1911. 
GRAFT IN CONDEMNED PRODUCE. 
The daily papers report that the New 
York Board of Health has dismissed an 
inspector charged with having permitted 
the sale of potatoes that he had condemned 
as unfit for food. Is this a fact? 
New York. reader. 
Yes, eight employees of the Board 
of Health have been dismissed within 
the last month on various charges, such 
as alleged grafting, attempted bribery or 
improper conduct. The last man to go 
was Isaac Gruber, who got into trouble 
over the condemnation of a carload of 
236 bags of potatoes after examining 
three bags. A number of witnesses tes¬ 
tified that, instead of being sent to the 
dump, some of the potatoes were taken 
to another part of the city and sold for 
food. This made, a profitable deal for 
some one, though there was no direct 
evidence that Gruber got any of the 
money. 
Misuse of the power to condemn 
foods has been, a sore spot in the 
produce trade of New York for sev¬ 
eral years. It is a general belief that 
practices like those mentioned in the 
inquiry are common, but detailed proof 
is hard to get. There are usually sev¬ 
eral in the deal, and numerous wheels 
within wheels,, so that the identity of 
the goods is lost before actual re-sale 
takes place. It is like trying to catch 
a burglar who has figured in advance 
just what he will do in any emergency, 
while the man burgled is taken by sur¬ 
prise and has no time for planning. 
Produce men have found that it is 
poor policy to oppose the workings of 
the Board, of Health or its inspectors. 
The Board is usually upheld in a suit, 
and an inspector who gets down on a 
produce man may become a perennial 
source of trouble for him. It might 
reasonably be expected that only prod¬ 
ucts decayed or otherwise damaged so 
as to be unfit for food, or likely to be¬ 
come so within a few hours, would be 
condemned, but inspectors may takie 
wide latitude in this- matter. Because 
decayed fruit is found in a few pack¬ 
ages, a wagon load or perhaps a whole 
carload is condemned, even though a 
fair proportion may be sound, and the 
same is true, of meats and poultry. The 
claim is made that inspectors do not 
have the time to sort over a lot of 
stuff, and that anything doubtful must 
be taken out of food channels, as it is 
better for one man to - lose a little 
money than that the- health of the com¬ 
munity be jeopardized. This sounds 
plausible and has quieted many crit¬ 
icisms. But the human nature of in¬ 
spectors is not different from that of 
other people, and these wholesale con¬ 
demnations of food furnish too great 
opportunities for graft to be neglected. 
It works the same way as in a police 
department, where large quantities of 
money may be got by extortion and 
blackmail of unfortunates or criminals. 
The heads of such departments may be 
honest, or they may be profiting ever 
so much by it, and yet keep the tracks 
of the money covered, so that they can¬ 
not be traced to them. 
At one time a down-town basement 
store was supposed to be a “fence” 
where some of these practically stolen 
goods were handled, particularly calves 
and poultry. A produce man had two ' 
calves condemned. He states that they 
were put into a wagon containing ice, 
carted to this store and unloaded. The 
hides were removed and veal was carted 
from the store to the East Side. What 
could he do about it? They assumed 
the right to salvage the skins, and, even 
though the veals were openly offered for 
food, who could swear to the identity 
of a dead calf, particularly after his 
hide was removed? 
Here is another condemnation inci¬ 
dent, though different in. detail. A man 
who had a small canning business 
bought many odd lots of fruit, for pie 
stock. One morning he had bought a 
truck load of peaches, some in bad con¬ 
dition, ordering the seller to deliver 
them to his place at once. As they did 
not come in half an hour, he started to 
look them up, when he met an inspec¬ 
tor, whom he knew. 
Did you buy that load of rotten 
peaches?” asked the inspector. 
I bought a load of peaches with some 
rotten and specked ones, but they will 
be sorted out and only the good ones 
used.” 
. “Well, I’ve jiist condemned that load 
of fruit, but have a good mind to let 
you have them. What will you do with 
the specked ones ?” 
Cut out the spots and put them in 
cans for pie stock.” 
The result was that the inspector ac¬ 
tually presented the cannery man with 
the load of peaches .wliich. the latter had 
.THE RURAL NKW-VOKJAliK 
131 
bought, but not paid for, half an hour 
before. 
\\ hen goods are condemned in a com¬ 
mission house, the commission man gets 
a receipt and statement of the fact from 
the inspector, which he sends to the 
shipper. As an example of chilly con¬ 
solation, such a condemnation receipt 
considerably discounts the now prover¬ 
bial 35-cent dollar, or even its remote 
relative, the “interim receipt.” 
Resodding an Orchard. 
J. E. P., So. Framingham, Mass .—I have 
bought a small place with an orchard of 
about two acres which has been in sod 
for a long time. The trees are about 50 
years old. not especially large, neither are 
they stunted, and are in very good condi¬ 
tion, though I judge they need food. This 
orchard has been plowed, buckwheat sown 
and then turned under, and the buckwheat 
grow more or less between the sod last 
Summer; the sod is pretty well rotted. 
What must I do to re-sod the orchard as 
economically as possible and still be all 
right? 
Ans.—I f that orchard were ours we 
would work up the ground with a disk 
or spring-tooth and keep the surface 
stirred until late July. Then seed to 
Timothy and Red-top with a mixture 
of Red clover and Alsike, adding about 
500 pounds per acre of three parts fine 
bone to one part muriate of potash. We 
believe this would pay, but the “most 
economical” way might be to work up 
the ground and sow oats with the grass 
and clover seed this Spring. Cut the 
oats early and pile the crop around the 
trees. 
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