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The Atlanta Georgian “Nothing Succeeds Like—THE GEORGIAN" AND NEWS "Nothing Succeeds Like—-THE GEORGIAN” r"y()L. vn. NO. 312. ATLANTA, GA., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7,1909. PPT/'n?. In Atlanta—TWO CENTS. JTon Train*—FIVE CENTS. L- ——i i/ [ .' ■ ■ fr —•• • • • j'.j. '——'—. 1 ,• ,\• •: ■: \\ »*•)■■ : '• ,v. •• . :•'-* >7 v: A v. - —- •V.v.V nst: : &x •.'*'V/V.\ .A - . |ifl "-'•T • a 1S : : ft r *V*r*.Vs s'* ;•••”•:•'•• "• ■ ’»•• What “Pure Food” Means to Humanity By F. L. SEELY, P URE FOOD is a term that is not clear to the majority of the people. Everybody wants good food and tries to havp it, but “pure food” and the new “pure food laws” are not’ exactly understood. Fifty years ago the flour was ground at home or at the vil lage mill. . ’ The meats were smoked at home. The pickles and preserves and ketchups were made at home in the old-fashioned way— their preservation lay.in the art of cooking, aided by sugar and pure vinegar—the flour was, honest flour, not whitened chemical ly, nor robbed of its life-giving properties for the sake of looks. In 1830 a successful railroad was operated; fifty years ago the lines of rnilroads were covering the cotintry. Telegraphs were bringing distant points ncarey, and the mails were growing. The village millers saw Minneapolis-produce as much flour as ten thousand villages could use. We have seen mighty slaughter houses that convert a drove of cattle into every conceivable product and by-product down to toilet soap, digestive ferments and glue, and we havo seen the few dozen jars of pickles and preserves replaced by tho fifty- seven varieties that swallow up a carload of fruits or vegetables as quickly as our ancestral mothers could handle a basketful. No harm in all of this of itself, it is true. Tho bringing together of tho mighty forces of capital has given us cheaper foods and has gone a long way toward mak-" / ing us the greatest nation on earth today, but these great food factories found it necessary to employ chemists; a great many chemists are more anxious to demonstrate their skill than to pro tect the stomachs of humanity from chemicals; so wo find that with seventy-five to eighty millions of people for a market' and no law restricting the use of chemicals in foods, the butcher be gan to find it profitable to preserve and redeem meat with for maldehyde, a powerful chemical and - disinfectant, and to make it look red by the use of saltpeter. v The miller found that .he could remove the oily parts of tho wheat kernel and with the aid, of chemicals produce a perfectly white article. Preserves, “like mother used to make,’’pickles and ketchups began to flood the. market, and in the place of the quantities of pure materials and skill, that mother used in making these pre serves, nnd ketchups and pickles, we found glucose, salicylate of soda (the cheap coal tar kind), benzoate of soda in large quantities, artificial coloring that made ketchups look like ’ red paint, fusel oil in alcoholic liquors, lime in sugars and medi cines adulterated. We will gfant-that the pure food laws, when they came along, went a little too far, and brought down on them a great deal of antagonism,Its is the case with most reforms, but since they have gone quietly into effect and the actions of the pri vately hired chemist are watched by the government-paid chem- Publisher The Georgian, v ist, the butcher leaves out the formaldehyde and the potassium nitrate. The miller has been instructed not to bleach his flour with chemicals. . The pickier and preserver may not use chemicals And colors except very small amounts of sodium benzoate which it has been found is not injurious in small quantities, but must be shown on the label, and the chemist must tell the public if he is selling poison. So, take the matter as a whole, the honest manu facturer has been relieved of unfair competition and the stomachs of eighty millions of people have a better chance. It is inconceivable that this branch of the world’s industries should have been neglected so long. The foods and agriculture of the world are tho largest and most important of all; nnd it seems to us highly proper that the government should throw around these industries every protec tion and attention. The value of farm products of the nation for last year (1908) was the greatest in history—$7,780,000,000. This is four times the value of the mines, including all the gold and silver and the mineral oils. The greatest crop was corn, with 2,643,000,000 bushels. The wheat crop was worth $620,000,000, the greatest in his tory. The oat crop, $321,000,000. The total value of cereals alone was $2,694,000,000. The nation’s meat bill is over $3,000,000,000. Each family in the United .States eats over 1,000 pounds of meat a year, and the government was called upon to inspect in the year 1908, 53,- 996,511 animnls before slaughtering. One hundred and seventy-five thousand one hundred nnd twenty-six enreasses and nearly a million parts were condemned. n * Three-fourthA of the cattle condemned had tuberculosis. So, take the matter as a ( whole, what do we find! Simply a -great, big, overgrown nation that in less than a hundred years has grown from eating from the kitchen to eating from the great factories, and only within the past few years have any decided steps been taken to control the doings of the food producers. We find that the big, honest'manufacturers who have striven to keep quality foremost are at the head nnd front of the pure food movement, some even fighting to have the government re strict the use of chemicals that arc even now permissible. We find that at last the greatest branch of industry the • world knows is having recognition, and we find Atlanta taking her part in crowning the uncrowned king of the earth’s products —our foods. The Georgian has lent its hand nnd its heart and its head to. make this, the first attempt, a success, and we call on all our people.to give the attention so great an event de serves and to visit the exhibits and become acquainted with food values and improvements that you know not of; and to the faithful workers who have labored so hard to bring about this grand movement we say.Godspeed.