tion for the promotion of public health, an organization formed more for the purpose of combating the growing sentiment against the use of preservatives, than of improving health conditions." Mr. Barnard's statement which is totally without warrant loses much of its force when it is examined. In the first place. the association mentioned was not formed for the purpose Mr. Barnard alleges, nor is it a "so-called association," for it is legally incorporated under the laws of the state of New York. It is engaged in combating not "the growing sentiment against preservatives," but the very point Mr. Barnard says he is combating, himself-the use of inferior methods and materials-which is a prime factor of the public health, and one of the phases of this association's activity.

Mr. Barnard's assertion that the association is issuing mis-representative advertising concealed as news-matter is not well founded for the very manufacturers whose interests Mr. Barnard is indirectly serving are engaged in that questionable form of welfare conducted by a discredited Washington correspondent already exposed in Colliers and the Arena magazine.

Mr. Barnard makes a great outcry against this association's use of Doctor J. H. Long's experiment which proved that benzoate of soda could not be used for the purpose Mr. Barnard has long insisted it could be used for, but he has apparently failed to mention that the only method by which rotten decayed goods can be profitably and successfully marketed is by the use of the ascetic acid-spices method and which, by inference at least, he advocates, this in the face of his chief's-Dr. J. N. Hurty's -well known and exhaustive researches with which he must be thoroughly familiar.

Mr. Barnard's argument that benzoate of soda can be and is used by pulp manufacturers is unquestionably true, but it does not necessarily mean that it should be interdicted on that account, for the remedy lies not in such an interdiction, but in adequate federal inspection. It is unquestionably a fact that a means that is adequate for defense is not infrequently used as a weapon for offense, and I think there are a few persons who will argue that because dynamite is used by the "Black Hand" to commit an outrage, it should be made a penal offense to use it at all, and this is applicable to innumerable principles and methods. The facts are that used as benzoate of soda, should be used, and as it is used, it is a safe, clean, efficacious preventive of disease and that the ascetic acid-spice method used as it is used is a clumsy. unsafe and pernicious method of arriving at a desired result, not only in that it permits bad materials to be used and their use concealed, but because spices and ascetic acids, in fact that whole acromatic series, are dangerous to the human system.

In his conclusion Mr. Barnard has mis-stated his case when he says: "Dr. Long is up against facts which cannot be controverted." He should have said: "Mr. Barnard is up against facts which cannot be controverted." And the majority of these facts are in Mr. Barnard's office at this instant. As to the last five lines of Mr. Barnard's communication I beg to apply them to himself with but slight change. It is indeed unfortunate that a state chemist appointed to safe-guard the public welfare in a scientific way should lend himself to a coterie of

manufacturers who wish to exploit him in defense of their products. CAMPBELL MAC COLLOUCH. Secretary Committee on Publication, National Association for the Promotion of Public Health.

FROM PROF. BEAL'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS AT ATLANTIC CITY.

Equally as foolish and hurtful, perhaps even more so, are the laws which specifically or in general terms prohibit absolutely the use of the preservatives afforded by modern science for the protection of certain foods and drinks against putrefaction and fermentation.

I believe that it may be asserted without fear of successful contradiction that not one well authenticated instance can be procured of injury resulting from the use of foods containing what may be termed the modern antiferments, when employed in no greater quantity than necessary to prevent decomposition; while on the other hand, myriads of cases might be cited of injury resulting from the use of foods decomposed through the lack of such protection. In a very liberal per cent of cases where the certificate of the medical officer reads "died from natural causes," the true certificate would read, "poisoned by ptomaines administered in accordance. with the statute in such case made and provided.”

Furthermore, every theoretical argument that can be urged against the use of these modern preservatives on the ground of their being antiferments can be urged with equal force against common salt, vinegar and wood smoke, which have been used as food preservatives since pre-historic times.

The quintessence of the comic opera is absurdity, but what author of comic opera would have the temerity to represent a nation of 80 millions of alleged civilized people as employing an army of inspectors, chemists and other officers at an expense of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to compel its citizens to eat ptomaine-poisoned food, and inflicting pains and penalties upon such manufacturers as dared to avail themselves of the resources of modern science to prevent such an evil.

As a matter of fact, our laws are exactly upsidedown on the subject of preservatives. Instead of using the resources of government to hunt down and convict the manufacturer who uses a harmless antiferment in proper amount, they should be employed to detect and punish the man who is so careless of the public health as to send his products into the market without such an addition.

That there are preservatives that may be harmful in almost any quantity, and that others harmless in small amounts may be harmful in excessive amount goes without saying, but surely it should be possible to draught laws against such evils without stretching the definition of adulteration to such an extent as to cause the infliction upon the public of greater evils than the laws prevent.

