FDA History 09
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HISTORY OF A CRIME AGAINST
THE FOOD LAW
CHAPTER IX: THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS
by Harvey W. Wiley, M.D., the very
first commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), then known
as the “US Bureau of Chemistry.”
"Under free government
trade must be free, and to be of permanent value it
ought to be independent. Under
our standard we do not expect the government to
support trade; we expect trade
to support the government. An emergency, or
national defense may require some
different treatment, but under normal
conditions trade should rely upon
its own resources, and should therefore
belong to the province of private
enterprise."--President Calvin Coolidge,
address to the Pan American Commercial
Congress; The Nation's Business, May
20, 1927.
STICKING TO THE BASE
In the great national game,
theft is an important element of success. The man
who reaches first must stick to his base
as long as the first baseman is at the
sack. When the first baseman goes off
to quite a distance, the runner leaves his
place of safety and goes as far as he
dare toward second. He must keep a keen
eye, however, as either the catcher or
the pitcher may return the ball to the
first baseman, who has crept up unawares,
and the runner is "out." If the
basestealer is put out he is booed; if
he succeeds he is wildly cheered.
In general it is the first
principle of safety to stick close to your base.
An army that leaves its base too far may
run into danger. Its supply of
provisions and munitions may be cut off.
The enemy may send an armed force to
cut off retreat.in case of defeat. Upon
the whole, sticking to one's base is not
only considered a mark of good judgment,
but often of honesty of purpose in
fulfilling the duties imposed upon a player.
Stealing bases in scientific
matters is quite another story.
RISE OF BUREAUCRACY
While the bureau is an important
element in Government activities, it also
affords an opportunity for ambitious directors
(and all directors should be
ambitious) to leave the base on which
they are supposed to stay. I do not except
even the bureau over which I presided
for nearly thirty years from having at
various times had attacks of this grasping
disposition. The Honorable Frank A.
Lowden says, in World's Work, December,
1926:
"The Government
official is inclined to exaggerate the importance of his
office. He is constantly endeavoring
to expand its scope. He is properly
jealous of his authority. * * *
I think that this tendency is inevitable. * *
* Where, however, the enterprise
is a vast one, as in Government, or as in a
great business organization, these
tendencies, if left uncontrolled, are
likely to inflict serious injury
upon the service. * * * The original purpose
of the creation of the Bureau is
finally lost sight of and it is likely to
seem to those who direct it an
end and not a means."
It would be well to add to
the warnings of President Coolidge and Governor
Lowden in regard to mixing up business
with Government, the opinion also of
another expert along the same line. Mr.
Merle Thorpe, editor of Nation's
Business, published under the auspices
of the National Chamber of Commerce, made
this interesting statement before the
National Association of Real Estate Boards
held (Sept. 18, 1927) in Seattle, Washington.
The title of his address was "From
Bottom Up or Top Down."
"Because of our
failure to do things for ourselves, we are calling upon the
government to do everything under
the sun. Statute books are groaning.
Regulations are myriad. Bureaus
and commissions spring up overnight. Taxes are
mounting, and naturally, because
every one of the laws we put upon the statute
books requires administration and
more people on the tax payroll. To-day it is
estimated that each ten families
in the United States feed and keep another
family on the tax payroll. Two
months' production of each man, woman, and
child, out of the twelve, now go
to keep up the tax payroll.
"'Let the Government
do it!' is our favorite panacea. Of course, the
politicians do not object. In fact,
there have been occasions where they have
been known to encourage legislation
and join in the national anthem, 'There
ought to be a law--'
"The waste and
inefficiency and mounting costs, however, are not the
greatest penalties we pay for doing
the nation's work from the top down. Most
of the legislation is directed
at business and business is no longer the
simple act of trade and barter
it once was. It has become most complex.
Business is so interrelated, so
interdependent, that a law regulating this
industry reaches out and out and
affects scores of us thousands of miles away.
"It is a wise
man indeed, who can see through and through to its conclusion
a simple piece of economic legislation.
We shall never know how much the orgy
of lawmaking has slowed down the
legitimate task of furnishing food and
shelter and clothing, to say nothing
of the luxuries of life, to those who
need and want them, but it is safe
to say it has done a great deal.
"The breaking
point will come. Already there have been four parliamentary
governments overthrown and dictators
rule to-day. As Mussolini says,
'Democracy, with its endless talk
and politics, has miserably failed.' We may
never come to that situation of
dictatorship in the United States, but we may
reach a stage where democracy and
its accredited representatives are
discredited. That would be disastrous,
for democracy is based upon confidence.
"Disastrous, too,
for it would destroy the one thing which has made this
country great, 'individual reward
for individual initiative.' Every time we
ask government to do something
which we as individuals, or groups, or
communities, can do better for
ourselves, we are striking at that
individualism which has given us
our strength."
Bureaus are either created
by Act of Congress or by executive order. In the
latter case Congress must approve the
executive act by appropriations for
specific purpose. By specific legislations
Congress also assigns to certain
bureaus special duties which presumably
can not be abrogated by executive
orders. It follows that all expansive
work must lie in the scope of the bureau
and in harmony with problems already allocated.
SCIENTIFIC ETHICS
In Science, July 19, 1927,
page 103, is found a proposed code of ethics for
scientific men. No. 2 of this code reads
as follows:
"Exemplify in
your conduct and work a courageous regard for the whole
people, and not alone some powerful
and influential faction thereof with which
you come in close personal contact."
This is most excellent advice
in connection with the above observations.
CHEMICAL ETHICS
The American Chemical Society
has no printed code of ethics. There is,
however, an unwritten code which every
member of the society is under obligation
to respect.
There are two cardinal principles
involved in the unwritten code of ethics of
the American Chemical Society. The first
is that no member of the society shall
seek by improper means to deprive any
other chemist of his employment. The
second is that a field of investigation
which is already occupied shall not be
entered by an outsider without full cooperation
and agreement with the party
already occupying the field of investigation.
These two fundamental principles
guide and control the relations of the
members of the Society toward each other.
A much younger association
of chemists, namely, the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers, has already adopted
a code of ethics. Inasmuch as some of
the activities of the Bureau of Standards
are essentially those of chemical
engineers, it is probable that most of
the chemists in the Bureau of Standards
are members of the American Institute
of Chemical Engineers. This code of ethics
is not very long but it is very pertinent.
The principal elements of this code
are the following:
1st. That in
all their relations, they shall be guided by the highest
principles of honor.
2nd. The upholding
before the public at all times of the dignity of the
chemical profession generally and
the reputation of the Institute, protecting
its members from misrepresentation.
3d. Personal
helpfulness and fraternity between its members and toward the
profession generally.
4th. The avoidance
and discouragement of sensationalism, exaggeration and
unwarranted statements. In making
the first publication concerning inventions
or other chemical advances, they
should be made ithrough chemical societies
and technical publications.
5th. The refusal
to undertake for compensation work which they believe will
be unprofitable to clients without
first advising said clients as to the
improbability of successful results.
6th. The upholding
of the principle that unreasonably low charges for
professional work tend toward inferior
and unreliable work, especially if such
charges are set at a low figure
for advertising purposes.
7th. The refusal
to lend their names to any questionable enterprise.
8th. Conservatism
in all estimates, reports, testimony, etc., especially in
connection with the promotion of
business enterprises.
9th. That they
shallnot engage in any occupation which is obviously
contrary to law or public welfare.
10th. When a
chemical engineer undertakes for others work in connection
with which he may make improvements,
inventions, plans, designs, or other
records, he shall preferably enter
into a written agreement regarding their
ownership.
The 4th, 7th, 8th and 9th
sections of the above code of ethics are not
italicized in the original.
PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHING THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS
The object of establishing
the Bureau of Standards is luminously set forth in
the hearings before the comittee on weights
and measures and in the debates in
Congress on this measure.
I desire to call attention
to a bureau in which it appears that the desire to
get control of all forms of activities
has developed into a megalomania, and to
point out some of the crimes it has committed
or attempted to commit against the
battered and bleeding food law.
Professor Edward Murray East,
eminent biologist of Harvard University, says:
In our most cherished
beliefs, from the earliest ages to the present, there
is a great deal to justify the
opinion of the cynic that man is to be
distinguished from the apes not
by his lack of a tail, but by his megalomania.
Since becoming the dominant animal
on the surface of this cosmic atom, he has
never, until recently, had the
slightest doubt concerning his supreme
importance in the general scheme
of things.
I am not looking into the
activities of the Bureau of Standards in any way
which would reflect upon any member of
the Bureau, either as to his capacity and
ability, or as to his honesty. I assume,
and I believe the disease of
megalomania is to some extent epidemic;
it attacks people against their desire
and will. We do not lose our esteem for
those who are ill of influenza or high
blood pressure. We might attach some personal
blame to those who suffer from
typhoid fever. We should regard megalomania
as a sad misfortune.
It is not in any way my purpose
to review all the expansive activities of the
Bureau of Standards. I will confine my
remarks to those activities which affect
scientific ethics, public health, and
adulteration of foods.
