232 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



(carbohydrates. Between these extremes there are all gradations 

 in the relative proportions of the several ingredients. It is not diffi- 

 cult to learn what these differences are and how they range when 

 we are dealing with standard articles. When dealing with mixtures 

 which pass under the general name of mixed feeds or under proprie- 

 tary names, we have nothing to guide us other than the assertions of 

 manufacturers, sometimes of doubtful accuracy, or the safeguards 

 provided by law. 



Important differences are also found in the digestibility of these 

 materials and this is a matter of great moment, because the only sub- 

 stance in a feeding stuff which is useful to the animal is that which 

 is dissolved by the digestive juices and absorbed by the blood. 



Feeding stuff adulteration is widely practiced at the present time. 

 By adulteration I mean the introduction into a material of a certain 

 grade of something inferior either in nutritive value or in cost. 

 There are those who deplore any references to dishonest practices in 

 trade, such as adulteration, because they say it will hurt business. 

 I would very much regret injuring the business of any honest manu- 

 facturer of any thing I might say here to-day. I wish to bear testi- 

 mon}' to the uprightness and straightforward business methods of a 

 large proportion of the feeding stuff manufacturers and dealers with 

 whom I come in contact either directly or by correspondence. Many 

 of them, yes, the most of them, have as great a desire to maintain 

 their goods up to the standard which they set for them as any class of 

 business men have to deal fairly. If adulterations are practiced it 

 is necessary to make plain what they are and if trade is thereby in- 

 jured, the responsibility does not lie with the men who search out 

 such dishonest methods or with the consuming public that is made 

 the victim of dishonesty, but it lies with the disreputable manufac- 

 turers themselves. There are very good reasons for believing that 

 local country millers frequently practice greater impositions on near- 

 by farmers than do any of the large and well-knowm manufacturers of 

 feeding stuffs whose headquarters are in the city. Kural trade 

 ethics and urban trade ethics may often be compared to the great dis- 

 advantage of the former. I, for one, shall not hesitate to speak 

 plainly concerning those devices of commercial greed by means of 

 which one man defrauds another. The ethics of trade in this coun- 

 try need reforming in certain quarters. There is altogether too 

 lenient a spirit toward the man who declares that he must practice 

 this or that deception in order to maintain himself against the com- 

 petition of the market or who excuses his unwholesome methods by 

 declaring that others are guilty of the same. We should not cry 

 peace when there is no peace. To-day, therefore, I shall first de- 

 scribe briefly the principal feeding stuffs which are now found in our 

 markets, indicate the standards by which we should measure these 



