Am Apdi,"  f9hia7rm'  )    Production  of  Lemon-Grass  Oil.  l79 
What  the  department  wished  particularly  to  ascertain  was  the 
opinion  of  the  trade  upon  the  desirability  of  publishing  such  in- 
formation, and  the  form  of  such  publication,  and  also,  as  to  whether 
or  not  such  publication  would  injure  a  consignee  importing  goods 
from  abroad  who  has  had  no  opportunity  of  inspecting  the  same 
prior  to  their  arrival  and  detention  at  ports  of  entry. 
Representatives  were  present  from  the  National  Wholesale 
Druggists  Association,  the  Philadelphia  Drug  Exchange,  the  Drug 
Trade  Section  of  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transporta- 
tion, the  National  Association  of  Retail  Druggists,  and  a  number  of 
national  food  organizations.  Briefs  from  various  trade  bodies  were 
filed,  also. 
After  an  extended  discussion  of  the  subject  from  many  angles, 
the  consensus  of  opinion  expressed  seemed  to  be : 
(i)  That  it  was  undesirable  to  publish  information  relative  to 
detained  shipments  unless  the  shipments  gave  evidence  of  intentional 
and  wilful  violations  of  the  law,  when  the  facts  should  be  made 
public,  (2)  that  the  Bureau  of  Chemistry  should  cooperate  with  a 
Committee  on  Standards  to  be  named  by  the  various  national  food 
and  drug  interests  with  the  view  of  framing  tentative  standards  and 
tests  for  imported  food  and  drugs.  It  was  shown  that  there  was 
precedent  for  such  cooperation  in  Government  work,  e.  g.,  Seed  De- 
partment of  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry,  (3)  that  all  the  methods  and 
tests  used  by  the  Bureau  of  Chemistry  should  be  made  public  so  that 
importers  could  know  in  advance  of  ordering  goods  what  standards 
to  specify,  (4)  that  the  sampling  and  methods  of  examination  of 
drugs  should  be  made  uniform  at  all  the  ports  of  entry,  (5)  that  the 
Bureau  of  Chemistry  cooperate  with  the  food  and  drug  trade  in 
securing  an  amendment  of  the  Federal  Food  and  Drugs  Act  giving 
the  'importers  the  right  of  appeal  to  a  court,  preferably  the  Board 
of  General  Appraisers. 
If  practicable  standards  are  framed  and  proper  publicity  is  given 
them  so  that  the  foreign  exporter  and  the  domestic  importer  shall 
have  full  knowledge  of  the  same,  it  was  felt  that  better  conditions 
would  result  and  that  there  would  be  little  or  no  necessity  for  pub- 
lishing information  relative  to  detained  shipments. 
Dr.  Carl  Alsberg,  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Chemistry,  would  not,  of 
course,  commit  himself  as  to  the  attitude  of  his  department  on  these 
suggestions,  but  stated  that  he  would  give  them  careful  considera- 
tion, and  that  he  wanted  the  assistance  and  cooperation  of  the  trade 