The Bureau of Standards was
intended to be a natural enlargement of the old
office of Weights and Measures. This office
for some mysterious reason was
connected with the Department of the Treasury.
The enlargement of the office and
its change of name to the Bureau of Standards
was first publicly suggested by
the Secretary of the Treasury, the Hon.
Lyman J. Gage (50th Congress, first
Session, House of Representatives, Document
No. 625.) The general purpose of the
new Bureau is outlined by the Secretary
of the Treasury in the following
language:
The functions
of the bureau shall consist in the custody of the standards;
the comparison of the standards
used in scientific investigations,
engineering, manufacturing commerce,
and educational institutions with the
standards adopted or recognized
by subdivisions; the testing and calibration
of standard measuring apparatus;
the solution of problems which arise in
connection with standards; the
determination of physical constants, and the
properties of materials when such
data are of great importance to scientific
or manufacturing interests and
are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy
elsewhere.
Under the head of conditions
which necessitated the establishment of a
National Standards Bureau the Secretary
makes, among others, the following
remarks:
Throughout our
country institutions of learning, laboratories,
observatories, and scientific societies
are being established and are growing
at a rate never equaled in the
history of any nation. The work of original
investigation and instruction done
by these institutions requires accurate
reliable standards, which in nearly
every case must be procured from abroad,
or can not be procured at all.
* * *
The recent acquisition
of territory by the United States more than
proportionately increases the scope
and importance of the proposed
institution, since the establishment
of a government in these possessions
involves the system of weights
and measures to be employed. During the near
future large public improvements
will be undertaken in these countries;
schools, factories, and other institutions
will be established, all of which
require the use of standards and
standard measuring apparatus.
The National Academy of Sciences
endorsed the movement in the following
resolution:
Whereas the facilities
at the disposal of the Government and of the
scientific men of the country for
the standardization of apparatus used in
scientific research and in the
arts are now either absent or entirely
inadequate, so that it becomes
necessary in most instances to send such
apparatus abroad for comparison:
Therefore, be it
Resolved, That
the National Academy of Sciences approves the movement now
on foot for the establishment of
a national bureau for the standardization of
scientific apparatus.
The American
Chemical Society approved the measure:
Resolved, That
the Congress of the United States be urged to establish a
national standard bureau in connection
with the United States Office of
Standard Weights and Measures,
which shall provide adequate facilities for
making such verification of chemical
measuring apparatus and for stamping the
same as are provided by foreign
governments for similar work."
Prof. Simon Newcomb, U. S.
N., said:
I do not think
that anything I could do or say is necessary to emphasize
the practical and scientific importance
of introducing the highest standard of
efficiency and precision in the
work of such a bureau.
Prof. Albert A. Michelson
(head of department of physics, University of
Chicago) made the following statements:
It gives me great
pleasure to indorse the measures proposed regarding the
importance of the establishment
of a central bureau of weights and measures,
the functions of which shall be:
(1) The calibration
of all standards and measuring instruments used in
scientific or commercial work.
(2) The investigation
of problems which arise in connection with standards
or standard measuring apparatus.
(3) The determination
of physical constants and the properties of
materials.
A large number of eminent
scientists joined in the same general way in urging
the enactment of the measure. Wherever
reference was made to foreign
institutions they were institutions for
standardizing weights and measures of
various kinds in all the different countries.
When the measure went before
the Senate (50th Congress, Second Session,
Document No. 70), the Secretary of the
Treasury appeared also before the Senate
Committee. Among other reasons which he
advanced are the following:
In this particular
of standardizing weights and measures and testing
apparatus of every kind the older
countries are far ahead of us; in fact, it
may be said that there is no comparison
between us. We are dependent utterly
upon Germany, perhaps France to
some extent, and England for our measurements
and those standards which we are
obliged to resort to in testing and comparing
when we enter into competitive
work against them. * * *
Now the establishment
of a bureau like this, where the Government is the
custodian and the originator of
these standards of weights and measures as
applied to all the higher scientific
aspects of life which we are so rapidly
developing in, has, to my mind,
a value far and above the mere physical
considerations which affect it,
although those physical considerations are
fundamental and most important.
Nothing can dignify this Government more than
to be the patron of and the establisher
of absolutely correct scientific
standards and such legislation
as will hold our people to faithfully regard
and absolutely obey the requirements
of law in adhesion to those true and
correct standards.
Before the Senate, as was
recorded in the document above mentioned, many
scientific men appeared and all in the
same strain stressing the importance of
standards of accuracy for all kinds of
weights, measures and instruments of
precision. Among those was Mr. 0. H. Tittmann,
Superintendent of the United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and
Professor H. A. Rowland of Johns Hopkins
University.
The Association of Official
Agricultural Chemists adopted the following
resolution:
Resolved, That
the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists most
heartily indorses the movement
in progress for the establishment in this
country of a national standardizing
bureau, and hereby declares that the
absence of facilities such as would
be provided by the proposed bureau has
seriously hampered the work of
this Association, owing to the difficulty of
obtaining in this country, with
official certificates of accuracy, the flasks,
burettes, pipettes, weights, thermometers,
polariscopes, and other apparatus
needed in the work of official
chemists. The use of apparatus which bears the
official stamp of the Government
would eliminate one element of dispute in
commercial analyses, thus preventing
the expense of litigation, and would, in
general, increase the value of
the work of this Association by facilitating
the attainment of uniform results.
Not only were scientific
men all over the country interested in the
establishment of standards invited to
give testimony, but the heads of
departments in which scientific work was
carried on were also asked their
opinions respecting the proposed legislation.
The Secretary of Agriculture asked
the head of the bureau most interested
to prepare his paper. Mr. Southard, in
introducing the discussion in the House
said:
Mr. Speaker,
the functions of the present office of weights and measures
are confined to the ordinary measurements
of mass, length, and capacity. That
was sufficient, perhaps, when that
office was established. In the early days
the standards in question were
the pound, the yard, the bushel, and the
gallon. Now, however, the progress
of science and the complexity of industrial
processes resulting from it require
derived standards of a thousand and one
kinds--all kinds of measuring apparatus--volumetric
apparatus used in the
chemical laboratories of the Government
and similar laboratories all over the
country--standards of measurement
for high and low degree of temperature, etc.
I must stop here
to indicate some of the different kinds of measuring
apparatus. They are barometers,
thermometers, pressure gauges, polariscopes,
instruments of navigation, steam-engine
indicators, and instruments of a
thousand different varieties. That
the graduations and indications of these
instruments should agree with the
fundamental standards is a question of most
vital importance, and without the
facilities for such tests and comparisons
the public is deprived of the greatest
benefits to be derived from the
standards recognized by the Government.
We have in this country to-day no
means of testing these different
instruments of precision. The result is, we
have to send them to Germany or
France or England or somewhere else to have
them tested and calibrated.
The bill has been enthusiastically
indorsed by all the heads of Department of
the General Government having scientific
bureaus, as well as by all the chiefs
of such bureaus. As furnishing an illustration
of the necessity and value of
this proposed bureau to the General Government,
I will quote from the statement
of the Secretary of Agriculture:
"I have the honor
to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of April 24,
and beg to assure you that the
establishment of a national standardizing
bureau, having the function outlined
by you, will be of the highest value and
importance, not only to the scientific
bureaus, offices, and divisions of this
Department, but to the country
at large. Its influence will be felt wherever
the quality and value of substances
are fixed by chemical and physical tests,
whether this be in connection with
scientific investigations, in connection
with manufacturing and other industrial
processes, or in connection with
commercial transactions.
"Speaking for
this Department alone, I wish to say that it has been our
policy to patronize the American
manufacturers of scientific apparatus
whenever practicable without hampering
our investigators by compelling them to
use apparatus of an inferior grade.
The art of the construction of scientific
apparatus has been brought to such
a high degree of perfection under the
fostering care of European govemments--notably
Germany--that we have been
compelled to send abroad a large
proportion of our orders, either directly or
indirectly, through importers.
The greatest disadvantage resulting from this
state of affairs is not the delay,
inconvenience, and expense connected with
making purchases abroad; nor is
it to be found in the danger of injury to
delicate and expensive apparxtus
during transportation across the sea.
"It is the necessity
of importing the certificate of a foreign government
whenever an official certiflcate
of accuracy is desired with apparatus. In
Germany an order can be issued
for apparatus with the specification that the
goods delivered must be of the
quality and accuracy recognized by the
regulations established by the
standardizing bureaus of the Imperial
Government. Apparatus made in accordance
with these regulations are regular
commodities, and are described
in the catalogues of all the apparatus makers
and dealers. When the goods are
received the purchaser is able to send a
proper proportion of the shipment
to the government standardizing bureaus and
base his acceptance or refusal
of the goods upon the results of the official
tests. For the accommodation of
customers who need certified apparatus for
immediate use most of the dealers
keep in stock apparatus bearing the official
stamp.
