20 Third Annual Report op the 



are in New York cit j. I am of the opinion that in view of the enter- 

 prising manner in which the dealers in these commodities endeavor 

 to place these goods in places of public, entertainment, that if the 

 State did not keep a close watch over it that it would not be long 

 before a large quantity would be sold in open violation of the law, 

 I do not mean to charge that a large part of the people running 

 such places are in themselves vicious, or that they in doing this 

 would Intend to harm the public; the fact is that the producers of 

 these goods use all possible argument to make such people believe 

 that their goods are not only wholesome and healthful, but that 

 they are palatable, and therefore a better commodity for hotel 

 men and similar purchasers. It is strange how many people there 

 are who have been convinced that these arguments are true, and 

 would act upon them if it were not for the restraining hand of the 

 law. It is not necessary for me at this time to enter into any dis- 

 cussion of the relative merits of these products, except to say 

 briefly that this Department has shown, I believe conclusively, from 

 a physiological standpoint that the commodity is an unhealthful 

 product; the argument that has been made has been before the 

 public several years, and has not been answered, except sneeringly 

 by a few chemists who do not profess to be physiologists at all ; 

 it is no answer to a physiological question to answer a physician 

 and stay he is no chemist. It has been a policy of the State for 

 eleven or twelve years to place a ban upon this commodity in any 

 imitation or semblance of butter, and to declare that it is an un- 

 healthful product; I am therefore of the opinion that the surveil- 

 lance so long kept up should be continued without relaxing in the 

 interest of the large consuming public, bearing in mind the fact 

 that butter is a commodity that is placed upon the table of nearly 

 every family in the State at every meal of the day. 



CHEESE. 



We have made no cases during the past year for violation of 

 the provision of law prohibiting the manufacture and sale of 

 imitation cheese; since the passage of the law but one case having 

 been made where we found them manufacturing filled cheese in 



