IOO 
Food  and  Drug  Congress. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I   February,  1899. 
Society,  to  determine  jointly  the  standard  of  all  food  products  (within  the 
meaning  of  the  act),  such  standards  to  guide  the  chemists  of  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  imposed  on  them  by  the  act, 
and  to  remain  the  standards  before  all  courts.  The  officials  appointed  to  de- 
termine the  standards  must  confer  with  and  consult  the  duly  accredited  repre- 
sentatives of  all  industries  for  which  standards  are  to  be  established.  In  this 
shape  it  was  given  to  both  the  House  and  the  Senate,  and  but  for  the  war  fol- 
lowing close  upon  its  presentation  would  undoubtedly  have  been  pressed  to  a 
speedy  issue. 
When  that  Congress  adjourned  it  was  as  a  permanent  organization,  first  to 
secure  the  legislation  desired,  next  to  prevent  undesirable  amendments. 
At  the  meeting  on  January  18th  there  were  present  delegates  appointed  by  the 
Governors  of  thirty-four  States  and  Territories,  representatives  of  six  depart- 
ments of  the  National  Government  and  delegates  from  both  National  and 
State  organizations. 
Commissioner  J.  A.  Wight,  of  the  District,  opened  the  meeting  with  an 
address  of  welcome.  Frank  Hume,  representing  the  local  Food  and  Drug 
Association,  followed  with  the  history  of  the  movement  which  had  culminated 
in  the  Congress. 
The  President,  J.  E.  Blackburn,  Ohio,  in  his  address,  said  the  question  of 
what  shall  we  eat  began  with  Eve  in  the  Garden,  and  "what  a  myriad  of  evils 
would  have  been  avoided  had  not  the  first  of  all  pure  food  laws  been  violated." 
Secretary  of  Agriculture  Wilson  and  his  assistant,  Mr.  Brigham,  spoke  in 
unqualified  approval  of  the  bill  and  the  urgent  need  for  the  passage  of  it. 
Dr.  William  Frear,  in  his  report  of  the  Executive  Committee,  showed  the 
work  done  during  the  interim  and  the  status  of  legislation. 
The  pharmacists  were  called  together  by  Mr.  M.  N.  Kline,  and  organized 
with  Henry  M.  Whitney,  Massachusetts,  Chairman,  and  E.  A.  Cornell, 
Williamsport,  Pa.,  Secretary  ;  Mr.  Kline,  with  Dr.  F.  A.  Stewart  and  Dr. 
Eccles,  of  New  York,  were  named  as  a  Committee  on  Legislation  for  Trade- 
marks. 
On  January  19th,  Hon.  Marriott  Brosius,  of  Pennsylvania,  patron  of  Bill  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  made  an  important  address,  in  which  he  spoke 
of  the  relation  of  people  to  legislation,  and  he  put  it  upon  the  people,  and  not 
the  lack  of  backbone  of  the  Congressmen  that  the  Pure  Food  Bill  was  still  in 
the  hands  of  the  committees. 
The  legislators  are  here,  he  said,  to  do  the  will  ot  the  people  they  represent, 
and  if  the  people  are  inert,  are  sunk  in  the  slough  of  apathy,  and  have  not 
commanded  their  servants,  the  responsibility  rests  with  themselves. 
The  report  of  the  Treasurer,  Mr.  R.  N.  Harper,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  showed 
$1,109  expended  and  $135  balance  on  hand. 
The  report  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary,  A.  J.  Wedderburn,  of  Dunn 
Loring,  Va.,  recited  the  efforts  made  for  the  bill  and  the  Congress. 
In  the  afternoon  Dr.  H.  W.  Wiley  made  an  able  address  on  "The  Ethics  of 
Pure  Food." 
The  report  of  the  Committee  upon  a  method  for  securing  uniformity  in  State 
pure  food  legislation,  in  trademarks  and  in  chemists'  analyses  was  rendered  in 
part  by  Prof.  J.  H.  Beal,  Ohio,  who  urged  the  necessity  of  a  national  law  as  a 
guide  in  making  State  laws,  and  by  Dr.  Frear,  who  gave  an  outline  of  the 
