REPORT OF BUREAU OF INSPECTION. 167 



of the goods which was held in stock and, when it seemed to 

 warrant, samples were taken. Samples were also taken early in 

 the summer as the result of a complaint that there were sus- 

 picions that a certain firm in the state was using saccharine in 

 place of sugar for sweetening. As the use of this product was 

 prohibited by a ruling of January i, 1912, pains were taken 

 at once to secure samples and examine them but the findings 

 showed that no saccharine was present. 



Numerous complaints have been made, and it was also evi- 

 dent to the inspectors, that many manufacturers of the state 

 were using misbranded bottles bearing the names of other man- 

 ufacturers; this, however, seems to be a matter which should 

 be settled by the Bottlers' Association through their Bottlers' 

 Exchange and not one which should be added to the duties of 

 this department. 



Particular attention was paid to the sanitary inspection of 

 the bottling establishments and, unfortunately, not all could be 

 given a clean bill of health. In one instance, with the assist- 

 ance oi the local Board of Health, one of the bottling estab- 

 lishments was closed for four days while repairs were made 

 and a renovation and cleaning took place. In some of the 

 places the floors were found, very dirty, the toilet facilities were 

 not properly arranged and the absence of screens noted. All 

 of the concerns, however, should not be condemned by the 

 fault of the few, and many of the bottlers are attempting to 

 place upon the market a clean product; but, at best, the possi- 

 bilities for contamination where no process of sterilization 

 takes place in the filling of the bottles, is very great. 



Corn Factories. — One important industry for which Maine 

 holds an enviable reputation, is the growing and canning of 

 sweet corn. We have been frequently reminded of the superi- 

 ority of the Maine grown product by letters received from 

 manufacturers in other states asking how they might legally 

 label their goods and still intimate to the consumer that their 

 products were in some way identified with the State of Maine. 



We regret to report that not as complete an inspection of 

 corn factories was made as we could have wished although we 

 have not suspected that any more than technical violations were 

 being committed. A complete inspection, however, was pre- 

 vented by the shortness of the season and the geographical 



