Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

5
Jan

Army Rations Not In It

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Fort Dodge Messenger: Jan. 5, 1904

Army Rations Not In It

An Old Soldier Writes of His Christmas Dinner.

Former Fort Dodge Man Tells of Good Things to Eat at Old Soldiers’ Home on Christmas.

Those veterans of the civil war who are gathered together in the home for the old soldiers at Marshalltown fared just as well or better than many who had homes of their own on Christmas day. One soldier from Fort Dodge, who is now at the home, has written to the Messenger telling of the many good things that they were served on that day, and starts his letter with “Did we have dinner Christmas at the Soldier’s home? Read the following and draw your own conclusions.”

“One hundred and twenty-three pounds of turkey; three gallons of oysters for dressing; three gallons of good gravy, forty pounds of potatoes; fifteen pounds of bread, six pounds of good butter; forty pounds of plum pudding; three gallons vanilla sauce; green pears; fourteen quarts cranberries, nine pounds of sugar; one hundred and thirty-eight oranges; one hundred and sixty-two bananas; twenty-four pounds of candy, one-third of a barrel of apples, twelve dozen doughnuts; nine pounds of cheese; one and one-half dozen pickles, fifty pounds of milk, two pounds of Mocha Coffee; one-fourth pound Formosa tea. This was in our dining room in the O.P.B. We have two good cooks in the kitchen and five good girls in the dining room. Everything is cooked and served in good style.”

24
Aug

Where Do The Bottles Go?

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The Fort Dodge Messenger: Aug. 24, 1906

Where Do The Bottles Go?

Question Not Easily Answered by Busy Milk Men — Many Housekeepers Borrow Them at Times

“Where do the pins go?” is an old and trite query that has never been satisfactorily answered. The modern dealer is puzzled by a similar question equally difficult of solution: “Where do the milk bottles go? No matter how carefully or plainly they are marked, they say, there is a constant shortage which can not always be accounted for by the breakage which is, of course, to be expected.

“Our regular customers,” said one of the prosperous dealers a few days ago, “are very good about returning the bottles. It is the chance purchaser who runs into the store for a quart or a pint who is apt to be careless about sending back the bottles.”

“Yes, the bottles belonging to different dealers are always getting mixed,” continued the same speaker. “Many people, who are both willing and anxious to return the bottle, can not realize that it matters what dealer gets them, just so they are handed to some one of us. Some times I have bottles belonging to three or four different dealers, all plainly marked, left at my store or handed to my drivers by people who seem to think they have done their duty in a most exemplary manner.

“We had a good deal of trouble getting them to their proper owners until the last one of us established a sort of exchange in his milk store. the store is centrally located and when any of us gets another’s bottle by mistake we just stop and set it on a shelf behind the door there and look among the collection for our own. There are generally bottles representing half a dozen dealers or so on this shelf, which we find a very convenient institution.”

Variously Used

“It is a surprise how many uses cna be found for a milk bottle. They are a convenient shape, solid and strong, and the four different sizes in general use suit quite a variety of purposes. They come back to us in all sorts of conditions.

“Some housekeepers appear to depend upon them for supplying a shortage in the supply of bottles for catsup or pickles. They are quite popular receptacles for pear butter, apple butter and other sort of jams which need not be air tight. People seem to think we ought not to object to loaning them for a few months for such useful purposes.

Sometimes Coal Oil

The use we do most seriously object to our patrons putting the jars to is that of a substitute coal oil can. Every once in a while, when we put a quantity of bottles into the scalding tub, we notice strong fumes of coal oil. Of course that means that the whole tubful of bottles must be taken out and thoroughly washed through several waters in order that the offending bottle may be certainly secured, and nobody have cause to complain of the flavor of the milk next morning. If we could find out who was guilty of putting milk bottles to such a use it is likely that person might have trouble in getting bottled milk, but the bottles are returned with others and we are apt not to notice until the hot water gives it away.

A great many bottles are ruined by carelessness in taking out the pasteboard tops, say the dealers. People in a hurry force a carving fork hastily between the bottle and the cap, or often strike the tip carelessly when trying to force it off with some equally clumsy implement, and the result is nicked and uneven edges, which often extend themselves into cracks, which in time spell the fate of the bottle.

