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    Auotst 23,1856.] T H E LEADEE, 795

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    THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD, &c The final r...

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    The'nimciol?£L Befobmatoky Union. A Thre...

    small one ; next , that even here a cure may sometimes be effected . " His lor dship the n directed the attention of his auditory to the stigma which attaches to a person through life , if once he or she has been in prison , the result of which is often seen in the fact of a youth who haa been imprisoned for some offence which forms an exception to his generally honest conduct being lost to reformation by the stain on his character resulting from confinement in a gaof . He added : —

    " I have not come here with a settled plan , but it seems to me that in case of very small offences we might use fines as a punishment more than we do—they are felt as a very real punishment , though not a disgraceful one , in the same sense in which it is disgraceful to be sent to gaol . Care should be taken that a sufficient term were allowed for the payment of the fine or for allowing it to be paid by degrees , so that it might not become imprisonment under another name . " Most especially is it necessary to prevent moral

    contamination : — " It is the boy , not the man , who has most influence on the younger boy . I heard of a single lad in a reformatory not far from here who , before being sent there , had trained eight expert thieves . Think what a few such youths at large may do , and the 5 a . a week of then- keep looks very small in comparison . " Some statistics of Mettray , Red-hill , and the Glasgow House of Refuge were then given : — "At Mettray , 85 percent , by one account , 89 percent , by another , of the inmates sent out into the world are doing well . These percentages are taken from reports of

    last year ( 1855 ) , when 900 youths had passed through the institution . Of the 11 per cent , who had relapsed ( vagrancy being reckoned as a relapse , without proof of actual crime ) , one-fourth , or about 2 | per cent ., had recovered their lost position . At Red-hill , where 720 boys have been discharged since the opening of the school in X 849—228 being inmates at the present time—Mr . Turner states that 70 per cent , have been reclaimed , adding that , of all who have left there , the emigrants have done best , and that the proportion of relapses among these is lower than among those who stay at home . In the Glasgow House of Refuge , out of 400 , 85 per cent . have been reclaimed . "

    Care should be taken not to render the reformatories too attractive : — " Let your school , your form , your whole institution , in all its branches , be so plain , so homely , so unattractive in its outward aspect , that the poorest cottager may enter it , and say , 'My children are better off than these . ' And what I say of externals applies in some degree , though in a less degree , to the nature of the teaching given . You have no right to hold out as the reward of juvenile crime a superior training to any trade requiring skill , a higher degree of instruction , intellectual or mechanical , than that which the common working man receives . The object in view is not an intellectual objectit is a moral and industrial one . Cleanliness , temperance ,

    honesty , hard work—these are what you want your inmates to learn and to practise ; and , although no one who has the capacity to excel should bo restrained from so doing , yet I will go so far as to affirm , that , viewed with reference to the general effect of these schools , it is not to be desired—it is rather to be deprecated—that many of those who pass through them should rise above the level of the class from which they are taken "We may bo told , no doubt , that by soliciting employment for these youths we are driving honest men's sons out of the labour market . But in the actual state of

    the labour market I attach slight weight to that objection . Thero is ample employment and good pay for all who will and can work . Then , if work is not found for the reformed offender , what hope is there of his reformation lasting ? Ho must live ; the only question is whether he shall pay honestly for his living or not . And , if on no other ground , still on the ground of the greater difficulty which those who have broken the law experience in finding the means of livelihood , I think we may justify , both to ourselves and to society , a reasonable amount of interference auch ns wo propose . "

    His Lordship exhorted all men of largo fortuno to aid this movement with their purse , and all men of intellect to extend it by means of their pens and their tongues . But , lie went on to eay , thero aro nien who have neither large fortune nor large intellect who may yet be of great service to tho cause .

    • Tho reformation of men can never become a mechanical proceHH . Perhaps tho tendency of meetings , ol speeches , of Government grants , ia to render it too much so , or to treat it n » if it wero ho . Hut , for tho mairngcment of tho reformatory you must have personal zoiil , cnthuHiiiHin , lovo of tho oauno strong enough to produce oven a feeling of love for tho wretched objects of your aid ; without this the work cannot bo effectually done ; and to mo it Hcoma that if uny man wished to take up a work of puro patriotism and benevolence , with nothing to gratify tho taste , nothing to Hatter tlm intellect , nothing in it pleasing except tho bare aonao of duty dono and norvico rendered to mankind . — thia rnoro than nny other ia his natural sphere of usefulness . Uut again , I am naked , arc all

    persons qualified for such a task ? I don't say they are ; but this fact I would dwell on—that intellectual ability is not a primary , is scarcely even an important requisite . "What we want , in the fir 3 t instance , is a kind heart , a strong will , a healthy , not fastidious taste , and above all , singleness of purpose . . . . Employers of labour in almost any shape may assist us materially by taking charge of even one lad on the expiration of his term . Nay , even those who are not employers , who are themselves in the receipt of employment , might help , by expressing their willingness to receive , and i look after as fellow-labourers or subordinates , those ; whom , without some such guarantee , the landlord , the farmer , or the tradesman might be unwilling to have ; anything to do with . " >

