PURE FOOD

Into a general store of a town in Arkansas there recently came a darky

complaining that a ham which he had purchased there was not good.



"The ham is all right, Zeph," insisted the storekeeper.



"No, it ain't, boss," insisted the negro. "Dat ham's shore bad."



"How can that be," continued the storekeeper, "when it was cured only a

week?"



The darky scratched his head eflectively, and finally suggested: "Den,

mebbe it's had a relapse."





On a recent trip to Germany, Doctor Harvey Wiley, the pure-food expert,

heard an allegory with reference to the subject of food adulteration

which, he contends, should cause Americans to congratulate themselves

that things are so well ordered in this respect in the United States.



The German allegory was substantially as follows:



Four flies, which had made their way into a certain pantry, determined

to have a feast.



One flew to the sugar and ate heartily; but soon died, for the sugar was

full of white lead.



The second chose the flour as his diet, but he fared no better, for the

flour was loaded with plaster of Paris.



The third sampled the syrup, but his six legs were presently raised in

the air, for the syrup was colored with aniline dyes.



The fourth fly, seeing all his friends dead, determined to end his life

also, and drank deeply of the fly-poison which he found in a convenient

saucer.



He is still alive and in good health. That, too, was adulterated.