A neat little wire implement has been invented for lifting the cap and some of the dealers have presented one to each customer, finding that hte small outlay is more than made up in the improved condition of the bottles.

9
Aug

Price of Flour Soars Upward

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The Fort Dodge Messenger: Aug. 9, 1904

Price of Flour Soars Upward

Jumped Twenty Cents on the Sack Monday and Will Go Higher

It May Reach Two Dollars

Damage to Wheat Reported to be the Cause of the Raise — Rust in North Wheat District Said to be Serious — New Bug in Minnesota

Two dollars a sack (about $50 today), that is what flour may be within the next few days, according to the judgment of Andrew Hower, the Fort Dodge authority on flour. On Monday this commodity made two jumps of ten cents ($2.52) each and is now selling at $1.70 ($42.77) per sack, with no relief in sight for the immediate future and a continued upward tendency at the present.

Wheat Damaged in Northwest

“Wheat is reported to be badly damaged in the northwest by rust,” said Mr. Hower, to a Messenger representative this morning. “This is responsible for the present advance. the price at the mills has raised fifty cents ($12.58) on the barrel the past week, and the advance will undoubtedly continue. Flour that was welling yesterday morning at $1.50 ($37.74) per sack is now retailing at $1.70 and is likely in my judgment to go on up till it reaches a price right around two dollars. Wheat, I believe, will be forced up to at least $1.10 ($27.68) per bushel, before the new crop comes on and the uneasiness is over, and flour is bound to soar in sympathy.

New Bug Damages Wheat

T.H. Hoffman, the partner of Mr. Hower in the wholesale flour business, has just returned from a trip into the wheat growing districts of southern Minnesota, and he reports the crop in the territory covering a number of counties in the best of the wheat territory has been attacked by a new bug, and is threatened with very serious damage. The oldest residents of the country infested have never seen anything like the insect that is causing the trouble. The bug operates by getting into the stem of the grain and taking the substance out of it. The outlook in this district according to Mr. Hoffman, is said to be serious.

The Grocers Optomistic (sic)

The grocers of the city who have been seen seem to think the matter is not so serious as the (millers) would make believe, and they think the scare will blow over in a short time. R.A. Schroeder, of the Right Place, said this morning: “I really believe the reports as to the damage to the wheat crop of the northwest have been exagerated (sic) and that there is not so much occasion for worry with regard to the matter as has been made out. I think when the harvest comes, there will be plenty of good wheat. There is generally a little flurry in wheat about this time of year, and I believe that present excitement is caused to a great extent by the men who would dispose of the old wheat they are holding at a good margin and they are taking advantage of the exagerated (sic) stories of damage to the new crop to boost the price of the old wheat on hand.”

(Editor’s note: No where in this article does it explain what amount of flour is being sold to the consumer. I imagine it is a large amount, like a 25-pound or 50-pound bag, rather than the 5-pound or 10-pound bag that we are familiar with today.)

24
Oct

Pigeon Raising as Ft. Dodge Industry

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The Fort Dodge Messenger: Oct. 24, 1903

Pigeon Raising as Ft. Dodge Industry

B.C. Keim Begins with 500 Birds to Raise Pigeons to Satisfy the Epicure.

Business a Profitable One

P.D. Keim, Owner of Number of Carrier Pigeons, Also Interested.

B.C. Keim, living at 1413 Second avenue north has made a new business venture in Fort Dodge. That business referred to is the raising of pigeons for the market. Mr. Keim has been in this line of work but a very short time and has already about 500 birds, old ones, and expects to have at least 500 more at once, or as soon as he can purchase them. He makes his purchases thruout the country, buying them anywhere and paying a good price for them.

His pens are at his home, and they have a capacity of over 1,600 pigeons, all of the birds being confined to these pens. The principal object of course, in raising these birds is to dispose of them on the market, where they are dressed and are considered a great delicacy by the epicures in the city. They are sold when about four weeks old, and are at this time plump and tender. The young birds, or squabs, bring anywhere from $2.00 to $3.00 (about $49.29 to $73.93 today) per dozen on the market, and the demand for them is always good.

