We are apt to think the "embalmed" meat agitation during the Spanish war will injure the trade of the country more than the war itself, but that agitation was right if it saved the health of even one soldier, and, above all, if it secures society in the future against deleterious canned meats.
It is well known, tho not approved by the government, that there are several canneries in the West where horse-flesh only is used. The government watches them closely and forces them to label the goods for just what they are. These goods are sent to such foreign countries as do not object to the use of horse-flesh.
Most States have stringent food laws, but so much food is sent from the State in which it is produced to another that State laws become inoperative.
The government finds glucose (not in itself harmful) to be the basis of many frauds. Colored and flavored it is sold as honey, and it is the foundation of very many jams. Cocoas and chocolates are made from wheat, corn, rice, potatoes; pepper, cinnamon, allspice, nutmegs, and mustards are made from almost every cereal. Pure vinegar is rare. Almost any kind of wine can be drawn from the same spigot, colored and flavored to suit the requirements of the wine desired.
Sometimes in foreign lands I have thought that London particularly needs a commission on pure coffee. I think I shall know the taste of chicory as long as I live from experiences in that city.
Most foreign countries make stringent food laws chiefly on liquors and butter. Germany draws close lines on meat, including all forms of sausage, with some restrictions on butter, wine, coloring on toys, and coloring matter generally.
Every European country has stringent laws on the composition of beer. I wonder how long American beer which rots the shoes of the bartender, and brings paralysis to his right hand, would be tolerated in Germany or Britain? At the Buffalo Exposition, in the government display, was one sample of "peach brandy," the formula of which was forty gallons of proof spirits, one-half pound of an essence, one quart of sugar syrup, and a sufficient amount of coloring matter. The "bead oil" on the same shelf, it was claimed, was a solution of soap intended to produce a "bead" on liquors, and thereby give the appearance of age.
Could anything better prove the need of a government standard than the above, or the further facts that one man is now in the penitentiary for fraudulent use of the United States mail in advertising ground soapstone as a flour adulterant, and that fifteen cheaper oils are now used to adulterate pure olive oil?
If I were a young college woman I would go in for chemistry, and make myself a food specialist for grocers, exporters, and importers. I would make my home in some large institution where the food question as to what nutriments the body needs, and what will produce best results at the least cost, could be tested scientifically. I would take the cook and her helpers into a loving partnership to improve the dietetics of the establishment, and yet reduce expenses. There is a new business now ready for earnest college women.