"The disadvantage
under which American scientific workers--notably
chemists--labor is evidenced by
a recent experience of the Division of
Chemistry of this Department. The
confusion of standards and carelessness
which has characterized the manufacture
of graduated chemical glassware in the
past is notorious. Some months
ago the Division of Chemistry issued to an
American dealer and importer an
order for graduated glassware, to be made in
accordance with the regulations
of the German Imperial Testing Commission.
"While all this
apparatus was to fulfill the requirements in point of
construction and limits of error
in graduation of the regulations named,
certain pieces were to bear the
official stamp of the Imperial commission. At
the special request of the American
dealer to whom the order was sent
permission was granted to import
only the pieces of apparatus requiring the
official stamp and to supply for
the remainder of the order apparatus of
American manufacture, but made
in accordance with the regulations named. After
considerable delay the goods were
delivered. The certified pieces were
eminently satisfactory; the uncertified
ones were quite the opposite. They
were unsatisfactory both in the
form of construction and in regard to
accuracy.
"As an example
of the degree of inaccuracy, it may be stated that a flask
marked to contain 100 cubic centimeters
was found to contain 100.3 cubic
centimeters. I do not believe that
this experience was due to unworthy motives
on the part of either the manufacturer
or dealer. This experience is simply
the result of the absence in this
country of any well-established and
authoritative standards governing
the forms of construction, the system of
graduation, and the allowable limits
of error for apparatus of this kind. The
mere adoption of regulations relative
to the character of apparatus admissible
for stamping by a national standardizing
bureau will cause a revolution in the
apparatus manufactured and give
to it that highly important quality,
uniformity.
"As a further
illustration of the great desirability of such an
establishment, I may call your
attention to the contention which has arisen in
the courts in the United States
in the last few years concerning the
regulations prescribed by the Treasury
Department governing the polarization
of imported sugars. These regulations
were prepared by a joint commission
consisting of the Chemist of the
Department of Agriculture as chairman, a
representative of the Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Office of Weights and
Measures, and the Chemist of the
Bureau of Internal Revenue.
"The regulations
were based upon the most careful scientific determinations
and the apparatus and utensils
employed by the customs-house officers
standardized by the Office of Weights
and Measures of the Coast and Geodetic
Survey. Nevertheless, the accuracy
of these officials has been called into
question by the importers, and
the question is now the subject of expensive
and tedious litigation. The existence
of such an office of your Department as
you propose to establish would
have avoided all sueh trouble by the weight of
its authority. This is only one
of the many instances where the utility of
such a bureau would prove of practical
advantage to official operations."
It is not because of any
desire to claim credit for supporting the campaign
to establish the Bureau of Standards,
but for other reasons which are important
that the Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry
at the time mentioned desires to state
that he was the author of the letter signed
by the Secretary of Agriculture.
It is a matter of some interest
to know that the importers of sugar paid
import duties under protest according
to the regulations above cited. The case
finally reached the Supreme Court. The
Chief of the Bureau was asked by the
Solicitor of the Treasury to write the
scientific part of the brief before the
Court. It was unanimously decided in favor
of the Government. Nearly a million
dollars were saved by this decision. It
would be illuminating to cite many other
cases but the records of the discussion
of this bill are all on file and those
who are interested in the matter can find
them in the references given. The
Congressional Record of Feb. 1, 1901,
pages 1793 to 1795, and March 2, pages
3473 to 3478 in the House; and 3487 and
3515 in the Senate may be consulted.
The wonderful unanimity of
scientific men in support of this measure is best
illustrated by the words of Mr. Southard's
address on page 1794 of the Record
above referred to:
Shortly after
the reference of the measure to the Committee on Coinage,
Weights and Measures that committee
received a deluge of indorsements, most
commendatory in character. They
came from almost every Department of the
Government and from the different
bureaus in the various Departments. They
came from the governors of States
and from the departmental officers in the
States. They came from scientific
bodies, from scientific men, and from
associations of scientific men.
They came from men engaged in educational
pursuits everywhere. They came
in the form of resolutions adopted by the
faculties of universities and colleges
throughout the country. They came from
the great railroad corporations,
many of which maintain, as gentlemen know,
chemical laboratories in connection
with the operation of their roads. They
came from the great iron and steel
industries of the country and from the
manufacturers of electrical machinery
and appliances, and they came from
agricultural associations and from
other sources. In other words, they came
from almost everywhere. and I may
say that these were no mere perfunctory
indorsements, but were characterized
by a remarkable zeal and earnestness,
indicating clearly and strongly
the desire, in this connection, of the people
making them.
The attitude of all these
supporters of this measure, who practically
represent all the scientific men of this
country interested in physics and
chemistry, shows that they all understood
the bill exactly the same way; it was
to be a real bureau of standards, of all
weights and measures. There was no hint
of extending the functions of this bureau
to standards of purity of foods,
drugs, soaps, or anything else; nor was
there the least hint of the Bureau of
Standards engaging in manufacturing, or
promoting manufacturing in any way
except by furnishing accurate standards
of measurements for all the processes
that go on under the guidance of accurate
measurements in official industrial
and commercial activities. To invade the
domain of agriculture and to furnish
plans for building dextrose manufactories
were never even suggested.
Rarely has any topic been
presented to Congress in which members of the
committees considering the measures, and
witnesses brought before them, and
speakers on the floor of each house, have
shown greater unanimity than was
exhibited in connection with the establishment
of the Bureau of Standards. The
character of the work was fully understood
by all participants in these
discussions. The standards which were
to be established were those in every case
of precision and accuracy for the use
and enlightenment of all parties needing
standards of measurement of all kinds.
Only one witness, Professor Rowland, saw
in the wording of the proposed act any
possibility of departing in the
activities of the bureau from the basic
purpose for which it was organized.
Professor Rowland, with that keen sense
of accuracy and definiteness for which
he was so renowned, pictured some future
Director, who, by misinterpreting the
spirit, and also the words of the act,
might proceed to explore fields of
investigation entirely foreign to its
purpose. In his testimony before the
Committee of Coinage, Weights and Measures,
Professor Rowland made the following
suggestion:
There is one
point that is left out in this bill, and I do not see how it
can be covered, and that is with
regard to the kind of standards that are to
be adopted. Shall the director
of this standardizing bureau have the right to
introduce any standards he pleases,
or shall they be more carefully defined?
Many of the activities of
the Bureau of Standards illustrate the prophetic
wisdom of Professor Rowland's foresight.
As an illustration of how far the
Bureau of Standards has departed from
its base, a few quotations from the budget
submitted for the fiscal year 1928 will
show.
THE BUDGET FOR 1928
(Page 369) For
structural materials, such as stone, clays, cement, etc.,
and for collecting and disseminating
approved methods in building, planning
and construction, economy in the
manufacture and utilization of building
materials and supplies, and such
other matters as may tend to encourage,
improve and cheapen construction
and housing.
For the authority to do this
the original Act of March 3, 1901, is quoted.
(Page 371) For
investigation of fire-resisting properties of building
materials and conditions under
which they may be most efficiently used, and
for the standardization of types
of appliances for fire prevention.
The original act is also
quoted as authority for this investigation:
(Page 375) "To
study the methods of measurement and technical processes
used in the manufacture of pottery,
brick, tile, terra cotta, and other clay
products, and the study of the
properties of the materials used in that
industry." The original Act is
again cited.
(Page 376) "To
develop methods of testing and standardizing machines,
motors, tools, measuring instruments,.
and other apparatus and devices used in
mechanical, hydraulic, and aeronautic
engineering. " The original Act is
cited.
(Page 377) "To
investigate textiles, paper, leather and rubber, in order to
develop standards of quality and
methods of measurement." Original Act cited.
(Page 380) "For
investigating the conditions and methods of use of scales
and mine cars used for weighing
and measuring coal dug by miners for the
purpose of determining wages due
and of conditions affecting the accuracy of
the weighing or measuring coal
at the mines." Original Act quoted.
Again on the
same page: "For metallurgical research, including alloy
steels, foundry practice and standards
for metals and sand; casting, rolling,
forging, and the properties of
aluminum alloys; prevention of erosion of
metals and alloys; development
of metal substitutes; as for platinum;
behaviour of bearing metals; preparation
of metal specifications;
investigation of new metallurgical
processes and studies of methods of
conservation in metallurgical manufacture
and products; investigation of
materials used in the construction
of rails; wheels, axles, and other railway
equipment; and the cause of their
failure." Again the original Act is cited.
(Page 381) "For
laboratory and field investigations of suitable methods of
high temperature measurements and
control in various industrial processes, and
to assist in making available directly
to the industries the results of the
Bureau's investigations in this
field." Same Act is cited.
(Page 382) "For
the investigations of the principles of sound and their
application to military and industrial
purposes." Same Act cited.
(Again on the
same page) "For technical investigations in cooperation with
the industries upon fundamental
problems involved in industrial development
following the war with a view to
assisting in the permanent establishment of
the new American industries." Same
Act cited.