Mr. Keim’s father, P.D. Keim, is also interested in raising pigeons, but he has none but the fancy kind, known as “homers.” These birds are too valuable to be sold on the market, as they are the kind known as the “carrier” pigeon those formerly used for carrying messages, during time of war and before the telephone or telegraph was invented. They may be taken any distance form the home where they were raised, and if loosed will return to that place, no matter what the distance, seeming to know by instinct what direction to fly, and will go at once and direct to that place, without once swerving from the true and direct course.

Mr. Keim has large pens fitted up for these birds, leaving them plenty of room in which to fly but not allow them outside of the pens, as the chances are that if he did they would return to their former home. He expects to soon have some young ones, and these may be allowed their liberty as they will always return to him. He now has a half dozen pairs of the fancy birds and expects before a great while to have enough of these kind from the birds that he now has to put them on the market as the “Homer” squab is much more tender and plump than the ordinary bird, and consequently brings a higher price while it would be to (sic) expensive to buy the “Homer” birds at from $1.00 to $2.00 ($24.64 to $49.29) a pair they can, if the breeding is fast, be raised at no greater cost than the ordinary pigeon, and after the first outlay, the cost is no more.

11
Jun

Choice Delicacies in the Market

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The Fort Dodge Messenger: June 11, 1904

Choice Delicacies in the Market

Home Grown Vegetables are Increasing Supply in the Groceries

Berries to Come From West

No Changes in the Live Stock and Grain Markets Since Last Week

The markets are but little changed this week. Vegetables are about the same in kind, quality and price. Home grown beet green and spinach add the only variety this week and both are welcomed with enthusiasm by the housewife who is planning a Sunday dinner. The shipping of vegetables from the south is pretty nearly shut off by the incoming  of the home grown truck. The new potatoes, new string beans, new cabbages, of course are coming from the south as yet, but even their time is not short, as all these with the exception of cabbage will soon be supplied by local gardeners. New potatoes are expected by July 4th at the latest by local gardeners and string beans will be in evidence in two weeks at the latest.

In fruits there is also little change. The first scrawny little peaches are beginning to show themselves and strawberries will climb up again next week from three for a quarter to 10 cents straight at least. The Missouri crop is exhausted and that state will cease to ship. All berries next week will come from the Hood river district in Idaho and from Colorado. Fort Dodge has received its last full car shipment for this season. All shipments will come in local from Omaha and the freight rates being thus made higher, the berries are bound to go up in prices. The home grown berries are reported to be ripening. It is expected they will come on the market the latter part of next week. All other fruit remain the same.

Live Stock and Grain.

Stock and grain markets show no changes this week with the exception of chickens, which have dropped a cent a pound, selling now for 7 cents to 9 cents a pound ($1.68 to $2.16 per pound today).

The markets are as follows:

Market item 1904 price Adjusted for inflation
Corn 60 cents $14.27
Oats 10 cents $2.39
Wheat 75 cents $17.96
Hay $5.50 to $6.00 $131.72 to $143.70
Hogs $4.10 to $4.25 $98.19 to $101.79
Cattle $3.00 to $3.25 $71.85 to $77.84
Chickens 7 to 9 cents $1.68 ro $2.16
Turkeys 10 to 12 cents $2.39 to $2.87
31
Mar

Housewives Recipes

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The Fort Dodge Messenger & Chronicle: March 31, 1916

Housewives Recipes

Fort Dodge Women Contribute Tested Receipes in the Culinary Art.

Menu

Lamb Chops
Sweet Potato au Gratin
Cole Slaw
Brown Bread
Brown Betty

Sweet potato au gratin

5 medium sized cold boiled sweet potatoes, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon butter, salt, pepper, milk, one cup breadcrumbs. Cut the potatoes in to 1-3 inch slices. Put a layer in a baking dish, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and brown sugar. Dot over with butter. Add second layer of sweet potatoes, add milk to cover. Add buttered crumbs and bake until brown.

Fish Balls With Tomato Sauce

1 1/2 cups fish flakes, 3 cups potatoes, 2 tablespoonfuls butter, 1 cup milk, 1 egg, 1/2 can tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 3 peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 1 tablespoonful butter, 1 tablespoonful flour.

