The Falls City tribune., 1910-07-15
AS TO THE PURE FOOD LAW
DR.. MoRSMAN TELLS OF IT'S
USES AND ABUSES.
States Rights" Theory Crops Out
in Pure Food Laws One
National Law Preferable

The druggist comes under the act
ion OF the pure food laws just as doe.
The grocer. The dispensing physician
comes legally under the law, but thu
far he has been exempt from inspec
ton. It is likely to be SOM time be
fore the Nebraska law is enforce,
against the physician. The druggist
is compelled to buy only of reputable
concerns, brands and grades that the
Inspector will accept or else his
goods viii be sampled and examined
with possible penalties.
This law is of great benefit to the
public. but like most new laws there
are defects in it and in some ways
it works n decided injustice to the
dealer. Probably time will remedy
these defects, and the law will be a
benefielent one. It has already done
much good,
IL would be much better in every
way IL We could have one national law
applicable to the entire country, and
no state laws, but We havn't %outgrown
the states rights" theory yet, and
the government law can be applied on.
ly to Interstate business. The Nebras.
ka law is modelled after the National
law, but ii cannot enforce a penalty
outside the state, and so penalties the
seller of goods inside the state who
may be entirely innocent. In a state
like Nebraska a very large portion oil
its manufactured goods, foods and
drugs, are made or put up outside OF
he state and adulteration and mis-.
branding is more apt to be done by
the manufacturers. Now In the matter
of drugs it is absolutely impossible for
the dealer to know certainly that ev.
cry article he buys is of standard
quality. That can only be determined
be expensive assays or chemical analy
sis. The goods may be guaranteed to
him, but the guarantee under the Ma.
tional law applies only to the Original
package, unbroken. The moment he
breais the package to sell from II
or To put 1t In his shelf bottles the
guarantee is only just as good as the
%guarantor chooses To make 1t. or al
least the retailer would have to prove
that the goods were the original ones
untampered with, In most cases that
would be exceedingly difficult. Many
persons think that goods bearing the
guarantee statement are guaranteed
by the government. Not at all. The
guarantee is to the government. The
manefa turer guarantees. under a
nrov'si of the law, that he will
o = the law in regard to his prod.
uets TIE government can bring act
ioa a.Hst him II he does not fulfil
hfs ~ antee, bat catching comes
befor hanging" rs The old saying
mas H..
The state law should be so worded
that whore the ~infraotion was made
before the goods entered the state.
the case could be turned over to the
government for prosecution and nc
action taken against the dealer in
the state if he was innocent of wrong
intent. The action of the law is
the same as against a dealer in con.
traband goods, but in this ease the
dealer may not know that his goods
are wrong. while all dealers in con.
traband goods could and did know
they were wrong. The Nebraska Law
if rigidly applied AS IT is WORDED
would punish an innocent citizen fol
a wrong committed by an outsider.
To the this law cannot
help but be beneficial and it has
already been so. Manufacturers and
dealers have all been made more
careful. 1t has not tended to make
anything cheaper. On the contrary
the trend has been to make good
goods higher priced, because 1t has
removed the competition of low
grade goods
There has been much exaggerated
talk about the prevalence of adultera
ton and sensational stories have
been told of how the public has
been duped and swindled. In mos
cases of this kind the public got wha.
it paid for, but didn't get what il
bought. There was no time wher
those who wanted high grade good:
couldn't obtain them, II they pait
the price. 1t was the constant de
mand for cheap goods, that was the
animus of adulteration. The coLsum