Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-04-04
Protecting the Tea Drinker
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN

the end of that time it will be contis.
Gated by the government and de-
stroyed. Samples of rejected teas are
always furnished the supervising tea
expert at Washington who also puts
them through certain tests. with the
privilege Of correcting the decision of
the examiner if it should appear that
he Is wrong.
In the event that the tea is rejected
by both experts. the importer may
still take the matter to the United
States board of tea appeals, which
mas been created by congress for the
purpose of trying tea cases. Upon
the decision of this board. which tests
the tea in open court and hears the
testimony of any witnesses in the
case, depends the fate of the tea. The
number of cases appealed to this
board however. are negligible. the de-
cisions of the port examiners being
accepted without complaint in almost
every instance. AS every tea mer-
chant is familiar with the government
standards, and in buying tea is able
himself to make the same tests that
the examiners make in ascertaining
its purity and quality. there is little
excuse for shipment of poor tea
The government has selected
twelve tea standards which it consid-
crs the lowest maximum of purity
and quality that should be sold to peo-
lie of the United States In compar-
ing the sample of tea shipment with
these standards, the tea examiner
hrews cup of each of them and
tastes it. To the layman who drinks
whatever tea is placed before him,
and prefers coffee anyway, this seems
Il rather inadequate method Of decid-
ing so important a question as the
destiny of several thousand pounds
of tea. But when you have sampled
as many kinds of tea as many times
a day as do the tea examiners, your
tea taste comes pretty near to being
infallible and you are qualified to
Judge as to it's quality, at least
In determining it's purity the ex-
aminers employ what is known as the
Read test" invented by woman
scientist of the department of agricul-
ture. A small sample of the tea is
placed in a sieve, where the dust is
shaken over a piece of white paper.
When approximately one grain of dust
has been accumulated it is pressed
onto the paper so that any particles
of coloring matter contained in 1t will
streak the paper. The dust is then re-
moved and the sheet of paper is in
spected through magnifying glass,
when the presence of Prussian blue,
soapstone or adulterating material is
at once revealed.
Thus the government has made II
impossible for us to drink an impure
and inferior cup of tea, and the gov
eminent experts, enthusiastic in their
work, want us to discard coffee and
become tea drinking nation. Al
ready tea drinking as social fad is
we'll established. We give tea must
Gales. tea dansants and we patronize
tea rooms at 4 o'clock in the after
noon. In public we drink tea, but IN
the seclusion of our own homes we
are apt to make surreptious raid on
the kitchen and crafty our American
craving for cup Of coffee.
Now. however, we are told by gov
ernment experts that tea Is much bet
ter for us than coffee, and great
deal more invigorating. It has been
pointed out that the tea drinking ar
mics of Europe display wonderful
powers of endurance, due to the st1m-
Mating effect of tea. Mr.. Mitchell
strongly advocates the use of tea IN
preference to coffee in the American
army. Daily the value of tea as
national stimulant is becoming more
apparent and the government is max
ing every effort to aid its popularity
ty keeping all but pure and well
favored teas out of the country.