Put the potatoes (cut in small pieces) and fish in a stew pan, cover with boiling water and cook until the potatoes are done. Drain off the water, then mash and beat until very light. Add the milk and butter and season with pepper and salt. Next the unbeaten egg and whip until light. Shape into balls, roll in egg and sifted bread crumbs, then fry in smoking-hot fat for just a moment. Drain on soft paper.

Tomato sauce – Stew the tomatoes, onion, peppercorns and bay leaf ten minutes, then rub through a sieve. Cook the flour and butter in a saucepan until bubbly; add the tomatoes slowly. Season with salt and pepper and pour around fish balls. The entire cost of fish balls and sauce enough for a family of four will not exceed twenty-five cents. (Editor’s note: The twenty-five cent meal would be around $4.95 today. Remember this was wartime, and economizing and saving meat were important. In addition, this was published during Lent, so that was another reason to save meat.)

Lentil Cropuettes

1 cup lentils, 1/2 cup water, 1 stalk celery, 1/2 onion, 3 sprigs parsley, 1 cup bread crumbs, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, 2 tablespoonfuls butter, 2-3 cup milk, 1 egg. (Editor’s note: I’m honestly not sure if the milk is 2 to 3 cups or 2/3 cup, since there is a hyphen in the original article. I lean toward 2/3 cup because it’s not plural.)

Soak over night the lentils, celery, onion and parsley. In the morning cook to a pulp, strain through a sieve, add bread crumbs, egg and salt and pepper to taste. Make a sauce by creaming together the flour and butter and pouring on gradually the milk. Bring to the boiling point, add the lentils mixture and mix thoroughly. When cool, form into balls, dip in egg and crumbs and fry in deep, hot fat. The recipe should serve at least three people. This dish is a splendid substitute for meat.

(Editor’s note: There are more recipes, which I will add later and then remove this note.)

19
Mar

Fresh Vegetables on Local Market

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The Fort Dodge Messenger: March 19, 1904

Fresh Vegetables on Local Market

New Products From Farm and Garden Tell of Advent of Spring.

Strawberries Now in Season

While There Are Many Vegetables and Fruits to be Purchased.

There are quite a number of fruits and vegetables of spring in the market this week to tempt the pocketbook for the Sunday dinner.

Strawberries are quite plentiful this week and are of a good quality, selling at 30 cents per quart ($7.18 in today’s money – per quart). The egg plant has also made its appearance a close follower of grape-fruit, cauliflower, tomatoes, aetc. (sic)

Some fresh ground horseradish, just out of the frozen ground is also on hand, a welcome and strong reminder that spring is here.

Eggs and butter are still about the same price, the former bringing 15 cents per dozen ($3.59) and the latter twenty cents per pound ($4.79).

Fruits are about the same as last week. Oranges, bananas and apples are on the market and some fine specimens of all three varieties are exhibited at the stores about town.

The new potato is daily expected from the south, along with new cabbages and other vegetables which are the usual arrivals of this time of year.

In meats, there are all kinds of fresh fish and plenty of fine fowls of all kinds on the market. Some particularly fine ducks appear at the various meat markets of the city this week.

The oyster is getting in his last work of the season, selling for forty cents per quart ($9.58).

After the plain fare of the winter season, the fresh crisp things of spring are going like hot cakes before the onslaught of the afternoon marketers, but the supply is good, and Fort Dodge will have an opportunity to die (sic – should be dine) high SSunday (sic).

(Editor’s note: I am not familiar with the price of oysters today, but the other prices kind of shock me. The equivalent of $7.18 per quart for strawberries, $3.59 for eggs and $4.79 for butter seems high. Especially the strawberries.)

5
Dec

Even Tired of Turkey

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The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 5, 1906

Even Tired of Turkey

An Incident of the Day After Thanksgiving.

