The Detroit times., 1911-01-17
CRUSADER DRIVES
OUT PRISONERS
Of FOOD
How Inspector Cassidy, of Philadel-
phia, Waged Eight War on
Big and Little Rotten Food
Purveyors.
Standard Oil Co. and Big Packers
Among Those Hit BY In
vestigation.

NEW YORK, Jan. 17.-"When state
and nation fail to protect the people
against bad food. then individual
cities and individual citizens must and
. can protect themselves" writes Cleve
land Moffett, In "a history OF Philadel
phias war against impure foods, led
by Food Inspector II. r. Cassidy, In
Hampton's Magazine for February
which Is out today
When II. p. Cassidy accepted the
position OF special agent In the Phil
adelphia food department he knew lit
tie or nothing about foodstuffs. their
authorizations, their impurities.
That was several years ago. Cas-
sidy began studying the food problem
Then he acted. -Four o'clock one
morning saw Cassidy on the streets.
says the author OF Cassidy and the
rood Poisoners.' driving about with
horse and buggy, buying milk"
We don't have to work with brass
band" remarked Cassidy. In this
way he lifted a thousand samples of
milk. working every morning before
the oldfashioned inspector used to
start out on the job.
These specimens Of milk and cream
were analyZed by chemists, who prov
ed that more than one-half OF the milk
and cread used by Philadelphians at
that time had been harmfully treated
with boriC acid or formaldehyde. pop
ularly known as embalming fluid.
Wholesale arrests and convictions
OF milk dealers followed.
Then came meat Cassidy followed
the cold storage poultry. from the
packing houses, where they were
thawed out and puffed out. to the
butcher shops where they were dis
played as freshly killed" and sold at
high prices.
And the food agent learned that this
ancient meat was preserved not only
by cold but by chemicals. He found
out that many butchers were using
Jerusalem" on decayed meat. "Jerus-
alem" comes in tin boxes and Is
sprinkled on partly spoiled meat to
give 1t the rich. red color Of fresh
meat Chemist told Cassidy that 1t
was sulphites, powerful preservative
and disinfectant, the use Of which in
foods was prohibited by law.
Big and little butchers were arrest
meats came to the fronN
The candy counter came next. Cas-
sidy bought candy all over the city;
;,bout half OF the specimens contain
cd sulphites. Chemists got busy on
the ingredients. and found sulphites
In the glucose.
And here the food inspector ran up
against Standard Oil, for 1t was In
Standard Oil glucose factories that
the harmless yellow glucose had been
Goctored with this poisonous sub
stance to make 1t white and shining,
so that 1t could be passed off as gen
uine sugar sirup.
After a hard legal battle Cassidy
convicted the Standard OIL agents OF
poisoning little children and Standard
OIL had 10 settle all fines and haul
its poisoned product out OF the state.
Then the food inspector jumped
into the egg trade. He traced the
sOiled. rotten eggs, known to the trade
: rs riots and spots" from commission
houses TO the leading bakeries, where
they were sold at a fraction OF what
fresh eggs brought.
From the bakeries the riots and
spots" went onto the dinner table In
pastries. cakes and bread.
Backed up by Judge Barrat, who
delivered an opinion from the bench
that the rich criminal ought to go on
Jail just the same as the poor ones,
Cassidy started a thorough search OF
the whole city for impure foods.
He found Jewish butchers selling
meat, sausage and hamburger steaks,