Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-14
PURE FOOD PROSECUTIONS
NUMBER 312 IN YEAR
Or. Wiley, Chief Chemist, Sub
mits His Annual
Report.

The annual report of DR.. H. w. Wiley,
the chief chemist of the Department of
Agriculture, just made public deals with
the multitude of technical investigations
that the bureau has carried on, ranging
from the adulteration of morphine and
belladonna to the loading of sole leather
with glucose and Epson salts.
The first work of the bureau mentioned
in the report is the enforcement Of the
food and drugs act of 1906. The bureau
made the customary inspection Of thou
sands of samples of domestic and i'm
ported foods and drugs and as a result
there were 3l2 prosecutions. The total
number of official samples collected was
$500.
Owing to the decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States in what was
known as the johnson cancer case"
there will be no further attempt to prose-
cute patent medicine proprietors for
making misleading statements as to the
curative properties of their preparations.
DR.. Wiley says that as the Supreme Court
has held that false statements of the
curative properties of nostrums is not
misbranding within the meaning of the
law, there is no need for prosecuting in
vestigation further in this line.
Preserved Egg Trade.
very large portion of the bureaus
work, according to the report, was spent
in connection with the sardine investga
ton, and the aduteration of vinegar,
bleached flour and the sale of preserved
egg products The report says that in
spite of the many cases In which the
department has proved these preserved
eggs filthy, decomposed and unfit for
human food the trade in them does not
seem to diminish
Attention has been paid to the use of
decompOsed tomato stock in the manu-
facture of ketchups and sauces. to the
false branding of Mocha and Java"
coffee and to the presence of arsenic and
the salts of tin in canned goods.
There has been a great deal Of adul-
teration discovered in imported drugs that
are not sold directly to the public as are
patent medicines. but that are used in
drug stores in filing prescriptions. Many
of these shipments have been turned back
to the country of origin.
Sole Leather Loaded"
A great deal Of important work has
been done in connection with leather
adulteration. 1t is found that nearly IS
per cent of sole leather Is loaded with
glucose and Epson salts to increase it's
weight. This interferes with the wear
ing qualities. According to the investi-
CATION nearly 125. 600. 900 pounds Of leather
has thus been treated and injured and
the public has paid the cost of 12,OO0.0O0
pounds of adulterants and the expense
of working them into the leather. These
adulterants also make the leather resist
the absorption of tannin and the result
is that enough tannin to have made 49,
OOO, 600 pounds more of leather has gone
to waste.
There has been a great deal of work
in the papermaking laboratory and va
rious new substances for papermaking
have been tried, with good results. 1t
has been found that there is great
field for making strong manila paper and
cardboard in the pine woods of tho
south. wood that so far papermak-
ing is concerned is now waste product.