THIRTY-THIRD BlENNIAE SESSION I99 
to upwards of $3,000,000. Killed by “junk” and the worst lot of rubbish ever 
attempted to be foisted upon the confiding public. 
Now let us take the second illustration: Two years ago, at one of the 
hearings on the Sulzer Bill, we had an actual demonstration of the vice of 
a good deal of modem packing. We went on the public market in the City 
of Washington and bought at random, without examining it, a barrel of 
apples branded “Extra Fancy Virginia Rome Beauty,” and had it sent up to 
the House Committee Room of Coinage, Weights and Measures. We opened 
It there for the first time for the purpose of comparing it with a barrel of 
apples packed by Mr. S. L. Lupton of Winchester, Virginia, in accordance 
with the provisions of the old Lafean Bill, which materially changed is now 
the Sulzer Act. That barrel of Rome Beauties did not have a peck of apples 
in it, outside of the face and back, fit even for a No. 2. They were diseased, 
spotted, under-sized, off-color and generally vile. They were scarely fit for 
oider. Yet that barrel was branded “Extra Fancy.” Thousands of barrels 
just like it are on the markets of this country every year. They necessarily 
j)ass into the hands of the wholesaler, retailer or peddler and then, in half 
bushels, pecks and quarts, to the consumer, bearing at every step a curse 
upon the business we have at heart and destroying confidence in a multi- 
tude of homes. 
I could call to your attention and discuss at length many other ex- 
amples bearing out the truth of these statements. There is the falling off in 
our percentage of exports as compared with Canada; the growing disfavor 
of the barrel pack in Germany; and, the testimony of our Consuls that 
markets cannot be broadened as long as conditions of pack remain un- 
changed. In many of our cities, and notably in New York, the greatest 
market in the world, barreled apples are being rapidly eliminated from 
the well-to-do trade and relegated to the cheap trade. Confidence has been 
destroyed. We can cry flavor, flavor, flavor until we are black in the face, 
but let me tell you that the salesman is yet unborn who can convince a con- 
sumer that there is a more divine flavor in a moth eaten, lop-sided, cider 
apple of sickly hue than in a full grown, bright and clean apple, no matter 
where raised. There should be a reasonable amount of beauty to adorn all 
great and important undertakings. I could cite you to a large number of 
people in my own city, in the heart of the world’s greatest apple territory, 
who will have absolutely nothing to do with apples, for the reasons stated. 
Now then, is there any remedy at hand? Has any way of escape been 
provided? Is there anything that can be done or any act of ours that will 
contribute toward the realization of that great essential in packing — the 
square deal? We have the major portion of the remedy at hand in the 
Sulzer Act, to the passage of which many here present contributed no incon- 
siderable service. We have the standard of the Government of the United 
States at our hand, and we have the right to brand on our packages what 
amounts to the index of its approval. That brand tells to the world at 
large that there is an honest pack and a square deal underneath it from the 
face clear through to the cushion. It looks the whole world in the face like 
a man and says, “f deliver the goods; try me and prove me.” What more 
can be asked? The history of every industry shows that to standardize It 