A butcher tells the following story as an incident happening the day after Thanksgiving:

“Sir,” said an unhappy individual, walking into his shop, “please lead me to some delicate dish – something that’s easy to eat, something on the other side of the house from turkey, cranberries and oyster dressing. If we eat today it’s only because it’s custom. I don’t believe anyone’s hungry at our house. We fed turkey to the family, the cat, the dog and the bird. I suppose we’ll have turkey hash today and turkey pie tomorrow. The ‘Review of Reviews,’ I call it. Show me something to break the monotony.” The butcher finally fixed him out with  some kind of meat as far from turkey as possible. He says the incident is an old and happens a good many times after Thanksgiving or Christmas.

3
Dec

Eggs are Worth 28C Per Dozen

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The Fort Dodge Messenger: Dec. 3, 1904

Eggs are Worth 28C Per Dozen

Take a Sudden and Surprising Jump, Going Up Several Cents

Cold Weather is Responsible

Hens Will Not Lay When Cold Weather Comes Unless Well House and Well Cared For – No Relief Until February.

Twenty-eight cents per dozen for eggs (in today’s prices, about $6.71). That is the price that is asked today, and the end it not yet. They are, according to the present indications, likely to go to thirty-five cents ($8.38) before the week is out and their steady advance from now on until Christmas is to be expected.

The hens have the situation in their own hands. They got a corner on the supply early in the seaon (sic) and as there is no opposition there is nothing to be done to relieve the situation till the spring laying season comes on and her maternal ambitions overcome her desire to be contrary.

The present abrupt raise in the price of eggs is due to the sudden arrival of cold weather which invariably puts a stop to the supply of eggs. Hens must be warmly cared for or they will not produce eggs in winter. A sudden change from warm to cold weather invariably shuts off the production at once, and it is some days until the hens recover enough of their usual cheerfulness to being laying again.

Added to this fact there are comparatively old biddies in the country, and last spring’s pullets will not begin operations until February. The old hens brought such and excellent price int he local markets all spring and summer that nearly allof the farmers of this section sold out their poultry close. There are a great number of young fowls in the country, but they do not help at the present time.

(Editor’s note: The inflation calculator I use puts the price of 28 cents in 1904 at $6.71 in 2010 prices and 35 cents in 1904 at $8.38 in 2010. I recently bought a dozen and a half egg package for $2.98 and was not happy with that price. I should have been counting my blessings.)

13
Nov

Pure Food Law Working in Fort Dodge

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The Fort Dodge Messenger: Nov. 13, 1906

Pure Food Law Working in Fort Dodge

Good Labeled New Way Are Already on the Shelves of Fort Dodge Grocers

The pure food law is already working in Fort Dodge. A visit to a half dozen grocery stores will plainly show this. The goods labelled so as to show plainly just what ingredients are contained are coming in daily and are slowly taking the places on the shelves of the old style ones where adulteration was not shown.

The grocers are allowed until July 1st, 1906, to dispose of whatever unbranded foods they have on their shelves and all are now working them off as fast as possible and buying the new kinds. It has been supposed by many that when the pure food  law went into rigid enforcement there would be no adulterated stuff on the market. This idea is erroneous. The same kinds of goods will be for sale, but they will be plainly labeled so that the buyer will know just what they are composed of. There will be just as much adulterated stuff on the market but the purchaser will not be forced to suppose that it is pure. For instance, where the Fort Dodge housewife has gone down to the grocery store and bought pepper put up in a neat box and marked “pure pepper,” and taken it home in contentment, now she will buy the same kind but the box will be marked “Pepper mixed with cornmeal, colored.”

A Messenger reporter made the rounds of a few grocery stores this morning. The same story was told in all. Yes, the pure food law is already commencing to work here. It is not in full blast but we are getting the new labelled goods on hand in place of the old as fast as possible. All of the jobbers are sending us the goods marked so that what they are composed of is plainly seen.

