38 



The wisdom of prohibitory legislation can be seen on our side of the water by the 

 results obtained in Canada. The work of examination there began in 1876, when 

 51.66 per cent, of the articles examined were found adulterated. In six years there- 

 after, or in 1882, this percentage had been reduced to 25 a remarkable showing, 

 when we consider that the only mode of punishment for infraction of the law has 

 been the publication of the names of guilty parties. 



It may be safely asserted that in every locality where the law does not deter from 

 the act adulterated articles are on sale in all kinds of food-supply stores, even the 

 most reputable. 



The same authority, in an address before the State sanitary conven- 

 tion, said : 



In the matter of coffees, teas, spices, sirups, sugars, and many other articles in 

 daily use, short crops or sweeping changes in import duties do not trouble the con- 

 sumer in the least. The beneficent manipulators of these goods take the import, be 

 it much or little, and bring the supply up to the demand in their own warehouses by 

 a judicious use of cheap home products. The thrifty housewife knows the cost of a 

 box of spice or a package of coffee with the same certainty that the manufacturer 

 reckons the profits on his sales, and both are content. If said sugars are worth 7 

 cents in New York, glucose can be had for 3 cents in Buffalo, and it becomes a 

 simple example in proportion to lay before the consumer a prime article at 6 cents, 

 and leave the refiner such a margin for profit as his fancy may dictate. In this in- 

 stance fraud alone is perpetrated ; but the same refiner, to lighten the color of his 

 sirups, employs a salt of tin, which is known to be deleterious to health and there- 

 fore dangerous to life. 



And in concluding he says : 



When we consider that the welfare, the happiness, and the greatest prosperity of a 

 nation depends upon the health and morals of its people, and that unpalatable and 

 irritating foods are the prime causes of very many diseases that flesh is heir to, the 

 imperativeness of entering the field, lance in hand, against this insatiable foe to good 

 living and good temper, food adulterations, ought to be apparent to every one of us. 

 So much has been charged and so much proven by those who have given their time 

 and best scientific knowledge to investigations into the conditions of our food prod- 

 ucts, that ignorance can no longer be made the excuse for inactivity. The most 

 humble among us may become the strongest in this righteous fight. Play must be 

 given to the impulses which are part of all nations, and not the creature of any con- 

 dition or profession. 



We are too prone to thrust upon the physicians and health officers duties which 

 should be our own. 



In this age of progress we can not go back to old time simplicity, when the mis- 

 tress of the house was the presiding genius of the kitchen, but we can and should 

 examine closely every article of food that enters our doors, and call the attention of 

 v ^he proper authorities to any case of suspected contamination. Let this be done in 

 all'oiu ', nomes and there would soon grow a strong public sentiment against food 



adulteration 1 ;, 

 I appeal to^ il?. otliers to P r tect their offspring from the ruthless hand of this 



destroyer. 



I appeal to the economist . to enter the lists againsts this despoiler of our homes and 

 depleter of our fortunes. I ap,7- e ^ to humanity to shake off the fetters of the most 

 cruel tyrant and exacting despot the w5^Jhs ever seen. I appeal to the commer- 

 cial men all over the country to unite as a baiicH[ brothers and discountenance the 

 adulteration of food and drink. 



Iii reply to the circular sent out by me March 29, 1889, ami-Wuicrii 

 will be found in the appendix to this report, I received a letter from Dr. 



