Fifty years ago, a rebellion against impure food broke out in 

 England; there was hardly an article of common consumption 

 that was not adulterated, and there did not seem to be any way 

 of punishing tlie adulterators. At that crisis a chemist, whose 

 name was Hassall, undertook to smoke out the dealers in 

 spurious articles, and he went about his work in a very ingen- 

 uous way; he bought at various stores small quantities of lead- 

 ing articles of consumption, such as tea, coffee, sugar, chocolate, 

 bread, butter, cheese, preserves, pepper, vinegar, wine, beer and 

 spirits, these he analyzed, and he published the analysis in the 

 " Lancet " newspaper, with the names and addresses of the 

 dealers who had sold him adulterated articles. A terrible 

 storm arose. The "Lancet" and Hassell were flooded with 

 libel suits. But they kept on smilingly, and the end of the 

 fight was that no conviction could l)e got against the paper or 

 the chemist. The fraudulent dealers lost their customers, a 

 law was passed in Parliament to fit their case, and now it is as 

 hard to find in London an adulterated article as it was fifty 

 years ago to find a pure one. I hope that the Exhibition now 

 opened will induce some of you to take equally energetic 

 measures to maintain the reputation of California as a producer 

 of pure food. 



I am sorry to have to say to you that the successive Mechanics' 

 Listitute Fairs, while demonstrating the development of the 

 State as a producer, have not iflustrated a corresponding pro- 

 gress in manufactures. This has been due to various causes, 

 one of which is the high price of coal. I am happy to express 

 to you my hope that this drawback is likely to be removed ; 

 what stean: has been to the nineteenth century, electricit}^ will 

 be to the twentieth; and I look forward to the time when, in- 

 stead of bringing coal from the mines, it will be converted on 

 the spot into an electric fluid, which will be conducted by wiret; 

 to the cities and villages, there to be used for power, light and 

 heat. This will not only cheapen all the processes of manu- 

 facturing industry, it will substitute for the mephitic coal gases, 

 which are one of the chief causes of disease in the crowded 

 haunts of men, an atmosphere as pure as that of the country, 