“See here,” said one man, white aproned and with pencil behind ear and order book in hand as he whisked around back of some shelving. “This the brand of sorghum that used to be marked in bold letters ‘Pure sorghum.’ The manufacturers of it have stepped down off their high horse a bit for now you will notice is it marked just plain ‘Sorghum,’ and in this little red lettered notice down here it says, 90 per cent sorghum, 10 per cent grape sugar. Here is a flaring adulteration in the line of catsup and I don’t think we will handle this brand much longer. It used to be marked ‘Pure Tomato Catsup.’ Now there is a big formula and this is the way it reads: ‘This catsup is made of tomatoes, sugar, salt, cloves, allspice, cayenne pepper, onions and one tenth of one per cent of benzoate of soda.’ Another catsup admits on the label that it is made of turnips artificially colored together with the usual spices and still another claims to be absolutely pure except for a small portion of benzoate of soda to prevent fermenting. In the maple sugar line there have been some big changes and we only have one brand in the store that is marked pure. All the others have explanations showing how the stuff is adulterated. Now here is a can that used to be marked, ‘Pure Maple Syrup.’ They don’t even dare to claim that it is maple syrup now and the label says ‘Old fashioned syrup, made from cane and maple sugars,’ and that’s just the way it goes all through. The cans that used to be marked ‘pure leaf lard,’ now admit that their contents are only about half lard., tea, coffee, preserves, spices, etc. All are shown up before the people and the results are, in many cases, surprising. The result will be that a lot of these brands that are the worst adulterated will soon go off the market and the manufacturers will quit making them. Foods that are adulterated in a small way will probably continue to sell just as well as before.”

Whatever else it may do, the enforcement of the pure food law will necessitate a liberal expenditure of lithographers’ and printers’ ink in labeling new packages put out by the manufacturers. Where goods are shipped the length and breadth of the country, they come under federal jurisdiction, and the complexion of the billboards and other display spaces advertising them will undergo a decided change. The redecoration may even extend to the delivery carts, for the reason that designs used on the labels become in time such a trade mark as to be repeated in fac simile where ever the company’s “ad” is displayed. The label must give us the true contents of the package, the name of the manufacturer and the true name of the place of manufacture.

Many of the familiar signs and figures which greet the eye in public places will disappear. But the pure food law is not to abolish display advertising. New types, new designs, new colors will take the place of old favorites. The rush for publicity will be greater than ever. Those manufacturers whose products were up to requirements will give due prominence to the fact and the less fortunate, once their shortcomings are remedied, will be equally zealous in proclaiming the purity of their goods.

Food products will no longer be sold for what they are not. The regulations provide that no picture design or device which gives any false indications of origin or quality shall be used upon any label. For example, the picture of a pig will not ‘go’ and a label if placed upon packages containing beef products and the likeness of a chicken is equally obnoxious to the government if place upon cans containing veal or pork. Geographical names may be used only with the words “cut,” “brand,” “type,” or “style,” as the case may be, except upon foods manufactured in the place, state, territory or county named. For instance, ham not produced in New York is not “New York ham” and may only be labeled “New York style.” Bologna sausage does not necessarily come from abroad and hereafter it must be labeled “Bologna style sausage.” Whisky is not whisky unless it is the straight undiluted article and Boston Baked beans as now advertised need not necessarily have ever been in Boston. Indeed, most of them are never baked but are cooked or boiled. Cod, if the experts are to be believed, is not cod at all, it might be hake, haddock or cusk.

Creamless Ice Cream.

Ice cream is not longer a strictly dairy product. It is now rather a kitchen dish and classified with puddings. Of course there are all kinds of ice cream but the truly commercial product contains very little cream at all, and is made largely of corn starch, gelatine and flavoring extracts. As such it is lacking by several per cent in the fats required by the government. Patent medicines are classified under “pure foods” so far as those that contain either alcohol, opium or cocaine, unless the same is indicated on the label, in long primer *aps (first letter unreadable, I couldn’t guess what is should be) are not meeting the requirements. No matter how much artists and architects imitate the old masters any medicine manufacturer who attempts to imitate the master work of some nostrum concoctor is perpetuating a fraud. The manufacturer must be perfectly frank, make his ingredients public and reveal trade secrets, if necessary.

It has been proved beyond question that adulterations exist; also, that they are frauds on the pocketbook rather than on the public health. Force by competition, the manufacturer has cheapened the foods while not making them injurious. To do this he sought the chemist’s aid, and he is not dependent upon the chemist to get the goods back to government specifications.

