No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 73 



the world and which still shorten the lives of millions annually. 

 The surprising discoveries which have been made within recent 

 years concerning the nature and the cause of disease have given an 

 impetus to various movements having for their purpose the protec- 

 tion of the race from infection. The result, although still far from 

 what is still to be looked for, has been surprisingly beneficial and is 

 becoming increasingly so with each passing year. New discoveries 

 are being constantly made and new precautionary measures estab- 

 lished, so that the child born into the world in the opening days of 

 the twentieth century has a far better chance of surviving for a life 

 of usefulness than the one who came into the world a century 

 earlier. For all the great and vital discoveries that have trans- 

 formed the science of medicine, made a new and a wonderful thing 

 out of surgery and brought to realization many of the dreams of the 

 earlier ages of the world's history, have been made during the last 

 century; many of them within the last quarter of a century. Men 

 have not yet conquered death — it is not likely they ever will, or that 

 it would prove beneficial if they did — but they have succeeded in 

 adding several .years to the life of a generation and in vastly increas- 

 ing the happiness and diminishing the suiferings of the passing 

 generations. 



THE FOOD OF THE PEOPLE. 



It was inevitable that increasing knowledge should lead men to 

 ask questions about the food consumed by the people. The growth 

 of the country, the multiplication of modern means of communica- 

 tion, the invention of new processes, the modern tendency to con- 

 centration, all these things affected the food of the people. Whereas 

 in the olden and more primitive times, when there were few large 

 towns and almost every family prepared or raised the greater part 

 of its food, the increase of the urban population led to changed 

 methods so that the bulk of the population now depends upon 

 others for food supplies. Great establishments have thus arisen 

 and the keen competition of modern business conditions have led 

 to the invention of processes and the emplojmient of adulterants to 

 decrease the cost of many articles of food and to the use of 

 preservatives of a more or less doubtful character for the pur- 

 pose of retarding fermentation and preventing putrefaction. The 

 popular craze for cheap things was also largely responsible for the 

 rapid decline in the nutritive value of products. Affairs soon 

 became so bad that state after state organized for the prevention of 

 the sale of impure food so that at the present moment the national 

 government and most of the states are doing what they can to 

 improve the quality of the food products offered for sale within 

 their respective jurisdictions. This movement was helped and 

 hastened by the rapid advance of scientific knowledge which 

 revealed the deadly nature of impure food and the injurious effects 

 of many of the most popular preservatives. Once the work of 

 reform was undertaken, progress was reasonably rapid so that 

 present conditions are much superior to those of a decade ago. The 

 trend is still decidedly onward and it is not unreasonable to hope 

 that the coming year will witness the sale of fewer impure articles 

 in Pennsylvania than ever before. 



THE IDEAL STATE STILL UNATTAINED. 



In spite of increasing light and knowledge, progress has been com- 

 paratively slow. There is still a ery for cheap things among the 

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