The Washington herald., 1912-09-15

when eaten with food Some scientists
agreed with him; some did not. The Agri-
cultural Department declared that the
Bureau of Chemistry. which, meant DR..
Wiley. had not proved its case. Benzoate
OF soda and glucose were not prohibited
but their presence in food, SO ran the
decision, was to be stated on the labels.
A free choice was thus given the con-
sumer- In short he could support Wiley
or disapprove OF Wiley by the simple
act of making his daily purchases. And
thus the matter stands and thus appears,
after all other reasons are eliminated,
the primal cause of Wiley's felfnquish-
ment of public office The canning indus
try. backed by s12o.oe0.0O0 and the expert
opinions of several eminent men Of
science. triumphed over the doughty and
dogmatic doctor.
Up to about the year 1870 food was pre-
served by drying or with salt. There
were no canned goods" in those days.
Housewives had no canning season. To-
matoes were called love apples" and
were thought to be poisonous. 1t was
not understood then that the ''spoiling.
or decomposition of food is caused by a
living organism known to chemists as
''ferment." Boiling kills the organism.
Food heated to a high temperature and
then put into air-tight bottles or cans
will keep. Housekeepers have learned by
experience that the bottles must be full;
otherwise the contents work." or turn
sour.
Few women know, however, that the
air entering a partly-flled bottle, i'm
pregnated with the organism called fer
ment, is really the cause of the decom-
position that almost invariably ensues
They have been taught by their mothers
or grandmothers to fill the cans or bot
ties to the brim with boiling mixture
and then TO seal the tops instantly. The
chemistry Of the process Is unexplored
territory to them. Salicylic and boracic
acids and benzoate of soda will destroy
the organisms, a secret the commercial
Gamers found out llong while ago. It
was against their use that DIR. Wiley
ragged SO valiantly and picturesquely.
The Discovery of .Cnnning."
Salted food and dried food were good,
in lieu of anything fresher.' The French.
who specialize in all matters pertaining to
the table. sought a more palatable ration
for their sailors than picked meat or
evaporated plums and apples. A prize Of
81 100 was offered to the person who would
invent a means of preserving food for the
use OF the navy. NJ. Appert brought for
ward the process of putting heated fruits
NeetldDleS htIUltDCdlls stdlcu
glass jars and the French government
gave his discovery worldwide publicity.
This Frenchman. then. was the father
of the canning industry. His methods
spread and were adopted by housekeepers
all over Europe and America.
Tin and pottery were used in England,
as we'll as glass, Peter Durand having
experimental and found that both mate
rials were impervious to air. Thomas
Kensett, a Englishman, and Ezra Daggert
started a small canning establishment in
this country along about the>year 1875.
1t was not a SUCCESS. Isaac Winslow was
the first man to can sweet corn. and Har-
rison w. Crosby, of New Jersey, was
the first man to can tomatoes as a COM
mercial enterprise. Maine began to can
Holsters and mackerel in 1s43. By the
year 1880 Maryland had become the CEN
ter of the industry and not only pre-
served fruits and vegetables but oysters,
fish, and meats. Its product now in the
three items of beans, corn, and toma-
toes has a value of almost SO, 600 a
year Maine still leads in sardines. Cali
fornia ranks first among the States in
asparagus, apricots, peaches, and peas.
The annual value of its canned products
amounts to S53,000o00.
ITO introduce our goods" wrote Will
lam Hume, who went from Maine to Cali
for1ia in 1853 and later began the in
dustry in salmon on the banks of the
Columbia River. 81 used TO fill a basket
with cans, take it on my arm, and start
ing out among the families OF my ac-
quaintances, give to each a can explain
ing how the fish was put up. insisting
that it was a valuable article of food and
inviting them to try it." Fifty thousand
tons of salmon are now canned in the
United States every year. -
Better Than Mother Made.
THE food of the people is a great deal
purer and cleaner than it used to be-"
Mr.. Doolittle told me. 1T should be
stated that the manufacturers, as a
whole. are earnestly trying to improve
their products. They have invested large
sums of money in their establishments,
and whenever that happens slipshod
methods and bad practices are pretty
sure to disappear. The National Associa-
tion of Gamers maintains a laboratory
and employs chemists TO overcome the
difficulties that may arise in the manu-
featuring end of their business, Besides.
We are ready to help them with expert
advice and supervision. II a cannershas
a problem he doesn't understand, we send
a man to his factory and keep him there
as long as II is necessary.
Cans may bulge at the top or the con-
tents may turn black for some unac-
countable reason. The Gamer has fol-
lowed his customary processes and is
mystified. We clear up the situation for
him when it is possible. This Is what l
call the constructive work of the Bureau
of Chemistry. The day is here when the
people can obtain pure food II they will
take the trouble to read the printed mat
ter on cans and packages. When jams
OF jellies contain a preservative, the fact
must be stated on the label"
Are preservatives necessary?' I asked.
They are not II vegetables or fruits
are ripe, fresh, and of good quality, they
can be manufactured without the use of
coloring matter, benzoate Of soda or any
other chemical. Formerly canning and
preserving were not done with the care
and skill that are now common in ali
large factories. The industry had not
been developed along scientific lines. Take
tomato catsup. as an Illustration. To-
matoes of all colors and kinds were
brought in from the field. The best were
put in cans; the others were thrown into
kettles, made into a pulp, poured into
casks-sooner or later-and shipped to the
catsup makers. The pulp often became
sour. 1T was not clean. and IL was not
good, and preservatives and colortng
matter were freely used. Catsup manu-
facturers said they couldn't run their
business without chemicals. And they
were justified in saying SO because their
methods were wrong. Nowadays toma-
toes of the best quality are manufactured
the vines to the kettles, and catsup SO
made will keep and will have the natural
color of tomatoes seasoned with spices.