tures in various portions of the States, and others in surrounding states where his services have been asked, and it is needless to add that these lectures have had much to do with forming public opinion into such a condition that has rendered the legislation above alluded to not only possible, but also popular.

The destruction of the special report of this division by the burning of the State Capitol was a misfortune, but the almost unanimous passage of an act of the Legislature for reprinting it, furnished but another proof of the fact that an unusual and lasting interest has been awakened in our State on this subject.

The special report of Dr. Rothrock shows that the division has over 1,500 practical correspondents, and that a large number of blanks have been sent out asking for information relative to the amount of timber which has been cut during the year, the condition and value of that left standing and for information upon other topics relating to the forest interests of our State, and the replies already received to these circulars of inquiry clearly prove that Dr. Rothrock will be able to lay before our next Legislature information of such a practical character as will relieve the division from any mistaken criticism and show the wisdom of the legislation secured last winter.

Arrangements have been made to secure special reports from experts in relation to the relations of our forests to water powers which, owing to the rapid introduction of electricity as a power, are annually becoming more valuable and more worthy of protection. The study of the various fungi which causes more or less loss to our forests, shade and fruit trees has also had the attention of the division, and it has been the pleasure of the Department to heartily co-operate with Dr. Rothrock in this special direction.

At several times during the past year, the attention of the Department has been directed to the loss of shade, fruit, forest and ornamental trees from the exhalations of mines and certain manufacturing industries; this subject has been referred to Dr. Rothrock and his assistants, and his forthcoming report will, I am sure, deal with the problem in a manner which will prove satisfactory to all concerned, and will enable the Legislature, if action is necessary, to act intelligently in relation to the subjects involved.

The following quotation from a friend of the forestry cause in our State is so appropriate that I transfer it to my report as conveying my own sentiments:

"The division is young. It deals with problems hitherto new and unsolved in our Commonwealth. It is safe to assume, however, that the magnitude and importance of its operations will become more and more apparent with each successive year, and that henceforth it must be considered as an essential factor of our State Government."

DAIRY AND FOOD DIVISION.

The work of the division under the control of the Dairy and Food Commissioner has progressed steadily, but it is greatly to be regretted that a lack of funds has more or less crippled the performance of certain duties pertaining to the office. The annual appropriation of $12,500 is too small to accomplish the work devolving upon the division, especially as each succeeding Legislature has, by the enactment of new laws, added new and expensive duties without a compensating increase in the amount appropriated for expenses.

When the Legislature devoted the fines collected to the expenses of the Commissioner, it was no doubt under the impression that it was adding largely to the income of the office, but it was not then, as it is now, understood that the fines collected in the average suit are not equal to the salary and expenses of the special agents, lawyers and chemists necessarily employed, nor was the fact taken into consideration that he fines from various acts delegated to the Commissioner for enforcement would naturally decrease as the public became acquainted with the provisions of the act, and that the adulteration of all articles of food would gradually decrease, but that this decrease, while it materially diminished the amount of fines collected, would not be followed by any material decrease in the expenses of enforcing the laws, inasmuch as the same number of special agents would be required and the same amount have to be expended in their travelling and other expenses.

During the past year this division has kept an average of seven special agents steadily at work inspecting the various articles of trade specified by the acts of the Legislature, and during a portion of the time ten agents have been at work. The proper enforcement of the laws relating to articles of food has also required considerable expenditure for legal advice and assistance in bringing suits, settling points involved in the construction of the various laws, and in the payment of chemists for the analyses of samples furnished by the special agents.

In order to economize in the direction of costs of attending suits, the Department has appointed five chemists and has thus been enabled not only to economize in expenditures, but has also been able to push the work forward with greater rapidity and certainty, and has been placed in a position in which its work can give better satisfaction to those most directly interested-the consumers and retail dealers.

The effect of the various pure food laws, and especially of the one relating to food products, has been very evident, and the progress

made in clearing up the trade and in substituting first class articles for adulterated ones, is so plain that even those who were at first opposed to the provisions of the law when it left the care of the Legisla ture, are now among its best friends and are loudest in their praise of its effects.

Although this act has been in force practically but a little more than two years, the effect of its enforcement, as shown by the shelves of the average grocery store, is very evident. When the Commissioner commenced the enforcement of this special act, Pennsylvania was the dumping ground for all kinds of adulterated goods. Surrounding states all had done more or less to clear up this objectionable condition of affairs, and as a natural result, our State was receiving more than her share, but an examination now of any town or city in the State will clearly show the effects of the work already accomplished, and pos sibly prove to the observer that more may yet be done in the same direction.

The special agents have been carefully instructed as to their duties, and informed that the enforcement of the various laws did not mean a crusade for the recovery of fines or for the punishment of those who innocently disobeyed the provisions of the law and were only technically guilty. The agents were clearly instructed by the Department that the pure object of their work was to secure the enforcement of the law, and that the plan which accomplished this result with the least loss and trouble to those directly interested, was the best and the one most desirable. As a result of this construction of the law, which was fully endorsed by the Attorney General, the Department has reserved the right to review the finding in a number of cases in which it was clearly proven that the defendants were innocent of any intent to evade or defy the law, and that articles which had been found among their stock as adulterated were purchased by them in good faith.

