PROCEEDINFS OF KINDRED SOCIETIES. 229 



idea of the extent to which tliis damaging imposition is i^racticed; from 

 the cheapest and most simple articles of diet, to the most expensive, the 

 art of the manipulator has been applied. Every article of food is to a 

 greater or less extent the subject of adulteration." And again he writes, 

 ^'In the course of this investigation I have visited Boston, New York, 

 Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and have met with a number of gentle- 

 men who promptly responded to my request for information and were 

 quite ready to aid in so imjjortant a work as the exposure of the frauds 

 perpetrated against the health and commerce of the country. By corres- 

 pondence and in personal interviews, I have failed to find a single uninter- 

 ested person who has not added testimony as to the extent of adultera- 

 tions." Such unanimity of sentiment, added to the able and voluminous 

 reports of the officers of those states which have undertaken to suppress 

 the nefarious practice, j)roves beyond question: (1) That adulterations 

 exist to an extent that threatens every form of food supply; (2) that 

 while they are mainly commercial frauds, practiced by unscrupulous man- 

 ufacturers, manipulators, and dealers, for the purpose of deceiving their 

 •customers and adding to their gains, yet there are also, to an alarming 

 extent, adulterations that have, in many cases, not only impaired the 

 health of the consumer, but frequently caused death. 



In the New York report for 1887, it is stated that of 876 articles of diet 

 in daily use 255, or more than two thirds, were adulterated. Such figures 

 testify to the i^revalence of adulteration. Less than one third of the 

 ordinary articles of diet are exempt. We might follow the method of 

 some of the stump orators of the last campaign and state an extreme case: 

 For our breakfast we are given adulterated coffee, into which we may turn 

 adulterated milk, and then sweeten with sugar adulterated with glucose; 

 we eat biscuit that have been raised with an alum baking-powder and 

 spread it with butter that has been churned out of the fat of a steer instead 

 of cream from a cow. 



In the large cities there is known a " bologna sausage color," composed 

 in part of saltpeter, alum, and Venetian red, used to deceive the purchaser 

 into buying stale, decomposed, or tainted meats, which he will have for 

 dinner. He may also have pickles put uj) in adulterated vinegar and 

 -colored with salts of copper, and canned goods seasoned with lead. He 

 will close the day by taking a cup of adulterated tea. The course is kept up 

 until some day a doctor's services are in requisition. The doctor possibly 

 discovers, after the death of his patient, that the drugs used were so 

 adulterated that his efforts to stay disease have all been thwarted. 



It is scarcely worth while to prove the prevalence of adulteration. 

 Everyone is aware of the fact, and all close observers know that, large as 

 is its extent, it is constantly on the increase. Yet a few figures place the 

 matter before us in a startling light. " The total value of the food supply 

 of the United States," according to the American Grocer, " is, at a low 

 estimate, $4,500,000,000 yearly. Dr. Abbott of Massachusetts estimates 

 that those states that have attempted to protect their citizens against this 

 •crime of adulteration have saved those citizens five j)er cent, of the total 

 amount used. At this rate, were the same plans carried out for the whole 

 country, the saving would be the immense sum of $225,000,000." Says 

 the special agent of the agricultural department, concerning this estimate: 

 ^' There is undoubtedly a large part of the food products that never leaves 

 the hand of the producer, and, of course, this is not adulterated. And 

 again, there are many articles manipulated and sold by honest men who 



