hibited, regardless of whether the sodium benzoate or other salt of benzoic acid therefrom, conforms to the pharmacopoeial requirements or not. The canner who uses sodium benzoate for the purpose of preventing fermentation in good fruit, or of preserving poor fruit that could not be otherwise kept, or of overcoming filth in a factory in which the canning could not be satisfactorily conducted without the use of a benzoate or some other powerful antiseptic chemical preservative, should be required, if he uses a benzoate in his fruit, to label it plainly. Or, perhaps, if the chief chemist of the agricultural department of the gov ernment is over-ridden by the special committee and permission is granted to use a benzoate, which blanket act would then permit the use of any kind. of benzoic acid, it might be better, I say, to demand that the user of such a benzoate as a preservative of food be required to state prominently on the label not only the amount but the origin of such benzoate employed. For example: The benzoate used in preserving this fruit is derived from a benzoic acid made from the urine of horses and cattle. Or: The benzoate used in preserving this fruit is derived from coal tar. Or: The benzoate used in preserving this fruit is derived from gum benzoin. This method would at least permit the consumer to select both the fruit he desires and the preservative he prefers. However, it may be that the decision of the government will demand that chemical preservatives be altogether debarred, and, if so, it will be found, in my opinion, that the canner of fruits will suddenly discover that good fruits can be easily preserved, in a clean factory, by the aid of sugar alone, without the addition of any chemical antiseptic. Again congratulating you on your editorial, which, in my opinion, appears at a vital period of the effort made to rectify abuses in the direction where the people are helpless unless protected by law, and trusting that the spirit you have breathed in your admirable review of the problem will become a dominant factor in this crusade and tend to uphold the hands of the officers who are making such strenuous efforts in behalf of the people, I am (etc.), PUNKY DOODLE AND JOLLYPIN. By Lucius Brown, Jr., of Tennessee. Pillikin Willikin Winkee Wee, How does the food inspector take his tea? He takes it with pure foods, he takes it with drugs; He takes it in cups and saucers and mugs. He takes it with bleached flour and sugar of milk: He takes it in alum and sassafras silk; He takes it in glasses; he takes it in tins. O, Punky Doodle and Jollypin. We desire to inform the readers of the American Pure Food & Drug Journal, that the yearly subscription is reduced to one dollar. Subscribers who have paid the previous rate, will be credited in the year's subscription of 1910. Forty years before the Pure Food Laws existed we were manufacturing Pure and Correct Mineral Waters that conformed to the analyses of the Natural Springs. Artificial Vichy, Selters, Carbonic and twenty other varieties. Ginger Ale, Sarsaparrilla and Lemon Soda. Only pure distilled water and the best and purest ingredients used in our products. Send for pamphlet. Approved by National and State Food and Drug Commissioners. Articles pertaining to Pure Foods and Drugs should be addressed to the Editor not later than the 15th of each month, signed by the author. Advertising rates furnished on application. Annual Subscription $1.00. Single Copy 10 cts. Devoted to the Enforcement of the National and State Pure Food and Drug Laws. Dr. J. N. Garfunkle, Mr. Fred. L. Hoffman, JULY, 1909. Editor and Manager. RECENT "JUNGLE." HE packing house industry of East St. Louis has been given a crushing blow by the new "jungle" revelations. But the packing houses can recover. They can reform, as those in Chicago did, and learn that cleanliness is a sound business policy. But it is another question as relates to the Department of Agriculture. The responsibility for the enforcement of the meat inspection law lies with Secretary Wilson and his staff. If it has failed to make the law stand; if it has appointed incompetent inspectors and backed them up; if it has been corrupt in any way, it has protected a revolting fraud upon countless numbers of American citizens. From the Chicago disclosures every one knows that the meat inspection law was imperative. To render it foolish, is to insult and sicken the people. The Department, in case it is derelict, ought to be treated with the greatest severity. Я T the recent sessions of the American Medical Association and the American Institute of Homeopathy, leading specialists of the United States went on record opposing every form of artificial food preservative now in use. Resolutions conveying in no uncertain terms against food poisons were adopted with cheers and carried directly before. President Taft. The resolution of the American Medical Association followed a presentation of a powerful arraignment of the dangers of food preservatives by Dr. D. H. Bergey, of Philadelphia, a member of the Health Bureau of that city. Dr. Charles A. L. Reed, of Cincinnati, who vigorously opposed the findings of the Remsen Board, which allowed the use of benzoate of soda, drew down upon him the wrath of the former Executive, and, as chairman of the committee, presented the resolution to the President, upon whom the Nation is depending for emancipation against food adulterators. P ROM the cradle to the grave, the great American public is dosed with cocaine, opium, morphine, and caffeine, concealed in so-called temperance drinks and patent medicines, is the startling statement. by no less an authority than Dr. Lyman F. Kebler, of Washington, in a lecture on "The Unsuspected Presence of Habit-Forming Agents in Beverages and Medicines," delivered before the American Philosophical Society. For years Dr. Kebler has made a careful analysis of different beverages and medicines sold in this country. As a result of his investigations, he finds that a great many of our drug fiends contracted their habits by taking what they considered harmless soft drinks or efficacious medicines. Dispensers of so-called soft drinks have been more free from public scrutiny and criticism than those engaged in the liquor business, and if Dr. Kebler's conclusions are correct, they have taken great advantage of the public. Herbert Spencer has said that health is the first duty of an individual. The public health should certainly be of primary importance to society. It can hardly be said that we begin to do our duty in this respect until laws are passed and enforced which will properly safeguard our people in everything which passes from their mouths to their stomachs. It can be safely asserted that half the sickness in this nation is caused by adulterated foods and liquids which contain vicious and harmful ingredients. A Timely Warning to Housewives. The United States authorities of the Department of Agriculture are sending notices broadcast, directly to housewives, to refrain from buying a so-called magic powder, to be used as a preservative in canning cherries, peaches, pears, apricots, apples and water pears. Prof. H. P. Cassidy, agent of the State Food Department of Pennsylvania, disclosed that the contents of the so-called magic powder is nothing else but the dangerous salicylic acid, which is prohibited in food products by the National as well as every State Food Department. The dispensers of this firm are employing shrewd methods for marketing this powder; but the National authorities are employing a most vigorous plan in order to protect the innocent public against these impostors. |