    The speaker concluded by drawing a parallel between the spread of physical corruption , owing to bad sanitary arrangements , which we have now discovered it is our interest to amend , and tlie diffusion of moral contamination , which it i 3 quite as important we should endeavour to restrain . The parallel , he contended , holds strictly , " and , if we suffer pollution to remain uncleansed in the hovel , it will take its revenge on the palace . " But " Nature , if you examine well her working , appears bent on making us benevolent , even from a prudent regard for our own interests . " Lord Stanley , at the conclusion of his speech , was loudly cheered .

    Mr . G . H . Hastings then read the report of the general committee . The committee recommend the reappointment of the present Vice-Presidents , with the addition of the Bishop of Bath , and Wells , and Mr . Justice Coleridge ; and they state that , " ia order to collect and diffuse information bearing on the reformation of youthful offenders , they have communicated with every certified reformatory in the kingdom , and have requested each to name a corresponding member . These corresponding members have been made ex qfficio members of the general committee , and are exempted from contribution to the Society ' s funds , in return for the

    statistical and other information respecting their several schools which , it is hoped they will forward to the union . Eighteen corresponding members have up to the present time been nominated by as many certified reformatories . With , a view of obtaining information on the important subject of prison discipline , the chaplains of all gaols in the United Kingdom have been made eligible as honorary members . Foreigners who may be interested in the reformatory movement , and such other persons as the general committee may from time to time recommend , are made , by the proposed rules , eligible to the same distinction . "

    The report was adopted on the motion of Lord Robert Cecil , M . P ., and , after some further routine business , the meeting adjourned . On Thursday , the various sections met , when several papers , of great interest , relating to the reformatory question , were read ; but our space precludes our doing more than alluding to them . The details of Friday ' s proceedings have not yet reached us .

    Auotst 23,1856.] T H E Leadee, 795

    Auotst 23 , 1856 . ] T H E LEADEE , 795

    The Adulteration Of Food, &C The Final R...

    THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD , & c The final report of the Committee of the House of Commons appointed to inquire into the adulteration of food , drinks , and drugs , has been published . The Committee , after enumerating the witnesses whom they examined , observe that they cannot avoid coming to the conclusion that adulteration exists to a very great extent . They then proceed : — " Not only is the public health thus exposed to danger , and pecuniary fraud committed on tho whole community , but the public morality is tainted , and tho high commercial character of this country seriously lowered , both at home and in tho eyes of foreign countries . Though , happily , very many refuse , under every temptation , to falsify the quality of their wares , there are , unfortunately , large numbers who , though reluctantly practising deception , yield to the . pernicious contagion of example , or to the hard pressure of competition forced upon them by their less scnijmloua neighbours .

    " Without entering into voluminous details of the evidence taken , j-onr committee- would enumerate the leading articles which have- been proved to be more or less commonly adulterated . Theao are , arrowroot adulterated with potato and other starches ; breud with potatoes , plaster of Paris , alum , and sulphate of copper ; bottled fruits and vegetables with certain salts of copper ; coffee with chicory , rousted wheat , beuns , and mangold wurzel ; chicory with roasted wheat , carrots , sawdust , and Venetian red ; cocoa with arrowroot , potato-flour , . sugar , chicory , and somo ferruginous red earthn ;

    cayonuo with ground rice , mustard husk , <& c , coloured with red lead , Venetian red , and turmeric ; gin with grniiiM of paradine , sulphuric acid , and cayenne ; lard with potato-Hour , mutton nuot , alum , carbonate of nodn , and caustic lime ; mustard with wheat-flour and turmeric ; marmalade with apples or turnips ; porter and stout ( though sent ont in a pure utato from tho brewera ) with water , sugar , treacle , salt , alum , coocuIub indiciiH , grains of paradise , mix voinioa , and sulphuric acid ; pickles and preserves with salts of copper ; Biiuff with various ohromatcB , rod load , limo , and powdered glann ; tobacco with water , sugar , rhubarb , and treacle ; vinegar with

