New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-19
HIP. Cassidy, Food Investigator,
to Join The Tribune Bureau
Has Five Thousand Convictions for Aduleraton to Ills
Credt-FIis Detective Work Helped Make Pure
Food National Fad

cake is more wholesome without the
bakers eggs. which are rotten. In
fact, the sequel TO this story Is that
same bakers conviction for using rot
ten eggs and all sorts of coloring mat
ter in his cakes.
"Olive Oil" Profitable
Olive oil is so wholesome. Mothers
feed IL 10 their children, doctors pre-
scribe IL and people buy the most e1-
pensive brands for their invaIds and
babies. Along comes the skepticai hr.
Cassidy. This time he's an importer,
and in a little talk with the msnufsct-
urers he learns many useful things
about the selling Of real, imported olive
oil.
You buy q gallon Of cottonseed oil for
10 cents, put 10 in cans, decorate these
cans with stiff, foreign-look!ng flowers
and festoons and medals, have Few
Italian phrases interviewer with the dec
orations, and then have the box ex-
pensively lscquered. For these srduous
lsbors you are rewarded from SlsO 70
$3.50 on each gallon, as the finished et.
fort. labelled "Pure Olive Oil" Is sold
at So so and SO a gallon-the difference
in price probably depending upon the
effectiveness Of the decorations OF the
can.
When things got dull. Mr.. Cassidy
stole come butter. He visited The Dat
tleships in the Philadelphia navy
wards. the city hospitals and camps,
and everywhere that Mr.. Cassidy went
he stole a bit Of butter. All OF this
butter was provided by a certain com
psny under contract with the govern
ment. These bits stolen by Mr.. Case
sidy were then analysed and found 10
be-every single one Of them-oleo-
margarine. The result was that two
of the ambitious butter dealers were
sentenced to sixty days each In which
TO think the matter over.
Won Enmity Of Politicians
But Of course all this time Mr.. Cas-
sidy wasn't making himself popular
with the politicians and manufactur-
ers. They shook their heads mourn
fully and talked Of radical reforners
who ruined business; they said that
he was causing unnecessary alarm ano
apprehension in the minds OF the con
suming public; and they talked so loud
and they had so much power that he
was finally removed from ONCE. 30
he went on TO New Jersey, Massa-
/ chusetts and New York and put many
ambitious merchants IN tnese states -
Jail. And the publicity resulting from
his early work had much TO DO win
the passage Of the National Food ana
/ Drugs Act OF 1905.
But the psychological triumph OF
Mr.. Cassidy's achievement lies IN the
fact that pure food is now, popular
fad. Everybody's interested In It, ana
much has been done because OF has
brave. efficient and aggressive cam
paign. Mother now keeps close watch
on all the food that goes in oaoy's
mouth, and IL she puts in oleomargar-
inc or formaldehyde IT'S because she
wants to, not because she thinks shes
feeding him butter or cream.
To Join The Tribune's Bureau
Much has been done, but there Is
still much TO do. While il is no longer
necessary to resort to DISCUSSES and
decoys. since the public interest IS
thoroughly aroused and the public
sympathy pledged TO the movement
the campaign for pure food still needs
the bravery and aggressiveness OF
pioneer like Mr.. Cassidy, who Will jon
The Tribune's Bureau Of lnvestiga-
tons presently and devote to the ser
vice OF New York talents which have
made their lasting mark wherever they
have been employed.