'*^"Au^ust  mi'^'"" }  Harvey  Washington  Wiley.  383 
result,  were  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  collating  in  popular  form  well 
authenticated  facts  respecting  food  adulteration,  in  order  that  the  people 
and  Congress  might  have  at  least  a  general  view  of  the  evil  which  it  is 
hoped  Mr.  Wedderburn's  work  may  help  to  remove." 
Mr.  Wedderburn  states  in  this  Bulletin :  "  Enough  will  be  found, 
I  am  convinced,  in  the  pages  of  the  following  report  to  emphasize 
in  the  strongest  manner  the  necessity  for  such  national  legislation 
as  was  sought  during  the  last  session  of  Congress  by  Messrs.  Conger 
and  Laird  of  the  House  Committee  on  Agriculture,  as  expressed  in 
their  very  able  report,  as  submitted  to  Congress  by  order  of  that 
committee." 
Some  of  the  data  in  these  pioneer  reports  are  especially  interest- 
ing in  view  of  later  developments.  "  Glucose  is  probably  the  lead- 
ing adulterant  on  the  market.  It  is  largely  used  in  syrups,  low- 
grade  sugars,  jellies,  and  cheap  confections.  Druggists,  wholesale 
and  retail,  had  none,  but  with  singular  unanimity  referred  the  in- 
quirer to  the  candy  manufacturers  who,  to  a  man,  knew  nothing 
of  the  commodity.  Parenthetically,  a  specimen  of  taffy  of  another 
kind,  abstracted  from  an  inviting  pile,  yielded  79  per  cent,  of  glucose 
on  analysis."  (Beckwith,  Ohio  State  Board  of  Health.)  Pickles, 
greened  with  sulphate  of  copper,  adulterated  spices,  vinegars,  canned 
foods,  maple  products,  etc.,  all  clamor  in  these  pages  for  the 
attention  that  they  have  recently  received  in  the  notices  of  court 
judgments  issued  from  the  Department  of  Agriculture. 
One  bill  followed  another,  and  in  every  Congress  from  the 
Fiftieth  (1887)  ^  iood  bill  was  reported  to  each  House.  As 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Legislation  of  the  National  Pure 
Food  and  Drug  Congress,  called  in  1898,  and  as  a  witness  every 
year  before  the  Congressional  committees  considering  these  bills, 
Dr.  Wiley  has  been  indefatigable  in  his  advocacy  of  pure  food  and 
drugs  for  the  people,  backing  up  his  views  with  the  scientific  work  of 
the  Bureau  of  Chemistry  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  popular  edu- 
cation on  the  other. 
The  study  of  imported  foods  was  begun  in  1898.  Samples  of 
a  number  of  classes  of  foods  were  procured  from  the  Custom  officers 
at  the  various  ports  of  entry  and  their  quality  and  composition 
compared  with  similar  food  products  purchased  upon  the  open 
market  alleged  to  be  imported.  The  results  were  very  interesting. 
On  March  3,  1903,  Congress  in  the  Appropriation  Act  authorized 
the  Bureau  of  Chemistry  to  supervise  the  importation  of  food 
