The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-01-17
WHAT THE DEPARTMENT. OF
CHEMISTRY HAS DONE FOR IN. D.

III SpedhlnS OF MS BuDJecL, WnaE the
Department of Chemistry Has Done
for North Dakota, Professor Ladd
said this afternoon at the closing
session Of the Tri-State convention.
SO many fields of activity have been
covered that IL is difficult in SO short
2 time to touch upon ali the lines of
work; and whatever of success that
largely due to the loyal support which
has been accorded at all times to the
work we have had in hand. When the
department OF chemistry Is mentioned
the general public has come to associ-
ate fit largely with food work, and SO
We may consider first what has been
done
To Safeguard the Health.
From personal experience I know
that from 1890 to 1902 North Dakota
was a veritable dumping ground for
the worst food products to be found In
the United States. It seemed as
though there was nothing which was
not a~dulterated and misbra1ded. often
doped with Injurious ingredients and
sold to the consuming public OF this
state as Of high quality and often un-
der beautiful labels,
Our meats were. embalmed with
chemicals, borasic acid and sulftes:
and IL was hard to find hamburger
steak or sausage not loaded down with
these chemicals and further treated
] with coal tar colors and acids to give
the appearance Of smoke. Canned
meats were In the same way. only be6
ing further deceptive, for chicken and
turkey, while conspicuous on the label,
were wanting in the ANS. That is now
of the past and no more does 1t exist.
Nearly every can OF corn coming into
the state had been bleached with sui
ites because OF bad sanitary ccndi-
tons in the factory, then sweetened
with saccharin, a coal tar sugar with
no food value and used wholly for de-
ception, and of which the late Vice
President Sherman said that the sub
s~titution Of this product saved his firm
in veal $4,000.
And the corn was often only plain
field corn, not sweet corn as labeled.
For h past six years W have had
none of this.
Tomatoes were mostly water and
green tomatoes colOred with coal tar
dyes. Peas were treated with copper
salts, sweetened with saccharin, and
at times preserved with borax. Ex-
tracts were made from chemicals and
wood alcohol. Vinegars were diluted
acids colored to resemble cider yine-
gar.
Spices were nearly all adulterated
with ground cereals, cocoanut shells,
olive stones and colored to resemble a
particular spice; while olive oil was
usually cottonseed. Twelve rear old
whiskey might be from "a to 40 hours
old with not a trace OF true whiskey-
only chemicals, fusel oil and alcohol
colored to suit the fancy. But oh!
The ~jellies, jams and preserves that
were fed to us composed of rotten APP
! pies. skins and cores trampled under
foot at the factory, then dried or des-
sieated, shipped in gunny sacks to the
jelly or preserve factories, steamed,
pressed and e~vaporated to form a body
to which cheap and, at that time, dan
gerous glucose was added, co1ored
with coal tar dye, millet seed added to
the jam, ~saccharin for sweetening,
benzoate Of soda to preserve the rotten
stuff from further spelling, and chem
ical fiavors to resemble grape, currant,
ounce, etc, while beautiful litho-
graphs, costing more than the contents,
| decorated the fact of the container.
Was it any wonder then that these
were days of stomach trouble, dyspep-
STA, diarrhoea and misery? Dc you
think the food adulterator gave up
these practices without a bitter tight2
These practices which were bringing
to him a profit enabling him to enjoy
the Inquiries of life, while the people
were consuming stuff which was unfit
for consumption. No, it has been a
continuous and bitter fight from the
day the work started to this very hour.
In less than three months after / be-
gan my work I drew a libel suit for
800, 900. backed by twenty-five firms,
big interests including members who
have since sat In the presidents cabf-
net, vice presidents of the United
States, u. S.. senator's, etc. Then the
whiskey ring took 81 turn and secured
a temporary injunction to make us
continue the use Of their dope which
contained no whiskey. Then the paint
men took a hand and fought their case
to the u. S. court with defeat at every
turn. Then the meat packers took g
hand with an injunction, followed like
wise by an injunction from the big
milling interests who would have US
eat their bleached flour made, at
times, from damaged wheat, but with
all fate seemed to be against them.
It took work, however, to win, and
do you know that for mor than two
years I did not go to bed a single night
without a libel suit or al Injunction,
or both, hanging over my head. and
knowing that on the morrow / must be
preparing for my defense. And for
eighteen months I did not dare to go
out of the state of North Dakota, and
have it known where ! was going, for
they were watching to catch me away
from home to bring a libel suit whore
Il SOAtALtAOhO ia OG AAAANh ~
financing a fight.
One food dopester in Pennsylvania
jokingly remarked that he was willing
to contribute $4,000 toward a Jack
pot" whatever that may be, to drop
me in the Atlantic ocean. A band OF
these men, it is said, once came to Bis
marck, backed UP by $4,000, but did
little business and left the state with
1 $45, 900.
But why dwell on this, FOR today
foods are pure. honestly labeled when
purchased from dealers in the state;
beverages are what they purport TO he,
and patent medicines are fast finding
their place, although many thousands
Of dollars have been spent by fake pat
ent medicine vendors and are still be-
ing spent to save their wicked prac-
tices and enable them to continue 10
drug the American people. Ten
years ago we were spending more than
s 1000. 900 annually for adulterants In
our food as worthless as sayedust. To-
day we are forced to pay toe much for
pure food.
AS q means for correcting certain
existing evils, the department recon-
mends the enactment OF three new
laws for the consideration OF n leg-
isIatnre.
AZ cold storage measure to regulate
the handling OF cold storage products
and to prevent putting into cold stor-
lage articles unfit for cold Htorage-tO
protect the public health AZ far as
possible and TO prevent p~tprnaine pol
Boning. Also the enactment Of an I'M