The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-26
'Getting'' Dr.. Wiley.


 ficials who believe Hhat laws that have been passed in the interest of the public should be enforced in the interest of the public. And he not only believes it, but he acts on it.
 It is probably no exaggeration to say that no law that has been placed on the federal statute books in re- cent years has been enforced with the same energy and freedom from favor itism as has the federal Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906. It is a regrettable fact that the sympathies of pr. Wtley's superiors in the De- partment of Agriculture have always seemed to be in the direction of those interests that have amassed fortunes by adulterating drugs and doping the fOOd-supplies of the country.
 If the pure food law has been a powerful instrument yielded in the interest of the people instead of a books, 1t is because the chief .of the Bureau of Chemistry-Dr. Harvey w. Wiley-has made it so.- He has made it so in the fact of opposition such as cannot be conceived by those not ac- quainted with the actual facts. And that opposition, to the shame of the government be it said, has not come exclusively from outside sources.
 While it is only one of the fights that pr. Wiley has had to wage against vested wrongs, the sodium benzoate controversy was possibly the best known and most sensational. AS result of the knowledge gained from a series of experiments; Dr. Wiley Held that, under the Food and Drugs Act the addition of this chemical to foods should be deemed adulteration. The interests affected at once brought pressure to bear at Washington, and were able, through an autocratic use 1f l-A@ istence a body whose function was to pass on the various findings of Dr. Wiley. This body was technically known as the Referee Board of Con- sulting Scientific Experts, title which has been coloquially shortened to cisions to be handed down by this years before the final one Is given Secretary Wilson gave permission for the use of such chemicals as sodium benzoate, saccharin, copper, sulphate, etc.
 The decision of the Referee Board on the sodium benzoate question is now history. It was thae sodium ben zoate 'in small doses" is not harm full. On the strength of these find- ings, Dr. Wiley's superiors gave the manufacturers permission to use so- dium benzoate not only in small uOS6S UuI III any QudullLy they SdW fit, requiring only that the amount of this chemical they found it con- venient. to use should be stated on. the label!
 On the question of saccharin, the Referee Board upheld Dr. Wiley in his contention that it was deleterious to health. The Department of Agricul- ture thereupon declared that after Ju- ly 1, 1911, all saccharin- containing foodstuffs should be declared adulter- ated. Again the food adulterators protested. Then the Department of Agriculture, with its fine sense of justice to the interest of manufac- turers and it's equally fine indifference to the interests of the public, at once extended the period of probation for saccharin until May 1, 1912 Prob, ably before that date arrives another extension will be granted.
 These points, which have been dis merely recalled to make clear the enormous handicap under which Dr. Wiley has been placed in his attempt. to enforce the Food and Drugs Act in the public's interest. If space per- mitted, it might also be well to recall the high-handed way in which the Sec retary of Agriculture, after his con- version to the benzoate camp, brought. to bear the enormous influence and prestige of his department in jam ming through the convention of the Association of State and National. Food and Dairy Departments a set of resolutions endorsing the report of the Referee Board on .the use of sodium benzoate. Reference might also be made not only to Golfers statement that Vice-President Sherman showed great solicitude for the Duffy Malt Whiskey concern when pr. Wiley'sI subordinates were Investigating it. but
 hot mans son is financially interested in the firm of catsup makers that was chiefly responsible for the creation of the Referee Board.
 Enough has been said, however, to- make clear to the reader how oner- ous Dr. Wiley's position has been. Now comes the report from washing ton that Dr. Wiley's enemies have at last found a technical point on which they can ask for his dismissal and of course, they are playing their hand for all it is worth. Briefly the charge against pr. Wiley is that he employed a pharmacognosist of na- tional standing, Dr. H. H. Rusby, in such a way as technically to violate the rules of the department. Dr. Rus by held his services at $20 a day. Un- der law recently passed an expert can be hired at a salary not to ex- ceed s11 a day. pr. Wiley, believing C1dC Lne puollS ihICiCS WCIO DCSl conserved by having the services of a big man for part of the time rath- CT than the services Of a second-rate man all the time, recommended that Dr. Rusby be employed for so many days during the year, that the maxi mum salary permitted by the depart ment would total the minimum remu- neration that would be accepted by Dr. Rusby This agreement was not made privately, but had been taken up by Dr. Wiley with his superiors and apparently agreed to by them. Now pr. Wiley's action in this mat ter has been passed on adversely by what is referred to as the Commit teee on Personnel, a committee com- posed of men who are knawn to have been open antagonists, if not actual enemies, of the chief of the Bureau of Chemistry Attorney General kersham-another gentleman whose solicitude for the interests" Is we'll that the Presi- dent approve the dismissal of Drs. H. | w Wiley, W. D. Bigelow and H. H. | Rusby and the reduction in rank of Dr. L.. F. Kebler, who for years has been Dr. Wiley's able and energetic assistant.
 At the time of writing, President Taft has made no official move in the matter and it is said to be the opinion in official circles at Washington that probably the President will merely reprimand Dr. Wiley for his technical orror The country awaits with ip- !