(Page 384) "To
enable the Bureau of Standards to cooperate with Government
departments, engineers and manufacturers
in the establishment of standards,
methods of testing and inspection
of instruments, equipment, tools, and
electrical and mechanical devices
used by the industries and by the
Government, including the practical
specifications of quality and performance
of such devices and the formulation
of methods of inspection, laboratory and
service tests." Same Act cited.
(Page 388) "
During the fiscal year, 1928, the head of any Departmed or
independent establishment of the
Government having funds available for
scientific investigation and requiring
cooperative work by the Bureau of
Standards on scientific investigations
within the scope of the functions of
that Bureau, and which the Bureau
of Standards is unable to perform within the
limits of its appropriations, may,
with the approval of the Secretary of
Commerce, transfer to the Bureau
of Standards such sums as may be necessary to
carry on such investigations."
These transferred funds in
1926 amounted to $173,250. They were used to
investigate oil pollution, radio direction
for the coast guard, helium
recorders, chromium plating, corrosion,
fatigue and embrittlement of duralumin,
electrically charged dust, optical glass,
substitutes for parachute silk,
goldbeaters skin, storage batteries, internal
combustion engines, fuels,
lubricants, photographic emulsions, stresses
in riveted joints, machine guns,
bomb ballistics, rope and cordage, chemical
and metallurgical tests, wind tunnel
tests of models, aircraft engines, velocity
of flame in explosives, etc.
According to Industrial and
Engineering Chemistry, one of the largest
publications of the American Chemical
Society, the Bureau of Standards has just
completed an investigation of the suitability
of caroa fiber for paper making,
also the development of suitable lubricants
for glass stopcocks.
Since the publication of
budget estimates, a supplemental grant of funds to
the Bureau of Standards has been submitted
by the budget authorities, to the
amount of $50,000, to enable the Bureau
of Standards to investigate farm wastes.
These illustrations show how in nearly
all cases the Bureau has introduced the
word "standardization" or "measurement"
in some way to connect these
miscellaneous investigations into everything
under the skies with the original
Act. This Act is cited as authority for
these universal studies which can in no
way be connected with the basic idea of
the standards implied in the hearings.
DISCOVERY OF A NEW PRODUCT
In the annual report of the
Bureau of Standards for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1920, page 129, is found the
first report on a commercial process for
manufacturing pure dextrose. In this report
it was announced that for the first
time dextrose had been separated from
a water solution. It is stated:
"Previous methods
for the preparation of the pure substance have demanded
the use of alcoholic solvents."
It is stated further down
on the same page:
"In carrying
this investigation to a successful conclusion the Bureau has
-virtually created a new industry
of great magnitude. * * * The magnitude of
the commercial possibilities of
the new sugar is shown by the fact that one of
the largest corporations in the
country requested the Bureau to design a large
scale experimental plant costing
approximately one-half million dollars. This
has been done and the plant is
now practically completed."
A careful re-reading of the
original bill which was enacted into a law, fails
to find any warrant for, the architectural
excursions which the Bureau of
Standards confesses to have made. Let
us examine for a moment some authorities
relating to this discovery. In Industrial
and Engineering Chemistry, issue of
July 10, 1924, News Edition, on page 2,
Ifind the following copied from an
address made by T. B. Wagner, for many
years chief chemist for the Corn Products
Company, the corporation for which the
Bureau of Standards designed a
half-million dollar factory. It was on
the occasion of the presentation to the
Chemists Club of New York City of a portrait
of Dr. Arno Behr, for many years
chief chemist of the Corn Products Company,
and one of the most eminent
carbohydrate chemists this country has
produced. Dr. Wagner said, in speaking of
the earlier investigations of Dr. Behr,
some Menty or twenty-five years prior to
the new discovery of the Bureau of Standards:
"It was while
engaged in the refining of cane sugar that Dr. Behr turned to
a study of the chemistry of corn
and while following these pursuits he
discovered a simple method of producing
without the aid of alcohol,
crystallized, anhydrous dextrose
of great purity and beauty. * * * That was
over forty years ago, and it is
curious therefore to note the Director of one
of,the important Government Bureaus
in Washington coming forth at so recent a
date as July 1, 1920 with the announcement
* * * that * * * the Bureau has
shown that a pure, white dextrose
may be obtained by crystallization from a
water solution and may be easily
separated from the mother liquor by using a
centrifugal machine. Previous methods
for the preparation of the pure
substance have demanded the use
of alcoholic solvents.
Dr. Wagner adds:
"These are almost
exactly the words employed by Dr. Behr in his patent
specifications of 1883. Being on
the subject I will be pardoned, perhaps, for
commenting upon another discovery
pertaining to the discovery of pure dextrose
and described in the same report
in the following language:
'Two processes
were investigated. In the one which met with almost
immediate success the converted
starch liquor was boiled in a vacuum until
concentrated to 42° Baumé,
and was then dropped into a crystallizer. It was
then inoculated with pure crystals
of dextrose and agitated until the
crystallization was complete.'"
Dr. Wagner then continues
as follows:
"That is the
substance of U. S. Patent 835, 145, issued on Nov. 6, 1906, of
which I happen to be the author.
"
The Bureau of Standards sent
a representative to a large glucose
manufacturing company to apply the process
on a large commercial scale of
operation. It is interesting to inquire
whether the Bureau's process, which was
discovered about one hundred and thirteen
years before the Bureau discovered it
and had been practiced in commercial production
frequently, succeeded in making
the new discovery practical in the special
factory costing a half million
dollars, which was built upon architectural
plans supplied by the Bureau of
Standards. As we are dealing here with
United States patents there is no harm in
calling names. Mr. Newkirk, who was the
man sent to introduce this new process,
which was to establish a new industry
on a magnificent scale, succeeded in doing
so with the knowledge he obtained in working
out these plans in the Bureau of
Standards. It was not long before he resigned
from the Bureau of Standards to
accept the position of chief dextrose-maker
for the Corn Products Company. After
he left the Bureau of Standards Mr. Newkirk
began to take out patents on the new
process of manufacture. He filed an application
for a patent on Nov. 16, 1922,
and the patent was issued to him, No.
1,471,347, on October 23, 1923, and
assigned by him to the Corn Products Refining
Company, a corporation of New
York. The title of the patent is "Method
of Making Grape Sugar." He says in this
application:
"I have found
that by making a radical departure from the methods usually
employed in the manufacture of
grape sugar, a sugar of very close to absolute
purity can be produced by a process
which is relatively simple and is
economically practical."
This shows, if it shows anything,
that the method devised by the Bureau of
Standards wouldn't work economically.
He clinched this conclusion by continuing:
" Dextrose or
grape sugar of high purity has been made heretofore, but
never, so far as I am aware, on
a commercial scale by methods which can be
regarded as feasible from its economic
point of view."
The Bureau of Standards'
own expert in this language denies that the great
discovery which founded a new industry
was economically workable.
Mr. Newkirk continues his
assertions of the failure of all previous
processes, as follows:
"Failure of previous
experimentors to realize the importance of these
considerations accounts for the
practical unworkability of many of the
processes described in the literature
for manufacturing high purity grape
sugar. By accident when conditions
were just right a satisfactory product
might be produced. But there was
no certainty that another batch, treated in
apparently the same way, would
not prove a failure. Obviously manufacture on a
commercial scale under these conditions
was impossible. Other processes,
theoretically possible, have proved
too expensive for commercial utility.
Hence a literature disclosing apparently
repeated successful solution of a
problem, which as a matter of fact,
has not prior to the present invention
received any satisfactory solution."
It seems, therefore, that
the Bureau of Standards was somewhat mistaken in
having claimed to make the only discovery
which put this great industry on its
feet. Either a mistake was made by the
Bureau, or Mr. Newkirk has done the
Bureau of Standards a grievous wrong.
The Bureau of Standards not
only claims the discovery of a process which has
created, or will create a new industry,
but it specifies particularly the things
which it has discovered. Before their
experiments, which evidently were carried
on immediately prior to 1920, they stated
that all previous preparations of
dextrose were from alcoholic solutions.
In a patent, No. 256,623, dated April
18, 1882, issued to Arno Behr, he makes
the following statement:
In carrying out
my process I form a watery solution of grape-sugar
containing, say, thirteen per cent.
of water and deposit the same in a
suitable tank or vessel, and maintain
it at a temperature of about 90°
Fahrenheit for a period of one
to two weeks, or until thorough crystallization
has taken place. * * * In order
to somewhat hasten crystallization, I
introduce into the concentrated
solution a minute quantity of finely-divided
crystallized anhydrous grape-sugar
previously prepared."
Thus it is seen that two
of the discoveries of the Bureau of Standards, one,
that dextrose could be crystallized from
an aqueous solution, and the other that
it could be hastened by the addition of
previously crystallized dextrose, were
known and patented forty years prior to
this great discovery. The fact that the
temperature should be kept up to or, above
blood heat for the purpose, of making
anhydrous dextrose is clearly pointed
out in the patent issued to T. B. Wagner
(No. 259,794, dated June 20, 1882). He
says:
"Prior to my
invention it was known that crystallized anhydride of
grape-sugar could be produced by
dissolving grape sugar in strong alcohol and
crystallizing it from the alcoholic
solution; but in this process it is
difficult to entirely free the
resulting product from all traces of alcohol
and from an unpleasant flavor resulting
from impurities contained in
commercial alcohol. My improved
product,, which consists of pure crystallized
anhydrous grape-sugar, entirely
free from all traces of alcohol, may be made
in various ways from water solutions
of grape sugar."
