No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 65 



almost uiiivcM'Siil attention, and as a result, many correspondents 

 from all parls of the State have Aolunteered infoi-mation that in 

 numerous instances has proved helpful in eradicating existing evils. 

 The plain system of absolute fraud in the sale of inferior articles 

 deserved condemnation, but when lives were placed in jeopardy, it 

 was imperative that official action should be rendered as vigorously 

 and promptly as possible. 



TENDENCY TO ADULTERATE. 



The prevailing custom to adulterate articles of food and drink is 

 but one of the many devices that are being resorted to to an alarm- 

 ing extent for the purpose of gaining wealth speedily. Many years 

 ago, that brilliant and observant author, Ruskin, refc^rred to the 

 fact that poisoning people of large estates was employed in the 

 Middle Ages, in order that such estates might fall into other hands. 

 Adulteration of the food of people of small estates is a method ex- 

 tensively employed to-day to accumulate large estates quickly. 



Public officials and law.yers have spent many busy hours in devis 

 ing methods whereby these evils might be counteracted, if not en- 

 tirely controlled, in order that the health and purses of all concerned 

 may be protected, and the dishonest and unscrupulous manufac- 

 turer, jobber, w^holesaler and retailer deterred from committing of- 

 fenses against the laws of the Commonwealth. That the fraudu- 

 lent producer and unscrupulous agent are still in the field is made 

 self-evident by the exceptionally large number of prosecutions which 

 were instituted during my short term of office. 



NEW METHODS OF DECEPTION. 



New methods of deceiving and defrauding the public are con- 

 stantly being brought to light, and when prosecuted, these trans- 

 gressors of the laws are equally prolific in presenting unique and 

 novel defenses. Just how to close such loopholes of escape is one 

 of the problems that confront the Commissioner and his legal ad- 

 visors, but it is gratifying to be able to report that in nearly every 

 instance the remedy to meet the emergency has been found and 

 that, in the main, the efforts to enforce the laws through numerous 

 suits, resulted in their successful termination. While our legal 

 advisors met many obstacles in their part of the w^ork of enforcing 

 the laws, a continued perseverance and unquestioned honesty of 

 purpose resulted in winning many critical and important ca^es and 

 also resulted in the conviction and punishment of the transgressors. 



5—6—1903 