No matter how good the intentions of the manufacturer, his product is always liable to some changes of which he knows nothing. Be they small or great they are serious, and under the law become adulterations. To prevent them he is dependent on the chemist. By periodical tests and examinations the chemist keeps the manufacturer informed as to the standard of his goods and holds him to the legal requirements. These variations in quality may be occasioned by flaws in the raw material. Foreign substances may enter into the composition. Carelessness on the part of an employer may allow grave discrepancies in the recipe. The chemist, therefore, is the only check the manufacturer has to protect himself and the consumer.

Just what the requirements will finally be in many of the foods is not yet known. The commission has been holding a last hearing this week, and from factories, laboratories and law offices experts have been  hurrying to Washington to get in a word for some particular classification.

There is a long list of the most common adulterated foods in the custody of the government experts, and strange as it may seem, many of these artificial products are deemed just as good for public consumption as the real article. Under the strict interpretation of the law, however, they are violations and such must be rectified.

A Few Adulterations.

The government standard for lard is rendered fat from slaughtered, healthy hogs and leaf lard is that particular fat taken from the inner lining of the abdomen. Both have to pass certain tests for fats and acids and – unnecessary to say – one may now buy lard put up in pails that was never near a hog. Milk and its products are very easily adulterated, and despite the municipal inspection now being made all over the country this article of common consumption is the most tampered with, and sold for below standard. Maple syrup, the highly-prized product, from the sap of the tree, is very scarce and dear some years. Manufacturers get around this, however, by grinding raw sugar cane and flavoring the extract with hickory bark. Maple syrup is adulterated by the use of glucose syrup, as is molasses.

Even honey is not beyond duplication. It is said that a preparation has been made and sold for  honey that never had any bee medication in it, the comb being made of paraffine (sic) and the cells filled with a fluid substance made from glucose. This statement, however, has been challenged by the bee industry and branded as a lie. But the government chemists claim that they have proof of their assertion.

Ground spice has been offered for sale which was little more than a mixture of ground nutshells and flour with lamp black for coloring matter. Of course, some spice entered into this composition to give taste, but very little. Such has been the advancement in synthetic products that many flavoring extracts are artificially made. Cottonseed and sesame oils make a clever substitution for olive oil, although they are not called by that name. They are known as salad oils and although the trade knows the difference the average consumer does not and buys that article for true oil.

Tea and Coffee Adulterated.

There has been a strict government regulation on tea, but this stimulant has been religiously adulterated for years with leaves of other plants and spent tea leaves. To increase bulk coffee is adulterated with chickory (sic). Not very long ago some ingenious imitator got out an artificial bean made with a mixture of cereals, sweepings, flavoring material and clay. The bean was a perfect counterfeit so far as looks went and was strong enough to stand a  hot roasting. chocolate is adulterated with flour, some manufacturers declaring that flour is absolutely essential to making chocolate palatable, just the same as it is to complete chicken a la fricasee.

Wines are adulterated and fortified by adding spirits. A preservative is also used and some whine has no fruit juice in it at all, being a mixture of spirits, flavoring extracts, and alcohol. Vinegar is another product commonly adulterated. A mineral acid is used for this, also an acetic acid, distilled from wool and some vinegar is stretched by use of water. In some parts of the country, a glucose solution is sold for cider or wine vinegar.

Makers of recognized pure food products have little to fear either from the new regulations or the publicity attracted by the recent agitation and the framing of the new law. The great majority of manufacturers in fact, pay little attention to the act on this score. What annoys them most is that in many cases they must print their recipes on the labels and reveal trade secrets to their competitors.

An Uncalled for Objection.

The protest made by some of the manufacturers of candy against the provision of the pure food laws which forbids the employment of aniline dyes in the making of sweets, seems to be uncalled for, though it is claimed that the sale of candy will be seriously affected if it is enforced. We do not think that the absence of bright colors will prevent children from buying confectionery, but at any rate they should not be poisoned in partaking of sweetmeats.

The love of the little ones for the taste of candy is greater than their admiration of rainbow hues, and in a little while they would get used to the new order of things, and buy as readily as they did before legislative means were taken to protect them from unhealthful productions.

It is true that colored confectionery is attractive to the eye. So is paint anywhere when it is tastefully applied, but that is no reason why we should eat it. The confectioners can save money by not using aniline dyes, and thus be able to save money which they can devote to the making of better and more wholesome sweets.