Aug. 31, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



553 



he even tas/ed the stuff he sold for honey. He testified to 

 nothing elsf that showed diligence, small or great. He 

 showed «(7 diligence. The law requires reasonable di/igenee. 

 But Justice Hall seemed not to take any notice of this fe;i- 

 ture of the law, tho he esprest himself, when invited to 

 taste the stuff bought from Blood for honey, that he had no 

 doubt it was bogus. 



Now, while it would appear that the United States Bee- 

 Keepers' Association met with rather a discouraging defeat 

 in its first attempt to enforce an anti-adulteration law, we 

 are not sure but what a good deal was gained for the cause 

 of pure honey in Chicago, after all. Before Justice Hall 

 rendered his final decision, it was noticed that the honey 

 adulterators had wisely taken the hint, and there appeared 

 the additional word "Imitation" on the labels of their 

 mixture of a good deal of glucose with a little honey, thus 

 correct!}' renaming it "Imitation Honey." 



Besides the above advantage gained, we tliink the adul- 

 terators will not find such a great demand for their com- 

 pound hereafter, as the consuming public were made aware 

 of the prevalence of the bogus article thru the notices in the 

 newpapers of the attempt to enforce the anti-adulteration 

 law of Illinois. For instance, here is what appeared in the 

 Daily News preceding the trial before Justice Hall: 



Bee-Keepers Cause an Arrest. 



THEY START TO STAMP OUT HONEY MADE OF GLUCOSE. 



The efforts of the national. State and local bee-keeper>' 

 associations to stamp out the practice of adulterating liquid 

 honey with glucose and other substitutes which are cheaper 

 and more easily secured than the treasured sweetness of 

 the bee. will assume tangible form on Monday, when Nel- 

 son N. Blood, a grocer at 44s West Lake street, will be ar- 

 raigned before Justice Hall, charged with violating the 

 pure-food laws. 



Blood's arrest was brought about by Secretary H. F. 

 Moore, of the local association, and ex-President George W. 

 York of the national organization, and the prosecution will 

 be conducted by Assistant State's Attorney F. L. Fake. In 

 the course of an investigation begun last month a small jar 

 of honey was purchast from the grocer, which, upon being 

 analyzed, it is claimed, proved to be 90 percent glucose. At 

 the same time similar purchases were made at other places, 

 and five other prosecutions will be brought on the same 

 charge. 



The arrest of the West Side grocer was in line with the 

 present activity of the bee-keepers. It is vie%ved largely as 

 a test case, and said by them to be important, as one issue 

 that is sure to come up is the question whether Blood knew 

 he was selling an adulterated article. It is not claimed that 

 he did, as his stock was purchast from a jobber, and bore 

 no label of any kind. At any rate, the bee-keepers assert 

 that Blood sold adulterated honey in violation of law, and 

 are going to locate the responsibility. Whether the fight 

 will be waged against the manufacturers and jobbers the 

 bee-officials do not state, but such action is in line with 

 their present activity. 



The following was publisht in the Daily News of July 

 11, the day after the trial began : 



Say Bee-Keepers are After Him. 



GKOCEK BI.OOD PROSECUTED ON CHARGE OF SELLING BOGUS 

 HONEY. 



N. N. Blood, a grocer at 448 West Lake street, was on 

 trial before Justice Hall yesterday, charged with selling 

 an imitation of honey. The complainants %vere Herman F. 

 Moore and George W. York, representing the organized 

 bee-keepers of America. During the hearing some very 

 peculiar testimony was secured from the grocer and from 

 other witnesses. 



The first witness was Mr. York, who is the publisher of 

 the American Bee Journal. His testimony, and also that 

 of Mr. Moore, who is secretary and treasurer of the Chicago 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, told of researches in the line of 

 bogus honey, and especially of the finding of a particular 

 kind of mixture in Blood's store. 



E. N. Eaton, an expert chemist, was then called, and 

 testified that the mixture in this jar was 90 percent glucose. 

