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but the general public have no such safeguards. Owing to trade
competition and a public demand for cheap and showy articles of
food regardless of their physiological food value, there is, I regret to
say, a tendency among some importers and wholesale dealers in food,
manufacturers of the cheaper classes of food and public caterers,
to adopt a lower standard and use any sort of raw materials provided
the final product appears wholesome, and many of them think
it quite legitimate to utilise unsound materials provided that their
presence can be concealed either by the quantity of the other
constituents used, by aromatic substances and essences, or by the
process of cooking. If taxed with using such materials they reply
that better class ones cost more, that the articles in question are
really not dangerous to health, and that the public are benefiting
from the reduction in price. As far, however, as my experience
goes, the public does not benefit in any sense, and the trader and
manufacturer pocket any profit there is. This line of reasoning is
not sanctioned either by medical men or good cooks, for the former
decline to believe that an unsound article may be partaken of with
impunity provided you do not know you are eating it, and the latter
know that if you want them to make good and wholesome food you
must provide sound materials. Many attempts have already been
made to invalidate this principle, notably by using unsound fruit
for jam and questionable flesh for sausages, and no doubt many more
attempts would be made but for the vigilance of Sanitary Authorities
and the occasional exposure of the methods of the food-faker in the
Courts. Unfortunately these authorities do not always succeed,
especially if they are confronted by a well organised trade backed
by ample funds, for the pecuniary interests involved are so great
that interested parties do not hesitate to go to considerable expense
and trouble in getting expert evidence in their favour. Such
evidence generally consists of the gentleman who has "been in the
trade all his life," analytical chemists and a very occasional medical
man. These gentlemen are very excellent in their way and are,
I don't doubt, actuated by the highest motives, among which is the
laudable desire to prevent waste, but with the best intentions in the
world trade experts and analytical chemists are not in a position to
express an opinion on the subject of the effect on the human body of
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