FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 65 



Second, in a case of this kind the policy of the Commissioner has been 

 to inform the manufacturer that a sample of his goods has been analyzed 

 and found adulterated, that such goods can not be sold in the State, and 

 that if they are not withdrawn from the markets at once the seller will 

 be prosecuted. 



[Then followed extracts from letters showing the nature of many 

 frauds, as well as the interest taken in the suppression of them by job- 

 bers and retailers. They show that inferior goods are actually being 

 withdrawn from the State, without attempts at prosecution.] 



The effect on trade of the withdrawal of these goods is already being 

 noticed in certain lines. The manager of a large cider vinegar factory 

 stated, that when he bought his stock of apples last fall, not knowing 

 what effect the law would have on trade, he purchased only his usual 

 supply. In a short time he found that he had greatly misjudged, and 

 that he would be unable to supply his customers. He said he would use 

 several times as many apples next year as he had used before. 



That the public may be not only protected from fraud but enlightened 

 on the subject of food adulteration, the Department is required to issue, 

 monthly, bulletins containing the rulings of the Commissioner, results of 

 the analyses, and such other information as the Commissioner may deem 

 of interest to the public. 



These bulletins are sent to all the newspapers in the State, and to all 

 who request them, so far as the number printed will allow. 



THE KINDS OF ADULTERATIONS. - 



There is scarcely an article of food consumed by the American people, 

 but what is subject to adulteration in some form. From the cheapest 

 to the most expensive articles of diet, we find the art of the adulterator 

 exhibited in so skillful a manner as to almost defy detection. 



When corn jelly ceases to be sold for currant, cottonseed oil for lard, 

 and glucose for cane syrup, there will be a gradual readjustment of 

 prices more satisfactory to all concerned, except the adulterator. 



The claim that the demand for a cheap article on the part of the con- 

 sumer is the cause of adulteration is false. Adulterated goods are always 

 represented as pure, and in nine cases out of ten, if the consumer were 

 informed that a certain article was adulterated, he would prefer paying 

 a little higher price, if necessary, in order to secure pure goods. There 

 is abundant evidence to i^rove that it is the demand of the manufacturer 

 or retailer for illegitimate profit, which is the cause of this nefarious 

 practice. 



A barrel of syrup, purchased by a retail grocer in Lansing for abso- 

 lutely pure cane syrup and so billed to him, proved on analysis to con- 

 tain ninety per cent glucose and ten per cent cane syrup. A sample of 

 adulterated pepper, bought for six and one-half cents, was retailed at forty 

 cents per pound. In the former case the manufacturer, and in the latter 

 the retailer, profits by the adulteration. Numerous instances of this kind 

 might be cited, but in no case do we find the consumer benefited by adul- 

 teration. 



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