10 



In the exposure of frauds undertaken in Parts 2, -3, and 4 of Bulletin 

 13, no attempt is made to prove that all adulterations are hurtful and 

 injurious to health, as many of them are not. The great trouble lies in 

 the fraudulent practice of selling a cheapened article under a false name 

 and at the higher price of a pure article, thus robbing the producer of 

 the non-adulterated artfcle, as well as the consumer who is made to pay 

 for what he does not want. Doubtless some of these adulterations are 

 due to thoughtlessness and ignorance. 



THE EXTENT OF ADULTERATION.' 



Every article of food is to a greater or less extent the subject of 

 adulteration. The people have no idea of the extent to which this 

 damaging imposition is practiced j from the cheapest and most simple 

 article of diet to the most expensive the art of the manipulator has 

 been applied. The inventive genius of the "American" has been ex- 

 erted to increase the food supply, undoubtedly a most laudable and 

 praiseworthy undertaking ; but when in so doing the manufacturer goes 

 further, and in selling you pepper forgets to add to the words "Pure 

 Pepper," on the label, the words "compounded with burnt meal, mus- 

 tard, cayenne, buckwheat hulls, pepper dust, etc.," and also tries to 

 obtain the price of a pure article, he degenerates into a common rogue. 



Experience proves that a very large majority of the harmless adul- 

 terations are used to increase bulk or weight, cheapen the article, and 

 rob the consumer.- It is gratifying to know, however, that our manu- 

 facturers of food supplies are conscientious enough (in most cases) to 

 abstain from poisoning, even if they do steal. 



In the course of this investigation I have visited Boston, New York, 

 Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and have met with a number of gentle- 

 men, who promptly responded to my request for information, and were 

 quite ready to aid in so important a work as the exposure of the frauds 

 perpetrated against the health and commerce of the country. By cor- 

 respondence and in personal interviews I have failed to find a single, 

 uninterested, person who has not added testimony as to the extent of 

 adulterations, denouncing them as an outrage against the public health 

 and the welfare of trade. 



Such unanimity of sentiment, added to the able and voluminous re- 

 ports of the officers of those States which have undertaken to suppress 

 the nefarious practice, proves beyond question, (1) That adulterations 

 exist to an extent that threatens every species of food supply. (2) 

 That while these adulterations are mainly commercial frauds, practiced 

 by unscrupulous manufacturers, manipulators, and dealers for the pur- 

 pose of deceiving their customers and adding to their gains, yet there 

 are also, to an alarming extent, poisonous adulterations that have, in 

 many cases, not only impaired the health of the consumer, but fre- 

 quently caused death. 



