44 TEAN8ACTI0NS OF THE ILLINOIS 



A committee appointed by the French Government forbade the 

 use of salicylates in all articles of food and drink — for if once 

 allowed or authorized in trade, it was sure to be put into all sorts of 

 food product liable to fermentation that are staple without its use. 



It was proposed to the committee, that they could label all such 

 goods, including the well known '' butterine " product (for it is a 

 well-known fact that many intelligent persons of high moral profes- 

 sion no longer regard it as a crime to sell lard as butter, stained and 

 polished coffee for what it is not, corn flour for wheat flour, water 

 for milk, meats doctored, for a prime article; these are regarded as 

 mere tricks of trade. The word adulteration is too harsh a w^ord 

 for their sanctimonious ears, and they prefer to call them " substi- 

 tutes"). The committee, therefore, well knowing the depravity of 

 human nature and the clinical observation that feeble and pro- 

 longed daily doses of salicylic acid and its derivitives can cause 

 considerable trouble to the health of certain persons who are sensi- 

 tive to these forms of drugs, particularly in old people, and in those 

 whose venal or digestive functions are no longer in perfect order, 

 would not allow the use of the salicylates in any liquid or solid 

 aliments. Perhaps the committee was a little tyrannical in its "or- 

 der," that they would not allow the people to practice such a 

 glorious " liberty" as to slowly kill one another. It takes the boasted 

 freemen of the United States to iudulge in this luxury. 



The question to be settled by us Illinoisans is that if we must 

 have beverages to tone up our stomach and stimulate our nerves, let 

 us have a pure article. We say then let us have a commissioned 

 committee, whose business it shall be to see that foods and drinks 

 are not slow poisons. Or if we feel it hurts us less to be slowly 

 killed than it does a Frenchman, then let the " slop doctors " go on 

 in their vile death-producing beverages. 



When we take a careful survey of the vile beverages we are 

 making as a people, and pouring into our stomach, it looks as if pain, 

 suffering, and a premature death had no terror for us. A noble 

 manhood is given up to a life of shame, a life of gluttony, de- 

 bauchery, and premature death ; and to fortify and legalize this 

 work of disgrace, our people band together to frame iniquity into 

 law, legalizing a debauchery to disgrace our homes, and rear our ten- 

 der offsprings in ignorance, hunger, and rags. Shame on boasted 

 freedom that hurts us less to be slowly killed than it does a Frenchman. 

 Wine, beer, and cider, when pure, may be used within certain limits. 

 But beware lest they bite like a serpent and sting like an adder, and 

 poison and destroy our manhood. 



