Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1892 — PURE FOOD AND DRUGS. [ARTICLE]

PURE FOOD AND DRUGS.

Salient Points of the Rill Which Has Passed the Senate. The Paddock pure food bill has been passed by the Senate. Its object is to secure along the lines of interstate commerce the guarantees against fraudulent adulterations which are now furnished by some of the States and which it is in the power of all the other States to provide for their citizens. Its most salient terms are in substance that every person who manufactures and delivers for shipment to any point outside the State or Territory any drug or article of food, and every person who oxposes for sale or delivers such drug or article of food outside the State or Territory in which it is manufactured, shall, on demand, furnish a sample of the same for examination or analysis under the direction of the Agricultural Department. Such articles as are found to be adulterated, within the meaning of the act, and are transported or being transported from one State to another for sale and aro still in the original or unbroken packages, shall be liable to be proceeded against in the District Court of the United States and seized for confiscation or condemnation. If condemned as being adulterated they shall be sold, and the proceeds, minus ihe costs and charges, shall be paid into the United States Treasury. A trial by jury may be demanded. It is believed by the advocates of the measure that if it become a law this provision, which can be enforced against the article itself, will effectually prevent the transportation of fraudulent adulterations across State lines. They say that with such a rod hanging over him a man who is conscious of having in his possession adulterated food within the ' meaning of the statute .never will venture to send those goods across a State line for sale and disposal. It vyas explained by Mr. l’addock that in framing the measure sufficient caro had been taken in regard to the publication of analyses so as to prohibit the njention of tho name of the person ior corporation that is under suspicion. There is to be no publication of such analysis until after tho trial and conviction of the person. There will thus bo no invitation to competitors in trade or individuals who might through spite work feel like entering ! complaints against others who are J manufacturing different commodities to ! inform against them without sufficient 1 reason. •

The measure was strongly objected to as tending to interfere with the consumption of cotton-seed oil and some other substances which are used in compound food products on a large scale and are widely claimed to bo equally healthful as the material for which they are complete or partial substitutes. But if such claim be a correct one the products ought to be offered for sale on their merits, and no honest manufacturer should object to being obliged to label or otherwise designate his goods in accordance with fact. The rights of consumers of food and drugs ought to be considered, and they constitute a much moro numerous class than the manufacturers and venders put together. The person who pays out his money for an article has the right to know’ what he is buying, to choose for himself whether he or she will take the genuine thing or another thing which is" guaranteed to bo “just as good.” Especially should this right be jealously guarded in the case of material to be taken into the system.