 After him came Blood, who said he did not know whether it 



was pure honey or not. Nicholas Schmitz, a salesman for 

 Weber Bros., from whom Blood bought his honey, said that 

 he was not accustomed to tell his customers whether they 

 were getting honey or not. If they askt him about it he 

 told them he did not know. He did not know whether his 

 house kept pure honey or the adulterated article. After 

 hearing these and other witnesses. Justice Hall continued 

 the case until Friday afternoon. 



The Chicago Record for July 15, contained this inter- 

 esting item on the subject : 



Say Honey is Not Genuine. 



BEE-KEKPERS CHARGE A GROCER WITH SELLING AN IMITA- 

 TION PRODUCT. 



Justice Hall heard further evidence and a part of the 

 arguments yesterday in the case of N. N. Blood, the grocer 

 at 448 West Lake street, who is charged by officers of the 

 Bee-Keepers' Association with having sold adulterated 

 honey. 



Herman F. Moore, secretary of the Association, testi- 

 fied that it was impossible to produce genuine honey at the 

 price paid by Blood for the goods. According to Mr. Moore 

 the grocer should have paid $1.25 or $1.30 for a dozen three- 

 quarter pound jars, whereas Blood said that the goods had 

 cost him 90 cents a dozen. Mr. Moore said : 



" The retail price set on the honej— in cents a jar — was less than any 

 bee-keeper can afford to sell it for. If I}]ood has any knowledge of the 

 srrocery business, he oug-hl to know that he could not obtain f,'enuine 

 honey at 'itt cents a dozen." 



Mr. Weber, a member of the firm of Weber Bros., the 

 wholesale dealers who sold the honey to Blood, testified that 

 the honey was bought as genuine by his house, and that 

 his clerks were not allowed to misrepresent goods to custo- 

 mers. After hearing part of the argument of Attorney 

 Fred L. Fake in behalf of the prosecution. Justice Hall ad- 

 journed the case to Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. sharp. 



The final notice publisht by the Chicago Record, after 

 Justice Hall rendered his decision, reads as follows : 



Grocer Blood Held Blameless. — In the case of the 

 Bee-Keepers' Association against N. N. Blood, a grocer at 

 448 West Lake street. Justice Hall yesterday held that 

 Blood was not to blame for selling a substance labeled 

 "honey." The justice attributed responsibility to the 

 wholesale grocer from whom the goods were purchast. 



A side-light on the subject of food adulteration came 

 out while Mr. Moore and the writer were interviewing 

 Weber Bros. They very kindly read to us an extract from 

 a letter they had just written for the guidance of their 

 salesmen. We were so pleased with the sentiments ex- 

 prest, that we requested a copy of it, which follows : 



Chicago, July 10, 1899. 

 Pure Foods. — We believe the tendency of the buying 

 public in the future will be in the direction of strictly pure 

 foods — and in our opinion the result of this will undoubt- 

 edly prove highly beneficial to the health of the consuming 

 public, and unquestionably more satisfactory to the jobber, 

 retailer, and everybody concerned in selling this quality' of 

 goods. Adulterated articles in the food line are still on the 



market but we believe it will be to the best interests 



of all concerned to advocate the purchase of pure foods as 

 speedily as possible. Unless you know it to be a positive 

 fact that the article you are selling is absolutely pure, do 

 not sell it as such. If you are in doubt, make it known that 

 way. Weber Bros. 



It will be noticed that Weber Bros, wrote the above on 

 July 10— ///t' i'eiy day that their customer (Blood) had his 

 trial for selling adulterated honey. There is no doubt at 

 all, in our mind, that this case had a good influence upon 

 Weber Bros., or they never would have written so strongly 

 in favor of pure foods. Why. ;ce couldn't possibly write a 

 stronger paragraph on the subject. And yet, this same 

 firm, a few days before, was selling glucose for honey I 

 A'ow they label it "Imitation Honey." 



Where is the bee-keeper who will say that nothing was 

 gained in the interest of pure honey in this attempt to stop 

 its adulteration in Chicago ? We contend that the effort 

 was worth all it cost, even if defeat was apparently the re- 