    : water , swgar , and sulphwrifc aeM ; jalap with powdered wood ; opium with poppy capsules , wheat-flour , powdered wood , and sand ; scammony -with wheat-flour , chalk , resin , and sand ; eonffeetkwaary with plaster of Paris and other similar ingredients , cokmred with various pigments of a highly poisonous nature ; and acM drops , purporting to be compounded of Jargonelle pear , Kibstone pippin , lemon , & c , with essential oQs crmtaming prussic acid or other dangerous ingredients . " The adulteration of drugs is extensively practised ; and when it is borne m mind that the correctness « € a . medical prescription rests on an assumed standard of strength and purity in the drugs or compounds employed , and how frequently life itself depends upon the efficacy of the medicines prescribed , it is difficult to exaggerate the evils arising from this prevalent fraud .

    " The adulteration of drinks deserves also special notice , because your committee cannot but conclude that the intoxication so deplorably prevalent is in many cases less due to the natural properties of the drinks themselves than to the admixture of narcotics or other noxious substances intended to supply the properties lost by dilution . " Though adulterations prevail more or less in all districts , it may be assumed , as a rule , that the poorer the district the greater is the amount of adulteration . Nor have the poor the same power to protect themselves against such frauds as their richer neighbours ; they are necessarily limited to such means of purchase as are afforded by the immediate locality in which they reside , and are , moreover , too often bound to one dealer by the facilities of credit -which he affords them . "

    After pointing out that some adulterations are hurtful and others not , the Committee remark : — " In dealing with these various adulterations , it is necessary to distinguish between the pecuniary fraud practised on the public and the injury to public health . If , as regards the adulteration of articles with substances of a cheaper and innocuous character , the public derive the full benefit of this cheapness in a lower price , it would be difficult , if not unwise , for the Legislature to

    interfere , unless it could do so by requiring that every such article be sold as a mixture , as distinguished from , the article in its pure state . This the law already requires as to the article of coffee , and also as to the article of bread , which , unless made of wheat-flour alone , must be distinctly marked with the letter ' M . ' But , whenever an article is so adulterated as to involve pecuniary fraud or injury to health , it appears to your committee to be the duty of the Legislature to provide some efficient remedy .

    " It bas been objected that the best course will be to leave the buyer to take care of himself . But there are many adulterations which it is impossible for the buyer to detect . Already the law takes note of frauds in weights and measures , of injuries likely to result to the public health from the sale of unwholesome animal food , and indeed of many adulterations , though in most cases only with a view to fiscal considerations , and not to those of a moral or sanitary character . ?' It is said , too , that there are many frauds which legislation cannot reach or punish . But , on the other hand , it would be difficult to tell the numberless frauds which' legislation may prevent . " The great difficulty of legislating on this subject lies in putting an end to the liberty of fraud without affecting the freedom of commerce . "

    The report then proceeds to indicate the state of the law with respect to adulteration in France , Belgium , Prussia , Hamburg , Lubeck , Holland , Spain , and the United States , where the offence is punished with more or less stringency . u In England , tho law affords redress to consumers in cases of adulteration : —by action , if the injury be individual in its character ; by indictment , if the injury be general ; by summary charge before a magistrate ; and by proceedings instituted by the Excise . The process of action or indictment ia at once too costly and too cuntbrous for general adoption . That by suremary charge

    before a magistrate , as well a » that originating with the Excise , applies only to a few special artksles which are named in particular acts > or which are subject to the supervision , for fiscal purposes , of the Board of Inland Revenue ; but your committee are > of opinion that it would bo most desirable that , in all cases of tho sale of an adulterated or fictitious article , a cheap and easy remedy by summary charge before a magistrate should be afforded to tho person upon whom tho fraud had been practised , and they would strongly recommend tho propriety of such n change in tho present law on thia subject as would effect this object enactment this

    " It is impossible to framo any on subject which shall rely on strict definitions . The object of the law in to strike at fraud , and wherever n fraudulent intention can be proved , there to inflict a penalty . What constitutes frand must be left to tho interpretation of tho administrators of the law . Thus mixtures of an innocuous character , maido known by tho Heller , or used for tho preservation of the article , cannot he forbidden without danger to the needful freedom of commerce , and ought not to bo interpreted as coming within tho provisions of n penal law . Nor should tlioao provisions apply wherever the seller can afford satiafuotory proof that ho hua himself boon deceived , and was

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 23, 1856, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23081856/page/3/