OCR Text |
Show PURE FOOD LAW. Before the pure food law went into effect, there was no law against formaldehyde, boric acid, bon-zoate bon-zoate of soda, coal-tar colorings, potassium nitrate and burnt umber on the menu card'.. Almost everybody every-body who used prepared foods, from sausage to syrup got his dose of these delectable foods, and every manufacturer of foods in which they entered was up in arms when the pure food law was under discussion, some three years ago. And they have been opposed to the pure food law ever since. The great meat-packing industries, the glucose makers, the canners of fruits, the dealers in stale eggs and meats, the xnisbranders of foodstuffs, short weight thieves, and all the others who were eager to cheat if not to poison the consumer-were united in their denunciation of the pure food law. But we have the pure food law, and the way of the offender of-fender against its nrovisiona is a lmrrl cav nJ the consumer is placed under the protection of a vigilant government to keep him from being cheated cheat-ed and poisoned. It is certainly a very sad state of affairs when a good housewife buys a ten-pound sack of commeal and only receives nine and a half pounds. The fellows fel-lows who put up that kind of short weights, however, how-ever, are angels compared with the manufacturers of cider and blackberry wine and vinegar and "pure old port" out of a little refuse from the molasses factory with salicylic acid, glucose, aniline coloring and a little wood alcohol. The pure food law has the almost unanimous support of the medical profession and the public, while its enemies may be numbered only among the poisoners or cheaters in food or drink products, and profit seekers by means of fraudulent imitations. The world should be too small for the modern Bor-gias Bor-gias who pose as respectable manufacturers of high grade food products, with handsome homes, auto- mobiles and a large retinue of servants to prove 4 their respectability. |