REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

 ON FOOD ADULTERATIONS. 



The chemist of the Department, Dr. H. W. Wiley, is publishing in 

 Bulletin No. 13 an exhaustive study of food adulterations and meth- 

 ods for their detection. . 



Five parts of this bulletin have already been issued, viz : Part first, 

 Dairy products ; part second, Spices and condiments ; part third, Fer- 

 mented liquors ; part fourth, Lard and lard adulterants, and part fifth, 

 Baking powders. 



Other parts are in preparation, viz, Tea, coffee and chocolate ; Sugar, 

 molasses, honey and condiments ; Flour and bread ; Canned goods, etc. 

 These bulletins can be obtained by application to the Secretary of Ag- 

 riculture. 



STATE AND MUNICIPAL REPORTS. 



The people of the country have good reason to congratulate them- 

 selves upon the character and ability of the gentlemen who have been 

 selected as food inspectors and commissioners in the few States that 

 have enacted laws regulating the sale and manufacture of adulterated 

 and misbranded articles of diet. 



When we consider the small salaries paid these officials, and the tre- 

 mendous wealth arrayed against them, and the small amount of money 

 placed at their disposal, it is truly remarkable that they have achieved 

 such good results. Nearly every caso undertaken against the fraudu- 

 lent manipulators of food products has ended in a triumph for honesty 

 and a vindication of the laws. Such clear cases of adulteration, mis- 

 branding, and selling of diseased and putrid meat have been brought 

 before our courts in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Ohio 

 as plainly show the necessity for national and State legislation to protect 

 the people of the country, not alone from gigantic commercial frauds, 

 but to preserve the health of our population and enable honest dealers 

 to live while doing a legitimate and honest business. It is utterly use- 

 less for the writer to compile a report containing all the matter accu- 

 mulated by him in the course of his investigation, and were he to 

 attempt it the result would be a publication entirely too bulky for the 

 consideration of the committee of Congress to whom it is to be sub- 

 mitted. 



The extracts herewith submitted are presented merely as a few of 

 many similar facts and arguments in favor of national legislation, nec- 



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