The claim he makes is as
follows:
"I claim as my
invention a new article of manufacture, crystallized
anhydrous grape-sugar, free from
any trace or flavor of alcohol or its
impurities, produced from a watery
solution of grape-sugar.
In a patent issued to T.
B. Wagner, No. 835,145, dated Nov. 6, 1906, the
following purpose of the invention is
described:
"The object of
my invention is to produce anhydrous grape-sugar from corn
or other analogous farinaceous
material by a method in which the yield of
sugar is larger, its quality is
purer, the time required for its production is
shortened, and the amount of labor
required is materially lessened. I have
found that all of these results
may be obtained by abandoning that part of the
present process which has heretofore
been considered neeessary--that is
keeping the crystals during the
process of generation in as quiet and still a
condition as possible, and on the
contrary employing the principle of
crystallization in motion."
From the above citations
it seems plain that the claims made by the Bureau of
Standards as the original discoverers
of this great industry are, to say the
least, contrary to historical evidence.
ATTEMPT TO MODIFY THE FOOD LAW
While the foregoing is interesting
as a sample of bureaucratic ethics it
serves solely as a background to an assault
on the food law.
The most objectionable effort of the
Bureau of Standards was in trying, by
the great weight of its authority as
the original discoverers, to force this
product ("corn syrup")upon the American
people under the guise of real sugar.
A bill was introduced into the House of
Representatives by Mr. Cole, on
December 7, 1925 (H. R. No. 39), providing
that the Food and Drugs Act be
amended so that the presence of dextrose
in food products would not be regarded
as a misbranding and would not require
any notification of its presence. The
same bill (S. 481), was introduced into
the Senate of the United States by Mr.
Cummins on Dec. 8, 1925.
The Senate bill was considered
by the Committee on Manufactures, beginning
Thursday, January 7, 1926. There was no
very great publicity given to this
hearing and the only persons who appeared,
besides the members of the Committee,
were Senator Cummins, Representative Holaday,
and Representative Cole. Senator
Cummins said to the Committee:
"Introduction
of that paragraph into the law would avoid the charge that
any article of food in which corn
sugar is used is either misbranded or
adulterated."
Mr. Holaday said:
"Mr. Chairman,
I should like to voice my approval of the measure before
you, and the feeling is somewhat
general throughout the agricultural regions
of the country that this bill may
be of benefit to corn producers. The fact
that the producer of goods sweetened
with cane sugar is not compelled to place
anything to that effect on his
label, while the manufacturer who sweetens with
corn sugar is required to mention
that fact on his label, creates an unjust
impression in the minds of the
people."
Representative Cole stated:
" The difference
between dextrose and sucrose, a chemist has told me, is as
small as a molecule of water.
"Now what does
that mean? It means that it will be used very largely,
especially in the case of sweetened
fruits. You buy canned peaches, sweetened
apples, in many cases too sweet,
in fact they have to put in so much cane
sugar in preserving these fruits
that they become almost like a sirup. In
using corn sugar that degree of
sweetness would not be obtained, but still the
preserving power would be there.
The Committee, after hearing
these witnesses and no one appearing in
opposition, made a favorable report and
as a result of this report the Senate
unammously passed the bill.
LEGALIZING ADULTERATION OF FOODS
When these bills came before
the House, the Bureau of Standards appeared as
the chief protagonist of this effort to
mutilate the Food Law. At the time the
hearings were begun on March 2, 1926,
a formidable array of opponents to the
measure was on hand. Among these were
Mr. George S. DeMuth, representing the
bee-keepers, the Hon. Franklin Menges,
representative in Congress from
Pennsylvania, Mr. W. G. Campbell, chief
of the Regulatory Service of the
Department of Agriculture, Dr. George
M. Kober, .eminent physician and Dean of
the Georgetown University Medical School,
and Mr. Harvey W. Wiley, farmer. Among
the protagonists of this measure was Mr.
Frederick Bates of the Bureau of
Standards. Following is a brief outline
of his testimony.
He said he did not feel it
would ever be necessary to defend the creation of
industries of such momentousi importance,
and when the Bureau of Standards
created crystallized dextrose, a carbohydrate
of great food value, great
stability, great purity, and great cheapness,
it was deemed a waste of time to
attempt to take out a basic patent on
a subject in which the process of
manufacture requires so many individual
steps. .He called attention to the fact
that the Bureau of Standards for the first
time in one hundred years had
successfully crystallized manite and dextrose
from.a water solution, and that is
the crux of the whole matter.
He referred to the fact that
there had been, he presumed, several hundred
patents on the subject of dextrose. As
an example he cited Mr. W. B. Newkirk, a
practical sugar-maker.
"He was the man
I sent to the Corn Products Refining Company to perform the
first experiment, and he threw
down four thousand pounds of chemically pure
crystallized dextrose after forty
years of failure."
Mr. Bates grew more enthusiastic
as he was questioned in regard to whether
Mr. Newkirk in his patents had mentioned
any of the things discovered by the
Bureau of Standards. Like the men in Buckram,
these patents "grew apace."
Finally (page 122) Mr. Bates said:
" I suppose 500
would be a conservative estimate of the number of patents
on dextrose processes now in existence.
Possibly there are 1000."
These patents must have been
granted in foreign countries. Very few are found
in our patent office, even including the
six taken out by Mr. Newkirk after he
left the Bureau of Standards.
NUMBER OF PATENTS
A careful search was made
in the archives of the patent office, aided by the
experts employed therein, to determine
the number of patents issued in the
conversion of starch into other products,
and particularly to dextrine, gums,
glucose and grape-sugar or dextrose. Possibly
a few patents may have been
overlooked, and perhaps two or three may
have been included which do not belong
to this category. A total of 64 patents
treat of making dextrose or grape-sugar
from starch. It is curious to note that
the greatest activity in taking out
patents was in the years 1880 to 1886
inclusive, during which time 27 patents
were issued for this purpose. This was
at the time the glucose industry was
attracting public and financial attention,
and naturaJly marked the era of
greatest activities and inventions.
As has already been shown,
all the principal methods used, with the exception
of those covered by the patents of Mr.
Newkirk, included substantially the
processes employed in all dextrose factories
at that time and subsequently.
There seems to be nothing fundamentally
new in any of the patents taken out by
Mr. Newkirk since his resignation from
the Bureau of Standards and his
employment by the Corn Products Company.
The patents taken out by Mr. Newkirk
were at first assigned to the Corn Products
Company, but later ones were
assigned to the International Patents
Developing Corporation, of Wilmington,
Delaware.
RELATIVE SWEETNESS OF SUCROSE AND DEXTROSE
The Bureau of Standards claims
a relative sweetness for dextrose of about 75
per cent. of the sweetening power of sucrose.
Dr. C. A. Browne presented
a paper to the Thirtieth Annual Conference of the
Association of Dairy, Food and Drug Officials
of the United States in
Washington, October, 1926. On Page 6 of
the printed proceedings I find the
following:
"Gottloeb Kirchof
about the year 1806 discovered that the starch of cereal
grains from heating with acid could
be converted into a crystallizable sugar.
* * * The process as originally
described by Kirchof consisted in beating 100
pounds of starch with 400 pounds
of water and 1-1/2 pounds of strong sulphuric
acid, boiling for a period of 25
hours with constant renewal of the evaporated
water. After clarification the
neutralized mass was evaporated to a thick
syrup, set aside for several days
until crystallization was complete. The
inventor, Kirchof, made the following
observation :
'Although starch
sugar does not have the sweetness of ordinary sugar, the
ratio of its sweetness to that
of the latter being only 1 to 2-1/4, it can
nevertheless replace cane sugar
for many purposes.'
Dr. Browne continues (page
11)
"Certain advocates
of 'corn sugar' have employed, as their measurement of
its sweetness, the recently determined
value of Biester, Wood and Wahlin for
pure anhydrous dextrose which is
74.3 per cent of the sweetening power of
sucrose. . This value is much higher
than any reported by previous
investigators. The values in the
literature for the sweetness of anhydrous
dextrose range from 40 to 74.3
per cent, the variations being due to the
differences in the methods of determination
and to differenes in individual
taste perception. In such cases
the only legitimate procedure is to take the
average of the results of all observers
and this average, including the very
high figure of Biestor, Wood and
Wahlin, for the nine determinations which I
have found in the literature is
54.4 per cent. This value when corrected for
the 8.43 per cent of water in 'corn
sugar' gives a true value of 49.81 per
cent for the sweetness of the product
as compared with sucrose. In other words
'corn sugar' is only about one-half
as sweet as cane and. beet sugar and twice
as much of it must be used in food
products as of cane or beet sugar, if the
same degree of sweetness is to
be obtained.
