214 AiSTNUAL EErOKTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



stock is being produced. Assistance continues to be rendered by tlie 

 experts of the bureau to manufacturers through personal visits. 



The work upon sea foods was confined hirgely to the adulteration 

 of oysters and scallops with water, termed " soaking " by the trade, 

 the slack filling of cans with shrimp, and the prevention of the sale 

 to the consumer of stale or tainted canned salmon. The latter proj- 

 ect occupied more of the time of tlie regulatory force oi: tlie bureau 

 than any other, since it involved the examination in detail of the 

 vast surplus stores of canned sahnon held by the Army before they 

 were permitted to be turned back into the ordinary channels of 

 trade. 



The cases upon cacao products dealt principally with the adultera- 

 tion of cocoa with cacao shells. 



The cases upon vinegar Avere of the usual type. A new method has 

 been developed for the identification of waste apple products vine- 

 gar b}' means of which it is hoped that the traffic in this variety of 

 vinegar may be controlled and forced on to a legitimate basis. 



The cases against stock feeds comprised the usual types of adul- 

 teration and misbranding reported from time to time in previous 

 years. Much attention was paid to rice mill by-products, especially 

 the adulteration with rice hulls, and data were obtained upon the con- 

 ditions prevailing; in the rice mills of the Pacific coast and upon the 

 use of lime in rice milling. It was also found that, owing to the 

 difference in price between bran and shorts, certain manufacturers 

 were selling finely ground bran as shorts. 



Of the 1,019 cases of all kinds reported to the department as termi- 

 nated in the courts during the year, 258 alleged false and fraudulent 

 labeling of medicines, 22 alleged similar misbranding of veterinary 

 remedies, and 56 alleged adulteration or misbranding of stock feeds. 

 All in all, 3 cases were reported as decided unfavorably to the 

 (jovernment. 



Among the cases terminated was the bleached flour case which Avas 

 pending at Kansas City, Mo. (N. J. 6380). The libel was amended to 

 strike out the allegation to the effect that the flour contains an added 

 deleterious ingredient which might render it injurious, in view of the 

 experimental Avork of the bureau which did not indicate that the 

 allegation Avas tenable under the interpretation of the law by the 

 U. S. Supreme Court (N. J. 3398). The claimant then Avithdrew ap- 

 pearance and answer, and a default decree of condemnation and for- 

 feiture Avas entered as to the remaining alle^-ations in the libel. 



Publication has been made of two judicial decisions of interest, 

 involving interpretation of the law. The U. S. Supreme Court, in 

 a judgment reported in Xoticc of Judgment G308, affirmed judgment 

 of the loAver courts against Oscar J. Weeks, doing business as O. 

 J. Weeks & Co., in connection Avith the misbranding of an article 

 labeled " Special Lemon. Lemon Terpene, and Citral." A salesman 

 of the defendant in offering the article for sale represented it as 

 lemon oil, Avliich it was not. The defendant upon appeal insisted 

 that under the statute the question whether an article is misbranded 

 turns entirely upon how it is lal)eled when it is shipped, regardkvss 

 of any representations made by a salesman in offering it for sale. 

 The U. S. Supreme Court, hoAvever, held that the statute specifies 

 and defines at least tAvo kinds of misbranding, one Avhere the article 

 bears a false or misleading label, the other where it is offered for 