In view, therefore, of the great and constantly increasing importance of this subject to the practice. of pharmacy, I recommend that the president be instructed to appoint, or that the association of its council select a committee of discreet and competent persons to take into consideration the legal definition of adulteration, especially as applied to the use of preservatives, and to report their conclusions at the next annual meeting of this association, this report,

when approved, to be made the subject of a communication to the general public, and to the governors of the various states, in order that the average citizen may have the opportunity of learning the facts concerning the use of preservatives.

When the average citizen comes to know that much of what is called adulteration is such only by virtue of false and stupid legal definition, and that much of the law for which he pays and which purports to be for his protection, in fact harms him both in body and in purse, and is not infrequently used as the instrument of official graft and plunder, then, and not before, may he expect legislation that is rational and helpful instead of imbecile and damaging.

ILLINOIS FOOD COMMISSION BULLETIN NO. 17. Chicago, December 8, 1909.

It has come to the attention of this department that there are a great many artificially colored pecans on the market. Investigation has shown that some are colored with coal tar dye, some with crude iron oxide, which is ordinarily used in the manufacture of paint, some polished with soapstone, and others colored with the coloring matter of woods which is extracted by means of wood alcohol, a poisonous substance. It is needless to say that those colored by the last mentioned process are absolutely prohibited by the State Food Law.

.

The use of harmless coloring matter in food products is forbidden by the State Food Law under the conditions stated in Section 3-Fourth: "That for the purpose of this act, an article shall be deemed to be adulterated If it be mixed, colored, powdered, coated, polished or stained in any manner whereby damage or inferiority is concealed, or if it is made to appear better or of greater value than it really is." Where color does not conceal inferiority or make the article appear better or of greater value than it really is, its addition to any foodstuff nevertheless constitutes an adulteration if no notice to that effect is given to the consumer. Hence when such nuts are offered for sale they must be in properly labeled packages, or if sold in bulk the vendor or dealer must place a placard on them stating that they are artificially colored. Failure to do this will subject the dealer to prosecution. A. H. JONES,

State Food Commissioner.

RECENT CONVICTIONS BY THE

CHICAGO RETAILERS MOST HONEST.

Government Investigation Says Chicago Affected Less Than Any Other City by Short Weights-Only 5 Per Cent of Cheaters Here-60 Per Cent Elsewhere.

Chicago is the model city in the protection of its citizens from the short weight evil. According to the result of an investigation being carried on by the United States Bureau of Standards, only about 5 per cent of the scales of butchers, grocers, and other retailers in the city of Chicago have been found faulty. In other large cities as high as 60 per cent of the scales examined gave underweight.

The inquiry of the government into these conditions is purely educational in nature. It has no authority to intervene in the prosecution of tradesmen who cheat their customers by means of doctored scales. It is up to the state and city governments to protect their citizens from the fraud.

The federal government, however, is interested in encouraging the establishment of inspection systems in cities and states. In some cities there is absolutely no provision for checking up on the weights and measures used in stores and markets. In other cities what inspection systems do exist are extremely lax.

In Chicago, however, the story is a different one. According to the findings of the government investigators City Sealer Kjellander is giving a vigorous enforcement administration of the law. He has been working in conjunction with the bureau of standards of Washington, and not only has applied the most. improved principles of supervision to the weights and measures given by retailers, but he has invented devices of his own.

This carries out the contention of the Committee on Manufacturers of the last General Assembly of Illinois, who refused to report out a net weight bill, declaring that the law was ample in cities where the administrative forces did their duty as is evidenced in the case of Chicago's city sealer.

There is considerable talk of a bill to be introduced in Congress during the present session to modify or amplify the National Food and Drugs Act to include the appointment of a committee of nine or ten members to frame standards for food and drug products. for the guidance of the officials and the courts in the administration of the National Food Law.

ILLINOIS FOOD COMMISSION.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT ATTORNEY SIMS SUES UNDER PURE FOOD LAW.

A GOVERNMENT BUREAU OF HEALTH. In his first annual message to Congress President Taft refers as follows to the plan for a government bureau of health:

"There seems to be no reason why all the bureaus and offices in the general government which have to do with the public health or subjects akin thereto should not be united in a bureau to be called the 'Bureau of Public Health.'”

Such an institution of the federal government has long been needed. There has been too much diversity of opinion and effort among government officials whose work brought them into touch with questions affecting the public health, particularly in food matters. The lack of a bureau with clearly defined jurisdiction and competently officered to handle such food questions has been responsible for much of the disturbance which has recently marked public food discussion.