This discussion of the subject
by Dr. Browne is in strict conformity with
scientific ethics and leads to a conclusion
entirely different from that assumed
by the Bureau of Standards. If dextrose
is used for sweetening purposes, twice
as much of it is required as.for ordinary
sugar. If it is used as a, filler,
that is an adulterant, the more you put
in the better the purpose of its use is
secured. This is the kind of sugar which
the committee decided, chiefly under
the influence of the Bureau of Standards,
was the proper thing to offer the
American consumer without notice of its
presence. What a remarkable change from
the attitude of the members of the Interstate
and Foreign Commerce Committee at
the present time to that which characterized
their deliberations in 1906!
CAN OTHERS DO IT?
The following question was
propounded to Mr. Bates, Page 127. Hearing, before
the Interstate Commerce Committee:
Is it possible
for any one else to produce corn sugar that you know of now,
profitably, that is this crystallized
dextrose sugar without using the process
that was perfected .in your laboratory
and subsequently patented by the men
that represent you?" To which Mr.
Bates answered, "Yes."
Another embarrassing question
is found on page 130;
"Right here let
me ask, was your study of dextrose instigated by the Corn
Products Refining Company?" to
which Mr. Bates replied, "Oh, no, they had
nothing whatever to do with it."
Evidently, however, the first
mass experiment made by the Bureau of
Standards' process was not made in the
Bureau at all. On the same page Mr. Bates
said:
"Our contribution
was to demonstrate to the world that a man could take
ordinary sugar-making machinery
and throw down pure crystallized dextrose on a
factory scale. We made 4000 pounds
on the first experiment."
On the same page the question
was asked:
"The Corn Products
Refining Company had been unable to do that?"
To which Mr. Bates replied:
"They.had spent
about $6,000,000 in effort to make dextrose. They had built
one factory in Chicago costing
$1,500,000 and had abandoned it many years
before, after attempting to operate
it. for a year or two."
Mr. Bates finally acknowledged
that dextrose is not a new sugar, and in
answer to a question he said:
"There is nothing new in
the product. It is a new sugar in the sense that
after forty years of failure by the anufacturers
who are interested in utilizing
corn we have sueceeded in throwing down
the material from water solutions."
The fact is that Kirchof
in 1806 described the process and Dr. Arno Behr, in
1882, took out a patent for producing
dextrose from water solution, and Dr;
Wagner in 1906 described in detail the
technique of crystallizing and how to
secure anhydrous crystals.
According to the records
of the Bureau of Standards, their experiment in
creating this new industry was made in
1919. In 1923 Mr. Newkirk had already
been in the service of the Corn Products
Company for about two yeaxs. In. 1922
he filed his first application for patents
which were assigned to the Corn
Products Company. Mr. Bates informed the
Committee that according to the best
figures he had available, so-called corn
sugar, that is dextrose, can be
produced under present methods at about
2 cents per pound, when corn is a dollar
a bushel. He told the Committtee that
there is no pure corn sugar produced in
the world today on a commercial scale
except that produced by Americans, and
that this fact is entirely due to the
initiative of the Congress of the United
States, which provided the funds to make
this work possible. When asked to give
some idea of the future of the industry,
Mr. Bates replied:
"Experience has
taught me that it is better to remami silent. But I leave
it to your experience and knowledge
as to what happens when any basic material
of great stability, purity and
cheapness can be produced."
OPPONENTS IGNORED
In point of fact, the members
of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign
Commerce had very little confidence in
those who appeared in opposition to the
pending bill. In the report of the sub-committee,
which was adopted by the whole
committee, it is stated on the first page:
"In arriving
at this conclusion we have had the benefit of conferences and
frequent consultations and advice
with the Bureau of Standards, the Department
of Agriculture, and with the legislative
Counsel, to all of whom we
acknowledge our obligation. We
are, however, under special obligation to Dr.
George K. Burgess, Director, and
to Dr. Frederick Bates, of the Bureau of
Standards, and attach hereto as
a part of our report their concise and clear
statement regarding these new sugars
which were first developed by their
department, and call your especial
attention to a definite statement made
therein by eight of the leading
medical authorities of the United States as to
the complete wholesomeness of these
sugars, which opinion is supplemented by a
letter dated March 18, 1926, from
Dr. H. S. Cumming, Surgeon General of the
United States Public Health Service,
which we also attach with this report. We
call attention also to the numerous
citations of authorities furnished us by
the Bureau of Standards in support
of their position."
Not a syllable is said concerning
the luminous opposing data presented by the
Honorable Franklin Menges, Member of the
House, Mr. George DeMuth, representing
the bee-keepers, Mr. W. G. Campbell of
the Regulatory Service of the Department
of Agriculture, and H. W. Wiley, in defense
of the Food Law. The only quotation
from the Department of Agriculture is
the Secretary's approval of the amended
bill.
REQUEST BUREAU OF STANDARDS FOR HEALTH
DATA
In securing this information
the Bureau of Standards entered on a new
activity, namely as promoters of the public
health. Director Burgess in his
letter of March 28, 1926, said:
"In addition
we would state for your information that the Bureau of
Standards does not deal with the
subject of foods in relation either to health
or to physiologic action in their
primary aspect. Investigations of the
character involved in these subjects
belong to the realm of medical science."
The above is a most important
statement. There is one field of activity in
which the Bureau of Standards has not
yet entered. Nevertheless they have made a
fine beginning and the nose of the camel
is now under the edge of the, tent. It
is to be expected that within a short
time the Bureau of Standards will assume
all of these medical investigations in
which they have made already a very
considerable start.
When the Bureau of Standards
was asked to do this public health work by the
committtee, it looked around to see where
it could best direct its efforts. Dr.
Burgess says:
"In deciding
upon the sources from which to obtain the information you
requested, the staffs of various
Government institutions, such as the United
States Public Health Service, the
Hygienic Laboratory, the Army Medical
School, and the Bureau of Home
Economics have been consulted, and their able
suggestions followed. And it may
pertinently be noted at this point that in
our search we have failed to find
a statement by a single authority that is
detrimental to the use of dextrose
and levulose as human foods, or that their
use as foods would cause diabetes
mellitus. On the contrary we have found that
all authorities are positive as
to the desirability of these sugars as human
foods. Their commendation of the
Bureau's work on the sugars, whenever they
have. had occasion to comment,
has been unstinted.
This investigation into the
realms of public health made by the Bureau of
Standards, at the request of the Committee
on Interstate and Foreign Commerce
was due to a statement I made before the
Committee in regard to the
undesirability of increasing the amount
of prechewed and predigested foods in
the American dietary.
On page 113 of the hearings
I said:
Now let me give
you just a few more words about another feature of injury.
You understand that we eat starch
and fruit sugars. We digest those. If the
sucrose has not been digested we
digest it. If the starch has not been
digested we digest it, with the
functions which we have achieved in this life,
and then the sugar enters the blood
stream. Now what becomes of the levulose?
We never find levulose in the blood
stream. We find only dextrose. The sugar
that is in the blood and goes to
the tissnes and there is burned is always
dextrose, it is never levulose.
I wish I knew what became of levulose. I do
not; but it is possible that there
may be an enzyme, a digestive enzyme, that
converts levulose into dextrose.
Suppose you have too much starch and too much
sugar. You cannot burn it all at
once. It is converted into an inert substance
called glycogen and is stored up
in this condition in the liver and in the
tissues. The burning of the sugar
in the blood is activated by the pancreas.
Now if we flood our stomachs
with dextrose ("corn syrup"), then we will need half a dozen artificial
pancreases to take care of it, and there is the real danger, the threatening
danger, as every wise physiologist will tell you, from that source. So
that both by reason of paralysis of our digestive apparatus through lack
of functioning that is a threat in itself, and by reason of the increase
of the amount of dextrose which we ingest far above what we need we endanger
our health in the most serious way. So that I voice now, and with all the
emphasis I can put on it, my disagreement with every other person, except
Dr. Menges, who has testified here, and it has been unanimous almost, who
has said that this predigested and prechewed dextrose is harmless. I deny
it and I think I have most scientific grounds to convince you, gentlemen,
that it is not a harmless substance. In closing, Mr. Chairman, I want
to say that I
labored for 22 years before I saw
the fruits of my labors in the Food and
Drugs Act. I did not give myself
the name ' but I am universally acclaimed as
the father of the Food and Drugs
Act, as I am universally acclaimed as the
father of the Beet Sugar Industry.
I see both of my children threatened, and I
have a parental love. Now I have
lived long enough to see my two alleged
children grow up almost to their
majority. Twenty years old they are. I do not
want to live long enough to see
them crucified."
INJURY TO HEALTH
The activities of the Bureau
of Standards in securing expressions from
various eminent medical authorities to
the effect that levulose and dextrose as
found in honey and in invert sugar are
not prejudicial to health was a work of
supererogation. I can not find in any
of the hearings before the committee, or
otherwise, that any such question was
under consideration. Evidently the purpose
of this investigation by the Bureau of
Standards into the region of health was
to counteract the statements I made before
the committee that predigested starch
(glucose), in such quantities as was suggested
by the Bureau of Standards, was a
real threat to health.
