Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1917-05-11
Uncle Sam Protects People From
Impositions on Part of
Manufacturers.
MANY SAMPLES ARE TESTED
Thousands of Shipments offered for
Import Found to Violate Law
and Are Excluded From
Country.

lot because Uncle San does not do his
to prevent it. Government OH
cials in charge of the enforcement or
the federal food and drugs act never
relax their vigilance, and their efforts
n thousands of cases have prevented
impositions upon the people at the
hands of manufacturers.
During the last year United States
department of agriculture officials an
alyzed 29,S33 samples of foods and
drugs offered for interstate shipment
and for import. A physical examina-
ton was made of samples from 76,46a
offered for import. OF these
foreign shipments, 1888 were, found to
violate the law in some respects and
admitted only after the importers
had relabeled them to comply with the
law. OF the samples of domestic prod
ucts analysed, $685., either because of
the nature of the product or because
the label on it did not tell the truth,
were found to be in violation of the
federal law. In 1864 cases the depart
ment recommended to the department
of Justice that criminal prosecution be
instituted against the manufacturers
or that the goods be seized. In many
cases, where there was no evidence OF
intention to defraud and where there
was merely some easily remedied flaw
in the wording of a label, the shippers,
after being warned in hearings, volun-
tarily took steps which made their
products fully comply with the require
ments. In all, there were held S,7l5
such hearings, many of which resulted
in the prosecutions indicated and the
gathering of evidence for a large num-
Der of additional cases.
The bureau of chemistry, in it's an
nual report, also calls attention to the
fact that through the system of service
and regulatory announcements now in
use, manufacturers are given due no
tice of the requirements and thus are
enabled voluntarily to make their
products conform to the law. In this
way the government achieves it's pur-
pose, frequently without entering into
needles and very expensive litigation.
In the regulatory work, special EN-
phasis has been given to the control of
drug products and foods liable to spoil
age and pollution. These frequently
constitute a serious menace to health.
The food inspectors have been in
structed to be particularly watchful for
interstate shipments of bad eggs, milk,
,.t,, ,-I ,noilnl aappnl Goods and
false and fraudulently labeled medi.
cines and spurious, synthetic drugs.
CURLING Fraudulent Medicines.
Attempts to counterfeit or adulter,
ate imported drugs have been more
common since the recent high price
and scarcity of many of these products
encouraged their imitation. 1t is in
teresting to note that of the 1,O3e
cases terminated in the courts during
the year, 1913 were brought on account
of the false and fraudulent labelling Of
medicines. In all of these medical
cases save five the courts found for The
government, and this, 1t is believed
has exercised an important deterren'
effect on the vendors of nostrum.
shipped from one state to another.
The work of controlling the fraudu
lent labels of medicines and minera
waters has been greatly strengthened
by the establishment of a separate of
flee to deal with these matters. At tn
request Of the secretary of agriculture
an officer Of the United States publi'
health service has been detailed t.
take charge of this work. Moreover
through the close cooperation estab
lished with the foods and drugs Off
Gals Of many of the states, the depart
ment was able to direct the attention
Of the local authorities to the presence
of spurious drugs in their states and
as a result, much of these fraudulen
goods In the hands of local dealers an
beyond the reach of the federal au
thorities were destroyed by state ant
municipal officers who, in many cases
prosecuted those responsible for tn
local traffic.
Extend Milk Control.
The cooperation in the sanitary con
troll of the milk supply of small cite
has been extended in Illinois, Iowa
Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and II
New England. 1t is proposed to re
peat this work year after year, extend
ing it each year to new territory. Il
some localities bad conditions wer
found, due in the main to insufficien
cooling and careless handling. Per
haps the best results of this work ha
been that it stimulated some of tn,
local authorities to take up simlla
work independently, SO that definit
permanent improvement of the mill
supply of a number of cities has result
ed. The cooperative work OIL the con
troll Of the shipment of decompose,
eggs has been extended to cover nue.
of the territory in which shipment
originate so that eggs are now candle,
before shipment far more than former
ly and the spoiled eggs destroyed o
fed to poultry and stock.