Through lack of such a bureau the handling of many food matters fell into the hands of an agricultural chemist with an itch for notoriety and a talent for obtaining it, but otherwise manifestly unfit to handle such important problems. We presume if the President's recommendation is adopted by Congress this man will be a candidate for the head of such bureau, and that he will have powerful support for the place, despite his unenviable record as a scientist.

In one particular the President's recommendation for the reference to the new bureau of all subjects akin to public health should not apply, and that is in regard to meat inspection. This is a matter of vital importance as affecting the public health, but there are powerful reasons why it should remain within the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture. The first is that by reason of its equipment and experience in the handling of livestock questions the Bureau of Animal Industry is the best qualified, and indeed the only logical authority for the supervision of the manufacture and marketing of meat food products. The second is that three years of experience have proved the integrity and efficiency of the bureau's meat inspection service beyond question, and in the face of the bitterest attacks on it both at home and from abroad by those who for selfish reasons sought to discredit it.

There is no reason to suppose that the President or his advisers contemplate the inclusion of meat inspection in the scope of work of the new Bureau of Health. Any who do hold such a view may and should be made to alter their opinions by a presentation of the situation as it actually exists.-National Provisioner.

BUILDING FOR CHEMISTS.

The Chemists' Club of New York will, in a very short time, erect a new club house at 50 to 54 East 41st street, near Park avenue. The building will be ten stories high and will contain, besides the quarters of the club, the library of the American Chemical Society, which is one of the largest of its kind in the country, and also laboratories where chemists may conduct their investigations. There will also be a large hall, where meetings of the club and conventions may be held. Chicago chemists are also contemplating following the plans of their New York brethern and expect to start in at the beginning of the new year raising a fund for a building for the Chicago Chemists' Club.

District Attorney Sims has instituted sixteen suits on Dec. 18th, 1909, for the collection of penalties from alleged violators of the pure food law. Assistant District Attorney C. A. Legg filed the suits in the District court.

Ten firms are hit in the suits brought under the pure food and drugs act. These firms are:

Barrett & Barrett Company, 55 Michigan street, charged in three suits with shipping in interstate commerce cider represented to be pure when it had been doctored with acid and coloring matter.

L. Crafts & Co., two suits charging the misbranding of Neufchatel cheese made from skimmed milk when it should be made from whole milk.

Dallemand & Co., 120 West Ohio street, alleged to have shipped misbranded goods in interstate com

merce.

Emmert Proprietary Company, 2345 West Madison street, alleged to have shipped misbranded bottles of Dr. Winchell's soothing syrup.

Murray & Nickell Manufacturing Company, Elgin, alleged to have shipped misbranded powdered colocynth.

Make-Man Tablet Company, 1221 West Lake street, two suits charging the misbranding of packages of tablets.

Sethness Company, 718 North Curtis street. Puhl Manufacturing Company, 212 West Kinzie street, charged with shipments of Mexican vanila extract, misbranded.

Spielmann Bros., 1001 West North avenue.
Stein, Hirsch & Co., 2831 Ashland avenue.

The suits under the pure food law constitute the second lot of such cases started by District Attorney Sims since the passage of the law. A number of similar cases were prosecuted several months ago.

The law provides for the collection of a penalty of not more than $200 for a first offense. Men who have offended against the law more than once are subject to both fine and imprisonment.

Flavoring extracts, soothing syrups, beverages, patent medicines, vinegar, liquors and other products are subject to the investigations District Attorney Sims and the expert investigators employed by the government have been carrying on during the last few months. Other prosecutions are to follow as quickly as evidence can be gathered against the offenders.

MANUFACTURERS PLEAD GUILTY TO FOOD LAW VIOLATIONS IN FEDERAL COURT. The Hall-Whitney Manufacturing Co., of Albany, makers of extracts, pleaded guilty of violating the pure food law before Judge Ray in United States District Court in Utica, N. Y., on Dec. 8 and was fined $200 on two indictments.

The Failing-Nellis Co., of Albany, pleaded guilty to similar charges based upon the manufacture of headache powders and was fined $100. A plea of guilty was also entered by the Delaware Drug Co., of Hancock, N. Y., for a similar offense, and a fine of $50 was imposed. In each instance lawyers of the defendants mentioned extenuating circumstances.

A fine of $500 was imposed on James G. Stevens, of Clinton Hills, N. Y., who pleaded guilty to having shipped to Boston and Plattsburg parties butter made in Canada and smuggled into this country.

TAFT STUDYING WHISKEY.

Decision May Be Published Before End of Christmas Holidays-Testimony in Disputed Case Is Very Voluminous.

Washington reports say that President Taft is putting in all his spare time these days struggling with the question of "What is Whiskey?" By succeeding appeals the question has been carried through the food and drink experts of the Department of Agriculture, charged with the administration of the pure food. and drugs act, to the Solicitor General of the United States and to the president himself.