I desire to refer to page
135 of the hearings on Interstate and Foreign
Commerce on H. R. No. 39.
MR. HOCH: "Are you familiar
with the quotations that Mr. Cole makes from
medical authorities?"
DR. WILEY: "Certainly, I
am. I do not deny the virtue of dextrose as a
medicine for any man who cannot digest
his own food. It is a valuable remedy;
for use in a hospital. I should hate to
see dextrose moved out of the hospital,
because people in the hospital usually
have poor digestive faculties and need
blood sugar."
MR. HOCH: "If corn sugar
should be used generally throughout the country
instead of cane sugar or beet sugar what
would be the effect upon the health of
the country?."
DR. WILEY: "I have no quarrel
for use of dextrose in hospitals, and if you
should use dextrose in place of sugar
that would be all right as to food but all
wrong as to conservation of natural digestion."
I quote here two statements,
one from a physiologic chemist and one from a
celebrated physician. Dr. Albert P. Mathews,
Professor of Physiological
Chemistry, University of Cincinnati, under
date of Jan. 11, 1927 says:
"As regards the
effect of lack of use of our digestive apparatus by eating
predigested food, I dare say the
point you make is correct. It seems to be the
general experience throughout the
animal kingdom that the use of an organ
increases its efficiency and keeps
its health. What you say as to the quantity
of this new sugar which would probably
be consumed staggers me, but it is true
that it can't be told by its appearance
from a good grade of granulated sugar,
and if it is cheaper I have no
doubt it would drive the other out of the
market, which would be a great
calamity."
The other authority, the
eminent physician, is Dr. E. L. Fiske, Director of
the Life Extension Institute of New York.
Writing under date of Jan. 21, 1927,
he says:
"I concur in
your views that it is unwise to make any change in the present
law requiring that dextrose should
be so labeled. While it is quite true that
dextrose is just as available a
fuel as sucrose, indeed more available because
of the fact that the action of
digestive enzymes is not required, I feel that
the present consumption of sugar
is far beyond the physiological needs of the
population and tends to narrow
the diet. I believe that food sugars should be
drawn from natural sugars, such
as fruit sugars and sucrose. Statistics would
indicate that diabetes is increasing
in this country and I can see some point
in your caution that the use of
a predigested sugar may in itself not be in
the interest of public health.
In regard to no other food is predigestion
looked upon as a physiological
advantage, but rather the contrary, except in
the emergencies of illness."
These opinions of these two
eminent experts would be supported by every
competent physiologist and dietitian in
the country not under the influence of
the Bureau of Standards and the Corn Products,
Company. Predigestion of our
foods to the extent indicated would tend
to undermine and destroy public health.
In regard to the quantity
of sugar I quoted to Dr. Mathews the statements
before the committee that if this bill
(39 H. R.) should pass, permitting
dextrose to be used in food. products
without notice, as much as two billion
pounds would enter into the stomachs of
the American public annually. In a book
entitled "What Price Progress?" by Hugh
Farrel, page 183, reference is made to
the work of the Bureau of Standards and
of the Corn Products Refining Company,
stressing somewhat gingerly the importance
of "If."
"Did you ever
think about the word "if" as a shock absorber? Probably not.
"If" is usually used as a license
for loose talk. If I couldn't use "if" in
telling you about the probable
effects of recent scientific research on the
sugar industry, I would keep quiet,
I wouldn't say anything. I'm not timid,
not to speak of, but I wouldn't
like to. assume the responsibility for a bald
statement that researches of chemists
in the employ of the Bureau of Standards
and of the Corn Products Refining
Company meant the beginning of the end of
the cane and beet sugar industries,
I wouldn't like to make that a flat-footed
statement even though it might
be and probably would be true."
This enthusiastic follower
of the Bureau of Standards makes the Bureau's
modest estimate of 2,000,000,000 pounds
look like the prognosis of a piker, by
predicting a possible 40,000,000,000 crop.
It is of interest to know
that while the Corn Products Company was perfectly
satisfied to leave its case with the Bureau
of Standards, it was in deep
sympathy with this measure. In the American
Food Journal of January 1927, Page
24, is an article entitled "Some Facts
About Corn Sugar," by W. R. Cathcart of
the Corn Products Refining Company, New
York City. In this article Mr. Cathcart
says:
Of course the
production of dextrose in commercial quantities did not
remain hidden under the bushel.
Corn sugar soon figured conspicuously in the
public press, particularly in papers
circulating in the corn growing, states,
and dextrose entered the political
arena. It was clear that an increased
market for corn sugar meant an
increased market for corn. The movement for the
relief of the corn grower was strong
in the corn growing states and several
measures were introduced into Congress
to meet the situation. Identical bills
were introduced by Senator Cummins
and Congressman Cole to amend the Pure Food
Act so that a product could not
be deemed misbranded or adulterated if it
contained corn sugar. Hearings
before the House Committee developed opposition
on the part of the Department of
Agriculture and Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, former
Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry.
It was denied by Dr. Wiley that dextrose is
a wholesome product. * * * The
Corn Products Company is a strong supporter of
the Pure Food Law and has no desire
to change from this position. Speaking as
the representative of that industry,
we intend to work in harmony with the
constituted authorities and obey
the prescribed regulations. We believe in
hard common sense. We will continue
to present arguments which we know to be
economically and scientifically
sound. We are confident that eventually reason
and well established facts will
overcome fanaticism and misstatement."
The persons who manufacture
commercial glucose and commercial dextrose may
not engage in adulterating foods therewith,
but they do furnish the raw
materials which adulterators use. The
predecessor of the Corn Products Company
manufactured "Flourine" which was used
to adulterate wheat flour. To correct
this abuse it was necessary for Congress
to pass the mixed flour act. This
effectually stopped the use of "flourine"
in wheat flour. It was the Corn
Products Company that secured the change
of label for one of its products,
namely glucose, to "corn sugar," a clear
violation of the food law. The natural
sugar of corn, both in the stalk and in
the ear, is sucrose and the law forbids
calling any other object or product by
the same name as one already established.
The Bureau of Standards also referred
to dextrose as the ideal filler. To a food
adulterator the ideal filler is a cheaper
substance which he can substitute for
a dearer substance. Mr. Cathcart's statement
that the Corn Products Company does
not desire to misbrand or adulterate any
product is hardly borne out by well
known facts. Glucose and its near relations
have been, are and will continue to
be the champion adulterants.
FINAL DISPOSITION OF THE SO-CALLED CORN
SUGAR BILL
The committee on Interstate
and Foreign Commerce rejected the Senate bill
which would open all foods indiscriminately
for the use of dextrose without
limit and without notice to the purchaser.
The committee reported the bill in
which the permission to use dextrose in
this way was limited to frozen products,
such as ice cream, and to bakers' products
and meat products. This bill was
approved by the House of Representatives
but only with a very small majority.
The opposition to it had grown to enormous
proportions.
. The bill, as it passed
the House, was entered on the Senate calendar and it
was understood that when it was called
up the Senate would not insist upon its
own measure, but would be content to adopt
the measure as it passed the House.
It was called up on the 2nd of July, 1926,
just two or three days before both
houses of Congress had voted to adjourn.
Unless it could be acted upon on this
occasion there would be no additional
time in which it could be considered by
the Senate.
Senator Neely of West Virginia
had become convinced that this was a vicious
measure. He felt also that if it came
to a vote the Senate, having already
passed a more drastic bill, would probably
concur in the bill as modified by the
House. He therefore determined to defeat
the measure by a lone filibuster. He
secured the floor of the Senate and openly
announced his determination to hold
it until the hour at which the bill could
be considered had passed. He held in
his hand A copy of Good Housekeeping,
and read from time to time paragraphs
therefrom, showing the enormity of the
crime intended. By that time, however, a
large number of Senators had seen the
error of their way and expressed their
sympathy with Senator Neely who was trying
to prevent a national crime.
I addressed to Senator Neely
after his successful filibuster the following
letter:
"The country
owes you a vote of thanks for your heroic and successful
endeavor yesterday to block the
approval of the so-called 'Corn-Sugar' Bill. *
* *
"As determined
by Dr. C. A. Browne, the sweetening power of corn sugar is
only 50% of that of sucrose. It
is much more insoluble. It leaves a very
disagreeable, bitter after-taste.
To foist this sugar upon the American public
without knowledge is a crime of
the deepest dye. I sincerely hope you will be
on your guard if any subsequent
attempt is made to rush this legislation
through the Senate.
To this letter Senator Neely,
on the 3rd of July, replied as follows:
"I regret to
confess there are no words in my vocabulary sufficiently
vigoious to convey to your mind
my sincere appreciation of your more than
gracious letter of the second day
of July. Frankly, whatever service I have
rendered the country's consumers
of sweetened food products, I have been able
to perform solely by virtue of
the information contained in your illuminating
article which recently appeared
in Good Housekeeping.
