74 ANNUAL RKrORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



upon such questions. In the statements just made, it is not intended 

 to impl}' that the Dairy and Food Commissioner does not have a duty 

 to perform toward that part of the public which is engaged in the pro- 

 duction and distribution of foods as well as to that part which is 

 interested solely in the buying of such commodities, but merely to ex- 

 press his obligation to bring to judicial determination all questions, 

 relating to food statutes, that are of sufficient importance to require 

 such determination where the evidence obtained by the Bureau's 

 agencies makes possible a satisfactory presentation of the question 

 from the consumer's point of view. It has beeu the endeavor, how- 

 ever, where questions of this kind have arisen for determination, to 

 bring mooted questions to a decision in such manner as to be fair 

 both to the producer and distributor, on the one hand, and to the con- 

 sumer, on the other. 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN 



The Monthly Bulletin of the Bureau has served during the past 

 year, as during the preceding years, as the means of giving to the 

 public current information concerning the work of the Bureau, and the 

 policy originally adopted by which it was made a medium not only of 

 statements concerning the statistical work of the Bureau, but also of 

 general information on the subject of food production and food con- 

 trol, has been continued. 



The demand for these Bulletins and the general interest with which 

 the public has received them have coutinued in such degree as to prove 

 their value for the purpose stated. 



SUMMARY OF WORK FOR THE YEAR 1910 

 In the Appendix to this report are presented summaries showing 

 the list of articles purchased by the agents and analyzed by the chem- 

 ists of the Bureau during the year, and also a table giving a list of 

 those classes of articles found adulterated and misbranded and made 

 the basis of j.iosecutitms that have been terminated during the year. 

 The recapitulation of samples analyzed shows a total of nearly 5,G00 

 samples and a sum total of cases terminated of 667. The number of 

 samples analyzed is somewhat less than that reported for the year 

 1909, but the difference is found chiefly in the number of milk samples 

 taken during the past year. Reasons for this difference will be given 

 in the later paragraph in which the results of the present year's work 

 are considered in detail. The number of instances of misbranding 

 and adulteration found during the past year is about 130 less than in 

 1900, judging by the lists of cases terminated during these respective 

 years. 



A comparison of the number of cases terminated for violation of 

 the laws with the number of samples analyzed, as compared with the 

 corresponding figures for 1909, seems to indicate an increase of adul- 



