PURE FOOD LEGISLATION 55 



Chemistry, assisted by details from the medical staff of the army, 

 experimented with the ' poison squad/ and as a result has recommended 

 against the use of salicylic, benzoic and boric acids to preserve foods. 



Congress passed a good law in 1902 prohibiting the misbranding 

 of foods as to the state or territory in which the product is produced. 

 This law was passed primarily to keep western cheese producers from 

 labeling their product as { New York ' cream cheese. The law applies, 

 however, to all foods, and it puts into partial practise one of the im- 

 portant principles of identification, namely, where a product is made. 

 Where a product is made is an important bit of knowledge. Foods 

 sometimes have exceptional qualities by reason of certain conditions of 

 climate and soil and skill in packing or preserving. And so it is that 

 certain fruit, vegetable, dairy and wine districts are known for the 

 superiority of their products. The producers in these districts have 

 the right to an honest market, while consumers should have the means 

 to identify the foods from such districts should they so desire. 



Correct labeling as to the geographical place of production pre- 

 vents imposition in another way. A man can pack cottonseed oil for 

 interstate commerce and label it ' olive oil,' but if he is compelled to 

 state that the ' olive oil ' is packed in Georgia or Alabama, the public 

 becomes suspicious that it is getting cottonseed oil. A ' New Orleans ' 

 molasses, packed in one of the glucose districts of Illinois, is open to 

 the same suspicion. A can of ' salmon,' packed in Minnesota, is known 

 by its place of production to be carp. Between products of the same 

 class this law is effective; but between the imitation and the product 

 imitated, it is of little avail, for raw materials can be shipped into a 

 district famous for its cheese, jelly, syrup, wine or whiskej 7 , and the 

 label of the imitation then bears legally the name of that district which 

 is in favor with consumers. 



Federal legislation is incomplete. The Hepburn-McCumber-Hey- 

 burn Pure Food Bill proposes to complete it. Not by a tax, but by 

 a law which will command all the principles of identification to be 

 truthfully and fully represented before foods, drugs and liquors are 

 allowed shipment from one state into another. Such a law will make 

 it possible to follow fraud across the state border and to punish the 

 person responsible for the manufacture of an adulterated or misbranded 

 product. Such a law will tend to unify state laws, but it will not in- 

 terfere with state laws nor will it protect that state which does not 

 maintain equal inspection over its own commerce. 



The attitude of the food interests toward pure food legislation is 

 either passive or antagonistic. The meat packers represent to con- 

 sumers that their meat is 'IT. S. government inspected.' The act of 

 1S90, which relates to physiological wholesomeness only, permits them 

 to make this representation, although meats, ' U. S. government in- 

 spected,' may contain antiseptics, aniline dyes, cheap fillers and any 