In a number of cases in which the retail dealer has been found guilty of a violation of the laws relating to pure food, and it was clearly proven that he was not aware of the character of the article sold, a compromise has been made upon his furnishing evidence for the prosecution of the wholesale dealer from whom he purchased the goods.

One of the most evident effects of this mode of procedure has been a healthy change in the manner of making purchases, and the adoption by the retailer of the habit of demanding written guarantees from the wholesaler as to the character of the goods purchased. The enforcement of these acts has also caused the formation of associations of dealers in the same or similar lines of trade in nearly all of our larger cities and towns. These associations, in many cases, employ a chemist, and have all doubtful goods tested, and also apply to the Department for written rulings as to branding, marking, etc., and it is a

matter for congratulation to the Department that every change thus far made by the retailer in his mode of buying has been directly in the course of protecting the interests of the consumer as well as his own.

The benefits conferred by the Department in the enforcement of the several food laws cannot be estimated with any degree of certainty, and our only method of reaching even approximate results is by comparison with other states in which similar laws have been in force for a number of years.

Dr. Abbott, of Massachusetts, estimates that in that state the enforcement of food laws have annually saved its citizens not less than $41,250,000. Dr. Neal, formerly Dairy and Food Commissioner of Ohio, estimates the saving in his state from this source at $7,280,000. The experts of the National Department of Agriculture estimate that the proper enforcement of pure food laws will save the average community not less than fifteen per cent. of the cost of their food products.

Each year's progress shows that, taking the same number of samples. as a basis for the calculation, the number of adulterated samples falls off quite rapidly, until, even after the lapse of but a little more than two years, we find that they have fallen off to a degree which is plainly noticeable, not only in the work of the Department, but also in the appearance of the goods on the shelves of the stores in all of our principal cities and towns, and that this effect is rapidly being extended to the smaller villages of the country districts, and that, where plain adulterations were sold two years ago, other goods have been substituted or the lower grade goods labeled so as to conform with the requirements of law.

Many hold the opinion that adulterated articles have been largely driven from the market. This is an error, for there are numerous low grade and adulterated goods which can be legally sold, and, indeed, the intention of the pure food law was not to prevent the sale of such articles, if they contained nothing injurious to health, but to enable those who wanted and were willing to pay for pure goods to obtain them, and at the same time open the market, under proper restrictions, to lower grade goods.

Thus, substitutes for coffee, which contained no genuine coffee, whatever, are legally sold, not as coffee, as was the case previous to the enactment of the law under consideration, but as "imitations" and mixtures," so that the purchaser who wanted a pure article of coffee has been secured the privilege of purchasing it openly and surely, and at the same time the right of other citizens to purchase cheaper and lower grade articles has not been curtailed but merely regulated and restrained so as to protect other buyers.

Two years ago the shelves of many groceries were filled with numerous imitations which were sold in close competition with the genuine

2--6--97

article, and often sold as absolutely pure, but these are now sold only for what they really are. Glucose, with a small piece of genuine honeycomb in the jar, as an evidence of the purity of the supposed honey, may still be sold, but not as genuine honey, and the same rule may be followed all through the trade in articles covered by the pure food laws, the enforcement of which has been delegated to the Department.

During the past year the agents of the Department have been brought more or less in contact with samples of ground mustard to which quantities of starch had been added. In some cases this addition has been conclusively shown to amount to the extent of seventy per cent. In one case of this kind, the Department officers were practically non-suited, although adulteration with starch to the amount of seventy per cent. was clearly shown and practically admitted, on the plea that mustard was not a "food" within the meaning and requirements of the Pure Food act, and that, therefore, conviction could not follow. The correctness of this position is controverted by all cases tried under the much older English Food laws by which everything, except baking powder, which enters into the composition of food, is considered as "food" within the meaning of the law and adulterations and substitutions severely punished.

The Legislature of 1897 very materially added to the duties of the Dairy and Food Commissioner by the enactment of a law regulating the branding, grading and sale of cheese, and by the provisions of the vinegar law, which includes all kinds of vinegars sold, or offered for sale, in the State. The previous act relating to vinegar was confined exclusively to cider vinegar and to fruit vinegars.

To carry out these two acts in a thoroughly effective manner would require the united service of all of the special agents now employed by the Department, and would thus leave no funds or agents for the enforcement of other and quite as important laws. This fact plainly shows that the appropriation made for this division is out of all proportion to the work demanded of it, and that it should be increased at the first opportunity. It is utterly out of the question to expect the Dairy and Food Commissioner to enforce all of the laws relating to pure food, vinegar, cheese, lard, oleomagarine and other adulterated food products with but seven special agents to patrol the whole State, when other States make use of a larger force for the enforcement of a single law.

The work of the Department in the direction of regulating the food supplies of the State has met with the hearty co-operation of all classes interested. Those who, at first, were disposed to throw obstacles in the way of enforcing these laws have become our hearty supporters, and in our work we repeatedly receive assistance and information from those in the trade, which enables us to more economically