Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-07-25
AZ to Wiley and Wilson.
journal American Medical .Associa

tion).
If the pure food law has been pow
erful instrument welded In the inter-
est Of the people instead of q musty
dead letter on the statute books. it is
because the chief of the bureau OF
chemistry-Dr. Harvey w. Wiley-has
made it so. He has made it so In the
face Of opposition such as can not be
conceived by those not acquainted with
the actual facts. And that opposition.
to the shame of the government be It
said. has not come exclusively from
outside sources.
While Il is only one of the fights that
DR.. Wiley has had to wage against
vested wrongs, the sodium benzoate
controversy was possibly the best
known and most sensational. AS a re-
suit 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. thru an autocratic use Of
executive power to bring into exist
ence a body whose function was to
pass on the various findings OF DR.
Wiley This body was technically
known as the referee board Of consult
ing scientific experts. title which has
been colloauially shortened to referee
board" Pending the decisions to be
handed down by this board-and, APP
parently. it may be years before the
final one Is given-Secretary Wilson
gave permission for the use OF such
chemicals as sodium benzoate, sac
charm. copper sulphate, etc.
The decision of the referee board on
the sodium benzoate question is now
history. 1t was that sodium penzoate
'in small doses" is not harmful. On
the strength Of these findings, DIR. VIII
eys superiors gave the manufacturers
permission to use sodium benzoate not
only in small Doses" but In any
quantity they saw fit, requiring only
that the amount Of this chemical they
found it convenient to use should be
stated on the label!
These points. which hav. been dis
cussed in the Journal before, are
merely recalled to make clear the
enormous handicap under which DR..
Wiley has been placed in his attempt
to enforce the foods and drugs act in
the public's interest. II space permit
ted, It might also be well to recall the
high handed way In which the secre-
tary Of agriculture, after his CONVEX
sion to the benzoate camp, brought to
bear the enormous influence and pres
tige OF mis- department i'll jaInrning thru
the convention of the association Of
state and national food and dairy de-
partments q set OF resolutions endors-
ing the report of the referee board on
the use of sodium benzoate. Reference
might also be made not only to Col
lier's statement that Vice President
Sherman showed great solicitude for
the Duffy malt whisky concern when
DR.. Wileys subordinates were investi-
eating 1t, but also to the allegation
that Mr.. Sherman's 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 onerous
Dr. Wiley's position has been. Now
comes the report from Washington
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.