards de
cisiOn. and II is apparent now that the
decision, which at first seemed a sad
blow TO the new law, may result in its
amendment into q FAR more effective I
measure than ever before.
Z