RURAL LEGISLATION 



development of the control in the sale of 

 dairy and food products would require a 

 chapter by itself, if not an entire volume. 

 Suffice it to say here that the laws on this 

 general subject have acquired an impor- 

 tance in many ways quite beyond that of any 

 of the other control measures discussed in 

 this chapter. In the extent of funds handled, 

 the number of agents employed and the pub- 

 lic interest incited, the office of dairy and 

 food commissioner outranks any other con- 

 trol agency. In some states the office is an 

 elective one, and the questions with which 

 the office has to deal become a part of the 

 state political campaign. 



The importance of the inspection of dairy 

 and food products grows out of the fact that 

 not only is the consumer, hence all the 

 world, interested, but the execution of these 

 laws touch large commercial interests. Not 

 only are meat packers, distillers and brew- 

 ers deeply interested, but the wholesale and 

 retail grocers and, more recently, the man- 

 ufacturing and prescribing druggists, are 

 vitally concerned. 



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