The printed evidence and the briefs of the distinguished attorneys who have appeared in the controversy, form a record equal to that of many of the cases which the Supreme court of the United States is called upon to determine, and the president is living again the life of a federal judge when he takes to his private library in the evening the volumes of testimony and argument which he peruses in the hope of reaching. soon a strictly legal decision on the mooted question.

President Taft is working upon the whiskey problem with a view of publishing in the near future a decision. It is said that the president did some work upon this when he returned to Washington this fall, but laid it aside to write his message to Congress. The message now being off his hands, he has at last turned to the old question of whiskey. The president has not yet completed his decision in the matter.

It

is understood that he is studying carefully the testimony that was submitted to him following the publishing of the decision of Solicitor General Bowers upon this subject when it was believed the rectified whiskey interests secured a victory over the straight whiskey people. It seems likely that President Taft will publish his decision in this matter before Congress meets after the Christmas holidays, and before problems of legislation begin to demand his consideration. The whiskey question has been left open ever since the issuance of the opinion of Solicitor General Bowers last spring.

TO DETECT BLEACHED GRAIN.

Department of Agriculture Explains Simple Methods.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture has issued a report on a simple method of detecting sulphured barley and oats.

"For years it has been the common practice in some grain centers to subject stained or discolored barley. and oats to a process of bleaching in order to remove, or at least partially remove, the discoloration and to a certain extent improve the appearance of kernels otherwise damaged. The common agent to accomplish this result is sulphur in the form of sulphurous acid and the process itself is known by different names, among which are the terms 'sulphuring,' 'bleaching' and 'purifying.'

"The general appearance, especially the color, of barley and oats has an important bearing in determining their commercial grades and valnes, and in view of the fact that the bleaching of these grains has become common, and because it is oftentimes difficult to discriminate between grain that has been bleached and grain that is naturally bright in appearance, it was deemed expedient to use a simple qualitative method, by means of which the grain merchant or grain inspector could determine whether or not grain has been sulphured. Heretofore the sense of smell or the personal judgment has been the only means available to

practical grain men of differentiating between the natural and the bleached grains."

The report goes on to discuss the method of bleaching used, the chemicals necessary for detecting sulphured grain, the method of testing grain, the neces

sity for cleanliness and the tests of natural barley in comparison with sulphured barley.

NATHAN STRAUS OFFERS PASTEURIZING OUTFIT TO WASHINGTON, D. C., TO HELP FIGHT ON TUBERCULOSIS.

Health Officer Woodward has just been offered from Nathan Straus a large milk pasteurizing plant to enable the authorities of Washington to protect the people from the milk of tuberculous cows.

In his letter making the offer, Mr. Straus wrote: You are to be congratulated on your courage in telling the truth, namely, the fifteen per cent of those who die from tuberculosis are victims of drinking raw milk from tuberculosis cows. It is only by such clear and lucid statements of the responsibility of tuberculosis milk for the prevalence and persistence of the great white plague, that the public can be led to avail themselves of the protection against disease afforded by thorough pasteurization of the milk supplies.

In this connection I want to recognize the important services that you have rendered humanity by your enlightened stand in the milk question, and I want to aid you in your brilliant work of reducing the death rate of Washington, and help you to make the capital of the United States the healthiest city in the world.

WOULD MAKE MILK SAFE.

I have long had this on my mind, and nearly a year ago I told Surgeon-General Wyman of my desire. From your statement of the dairy conditions round about Washington, it seems to me that the time has arrived.

I would like to present to the city of Washington, through you, a complete pasteurizing plant of sufficient capacity to properly pasteurize all the milk of untested herds, so as to make the milk supply of the city as safe as the water supplied with your improved filtration system.

Such a plant has been made at Heidelberg, is ready for shipment, and could be delivered to you free of all charges before the end of the year. I offer this plant because it has just been completed and is ready to be installed, while it would take months to have one made here.

SAVE PEOPLE FROM TUBERCULOSIS,

If you have a place to set up the plant, with steam and water connections, I will be glad to cable to Heidelberg to have it shipped to you. With this outfit you cannot only reduce the number of new cases of tuberculosis, but you can cut down the annual tribute of health and life exacted by typhoid fever, and you can save the children of Washington from much of the scarlet fever, diphtheria and summer complaint that now exacts such heavy toll.

I believe that this project will commend itself to Senator Gallinger, whom I believe is chairman of the district committee, and whom I know is deeply interested in the efforts that I have made to save the lives of the babies.

I hope that you will find it possible to accept this offer and to crown your efficient services in promoting the health of the residents of Washington by wiping out milk-caused sicknesses.