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pie generally ask for cheap and attractive goods. The sup¬ 
ply adapts itself with measureless cunning to the demand. 
One more unscrupulous than the rest attracts customers by 
colors that do not reveal to ignorance the poisons lurking 
within. Others must follow his example or retire from the 
field. A daring dealer imitates the flavor of a genuine ai ti¬ 
de by a cheaper mixture, and his neighbors must follow 
suit although they may know that they are scattering the 
seeds of sickness among the unconscious. The greater 
part of mankind find the struggle to obtain the necessar¬ 
ies of life so hard that any apparent opportunity to econo¬ 
mize is eagerly seized. Purveyers of food and drink com- . 
pete with each other, not only by reduction of profit, but 
by cheapening quality. He who reduces quality most in 
reality and least in appearance can win in the great battle of 
the “ survival of the fittest.” Human ingenuity is taxed to 
the utmost; the whole earth is explored to obtain and put 
to use the means of success. Men have come to look up¬ 
on fraudulent adulteration as commendable enterprise. In¬ 
jurious adulteration is winked at by most. Necessity of 
trade is pleaded as an excuse for dangerous adulteration, 
^ven when its prevalence is deplored. The mutual conceal¬ 
ments and deceptions of producers and consumers tend to 
educate the public in dishonest ways. The heart of man is 
hardened towards his neighbor whom he cheats, and the 
conscience is deadened when gain is secured at the expense 
of another’s health or life. As the worlds commerce would 
not be diminished by cessation of adulteration, it is very 
evident that the net residue ot the practice is to corrupt and 
deprave trade, without increasing its profits. Much the 
greater portion of the manufacturers and merchants of food 
and drink would prefer to make and handle genuine goods, 
if they were not driven to an opposite course by the un¬ 
scrupulousness of a few. When people learn that a dollar s 
worth of a pure article is more valuable than three-fourths 
of the same quantity when mixed with ever so much use¬ 
less, injurious, or dangerous foreign material, when dishon¬ 
est producers are restrained by the strong hand of well ad¬ 
ministered and just law, then we may expect to see trade 
become the minister of something better than material civ¬ 
ilization, Reputation for integrity is even now of equal 
value with capital in trade. And the nation that first estab¬ 
lishes a character for honest goods will reap a rich harvest 
