The Washington herald., 1912-11-10
Perpetual Tea Party in a Room at the
Treasury Department-Product Is
Well Protected Here

OPENING on . corridor In the Treas
ury Building 10 . room which might
seam to the casual observer, to be de-
voted 70 the purpose Of . perpetual
tA-party. There 10 . large circular
table. with . revolving top. on which
are sst out . number Of inviting-look-
ing tea cups Of thin china, generous
In sise. together with packages Of tea
and sundry other paraphernalia. In 6ne
corner II . big kettle Of polished brass.
In which water u kept perpetualiy boil
ing by electricity. the apparatus being
connected by insulated wire with q plug
In the wall.
The whole outfit. however. has . very
serious and important object. It may
be said. after . fashion. to represent the
guardianship exercised by the government
over the household teapot Of every family
In the land. For the room described II
the headquarters Of the entire tea-tast.
ing business conducted by Uncle Sam
an enterprise which has for its purpose
the exclusion OF all impure or unwhole-
some tea from this country.
During the last fiscal year about 1ol.-
10000 pounds Of tea were imported into
the United States. the total value Of
which was q bit over $4,000. 900. Thus
It appears that the average pound of
tea brought into this country Is worth
Is cents. This average pound sells for
60 cents. It Is apparent. then. that
two-thtrds OF the money paid by the
housewife for her tea goes for the cost
Of handling the product after 1t reaches
our shores-in other words. into the
pockets Of tho importer. the jobber.
the wholesaler. and the retailer, q whole
series Of "middlemen."
By and by We shall wake I'D to the
absurdity Of this sort Of thing, and. by
the adoption OF cooperative methods,
will get rid OF the middlemen to a
great extent. not only for tea. but also
where other merchandise of all kinds Is
concerned. Already a start is being made
In that direction. But In the mean
time the American housewife. though
she pays far too much for her tea. has
the consolation Of knowing that she gets
Il remarkably pure. In fact, no other
food product in this country IL SO well
protected against adulteration, or sophis-
tication Of any sort. as tea-every pound
Of It admitted at our sea ports being
painstakingiy inspected.
Testing the Tea.
To see how this Is accomplished. let
US venture together into the room in
the Treasury Building. and see Mr..
George r. Mitchell. the expert In charge.
at WORK. He Is a remarkably young
looking man to have control Of SO large
a business, but there Is no question of
the fact that he understa nds II In all
its branches. To be convinced, one
should watch him while he tests .
sample Of tea. 1t Is no guesswork, but
as much a matter OF definite determine
ton as a problem In mathematics. There
. Mi nj tn ha o{A
First. there Is the matter or color Does
the tea contain any foreign substance.
such as Prussian blue, introduced to i'm
prove its appearance?
Secondly. there il the question of pos
sible facing" by the introduction Of
paranin or some other material to make
the tea glossy.
Third. and most important. is the cup
quality" which includes flavor. fragrance.
and ''body''-this term referring to the
feel Of tho infusion in the mouth. It
should not be wishy-washy.
Incidentally, the appearance Of the in
fused leaf must be considered. Watch is
kept for exhausted or decayed leaves.
The infusion should be clear. containing
no foreign particles. And there must not
be over a certain percentage OF dust"
representing the debris Of crumbled tea
leaves
There are government tea examiners at
each Of our eight principal seaports, who
take samples from every batch of tea
brought into the country, and submit
them to these. tests But. In order to
keep a check on the work Of the exam
iners, they are required from time to time
to send to Washington all Of the samples
collected by them on a given day, to-
gether with the Judgment recorded in
each case Inasmuch as they never know
when this demand will be made upon
them, they are kept always on the alert
against making q mistake. The samples
they send in are retested 1t the Treasury
Department, and II they do not corre-
spond to the examiners report in any in
stance. he hears about II promptly.
Some Of the Tests.
Until very recently the method adopted
for detecting artificial coloring in tea was
chemical. and was slow and bothersome.
It has been replaced by a mechanical
process. quick and easy. which was de-
v1sed by Miss Alberta Read, Phi. D., A.
NJ. an employe of the Government Bu-
reau Of Chemistry. The tea under in
spection 10 shaken in q sieve. and the
small particles that drop through are
allowed to fall upon q sheet Of white
paper. being thereupon mashed and
rubbed as fine as possible with the blade
Of knife. A pun Of the breath blows
the dust OF the paper. which will then
show dots and streaks Of the artificial