"Sincerely hoping
that the public may be thoroughly informed as to the
menace of the pending legislation
on the subject of corn sugar before Congress
reconvenes in December, I am, with
the best of wishes and the kindest of
regards, always,
Faithfully yours,
(Signed) M. M. Neely."
On December 16th, 1926, I
wrote Senator Neely as follows:
"I am writing
to ask if there is any immediate prospect of the so-called
Corn Sugar Bill being taken from
the calendar and considered by the Senate? I
am preparing a document which I
wish to submit to each member of the Senate
when it is likely that such consideration
will take place. Your work last
summer in blocking this legislation
was most notable and successful. I hope
you have not lost any of your enthusiasm
in this case and will be on guard,
with the other Senators who stood
by you on that occasion, to prevent any
mutilation of our food law."
To this letter Senator Neely
on the same day replied as follows:
'Replying to
your very acceptable letter of the sixteenth day of December,
I regret to inform you that it
is quite probable that the so-called
'Corn-Sugar Bill' will-be 'called
up' at almost any hour of any day.
"Yesterday, a
Senator from a western state inquired of me particularly as
to the possibility of my discontinuing
my opposition to this measure. I told
him, and I now assure you, that
I purpose to oppose the passage of the Corn
Sugar Bill to the limit of my capacity
as long as I continue a member of the
Senate.
"In view of the
article on the subject which appeared in the last number of
'Good Housekeeping,' I feel impelled
to tell you that I have absolutely no
selfish interest of any kind or
character in seeking to defeat this
legislation. I am prompted to the
course I have adopted by a single motive,
and that motive is to preserve,
protect, and defend the Pure Food Law and
thereby protect the health of the
people of the country."
On December 17th, 1926, I
wrote Senator Neely as follows:
"I hope, even
if Congress should pass this measure, that the President will
refuse to sign it. I feel certain
President Coolidge could not complacently
approve of the perpetration of
such a huge.fraud upon the American public. It
means fraud in every household
in this broad land. I sincerely hope you may be
able again to block this vicious
legislation, either by force of reason, or,
if necessary, by filibuster.
Under date of December 18,
1926, Senator Neely wrote me as follows:
"Yesterday Senator
Ashurst and I conferred at considerable length about the
subject matter of your communication,
and rededicated ourselves to the task of
preventing the enactment of a measure
(despite the good faith of its
proponents) which he and I believe
thoroughly vicious."
There was organized, therefore,
a number of Senators into a committee who
promised to guard carefully the rights
of the people by objecting to any
unanimous consideration of taking the
bill from its regular place on the
Calendar. This was particularly true in
the last days of, the session when night
sessions were called to consider bills
to which no objection was made. I wrote
Senator Neely and asked him to organize
a watch-meeting to see that at least one
Senator was always present who would object
to taking the so-called. Corn Sugar
Bill from its place on the. calendar,
by unanimous consent. In this way all
legislation of this kind was blocked until
the 69th Congress expired at noon on
the 4th day of March,1927.
All pending bills are now
dead. If the 70th Congress undertakes to enact a
measure of this kind, a powerfully organized
minority at least, will be ready to
interpose all required parliamentary obstacles
to such legislation. It is quite
certain, therefore, that any other bill
of a similar character would have a very
rugged future before it, and it is almost
morally certain that no such
legislation can now be enacted.
ALWAYS THE PROBLEM OF AGRICULTURE
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
"There shall
be at the seat of Government a Department of Agriculture, the
general design and duties of which
shall be to acquire and to diffuse among
the people of the United States
useful information on subjects connected with
agriculture, in the most general
and comprehensive sense of that word, and to
procure, propagate, and distribute
among the people new and valuable seeds and
plants"--Act May 15,1862.
From the very beginning of
the investigations of sugar they were given by
Congress to the Bureau of Chemistry, Department
of Agriculture. Dr. MacMurtrie
in the early 70's, first as an assistant
and then as Chief of the Bureau, worked
upon these problems and particularly carried
on investigations looking to the
establishment of the beet sugar industry.
His successor, Dr. Collier, my
immediate predecessor, made extensive
investigations as to the possibility of
using sorghum as the principal source
of sugar.
When I was put in charge
of the chemical work in 1883 it was with the
distinct understanding that the sorghum
investigations would be completed. To
that end, in collaboration with A. A.
Denton, the first study of the possibility
of increasing the content of sugar and
the percentage of purity in the sorghum
plant was undertaken and continued for
eight years. Varieties of sorghum were
developed showing an average content of
4% increase in sugar. All of these
investigations have been published in
numerous bulletins of the Bureau of
Chemistry. My successor, Dr. Alsberg,
continued these investigations. His
successor, Dr. C. A. Browne, has kept
the work up. Thus from 1870 to 1927, a
period of 57 years, Congress has continuously
provided the funds for carrying on
these investigations in the Bureau of
Chemistry.
The appropriation for the
fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, provided funds:
"To investigate
the chemical composition of sugar and starch-producing
plants in the United States and
their possessions.
For the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1928, the appropriation bill for the
Department of Agriculture contains the
following authorization:
"For the investigation
and development of methods for the manufacture of
table syrup and sugar by utilization
of new agricultural sources."
If this means anything, it
means that levulose is one of the new sources of
sugar production, which Congress in its
regular session committed to the new
Bureau of Chemistry and Soils. Does not
then this problem by right of possession
and by a continued recognition by Congress
for 57 years entitle the Bureau of
Chemistry to carry on all investigations
of this kind? By right of possession,
as well as by ethical considerations.
that rule ought not to be transgressed.
A careful survey of the original
act establishing the Bureau of Standards
fails even to give a hint that any investigations
of this kind should be
assigned to any other department than
that of agriculture. The investigations
which led to the establishment of the
beet sugar industry were given exclusively
to the Department of Agriculture, as the
original act provided. There is one
point, however, in which perhaps it is
wise to permit the investigations of
levulose through another department. The
Bureau of Standards has proclaimed that
when levulose under its initiative is
made as cheaply, as dextrose, then there
is no longer any reason for the existence
of either the beet sugar or the cane
sugar industries. Of course Congress never
intended that the Department of
Agriculture should be used for the destruction
of established agricultural
industries. So, naturally, investigations
which would destroy these industries
would not be germane to the fundamental
idea around which the Department of
Agriculture has been built. It does seem
a little bit strange that Congress
which is now bending all its energies
to do something for the relief of the
farmer should give to the Bureau of Standards
a large sum of money for the
purpose of endeavoring to destroy some
of our most profitable agricultural
industries.
DEVELOPMENT OF DEXTROSE AND LEVULOSE INDUSTRIES
Speaking before the committee
in favor of a defieiency appropriation for the
development of the levulose industries,
the Director of the Bureau of Standards
gave glowing accounts of what could be
done with the Jerusalem artichoke. In
answer to a question of the chairman as
to the difficulty of gathering the wild
artichoke economically, it was stated
that it would be cultivated, and he
illustrated the improvement in the content
of sugar, that is levulose, in the
artichoke from what had been done in breeding
beets. He called attention to the
fact that the percentage of sugar in the
wild beet had been, by careful
breeding, more than doubled.
The chairman asked Dr. Burgess
(page 279 of the hearings),
"Is any of this
sugar which you have shown it is possible to produce used
anywhere?"
DR. BURGESS:
"Not yet. It has only been actually produced in sugar form in
our laboratory. The trick was to
get it out of water solution."
The director enlarged on
the problems they were about to undertake (page 288
of the hearings.)
"The production
of sugar is one of the world's largest industries. A new
industry which threatens to modify
this production is a thing of first
importance to mankind. The Bureau
of Standards is considering not merely the
question of modification, but the
possibility to a great extent of replacement
of ordinary sugar (sucrose) by
levalose.
It is no wonder, therefore,
that the $50,000 asked for were given to the
Bureau of Standards, which is a branch
of the Department of Commerce, and not to
the Department of Agriculture, which is
immensely interested in the maintenance
of both the cane and the sugar beet industries.
The purpose of the Bureau of
Standards is to abolish both of these
industries.
There are many serious difficulties
in the way of developing an economical
levulose industry. It is stated by the
Bureau of Standards that the present
price of levulose is approximately $100
a pound. They proposed to make it as
cheaply as they have been able to manufacture
dextrose. The director promised
the committee that the experimental work
would be finished in.1927. This time
has come and gone but no publication of
levulose at 5 or 2 cents. a pound has
yet been issued. The wisdom of the proverb,
as it is read in Boston to the
effect that it is undesirable to enumerate
the number of progeny arising from
the incubation of the ova of gallinaceous
birds until the process is entirely
completed, is a matter which the Bureau
of Standards should take under careful
consideration. It is quite evident that
if this policy of the Standards Bureau
be carried out any further the original
intent of Congress will be entirely
lost, sight of. Evidently there is nothing
going on in this world which,
following out the plan already adopted,
may not come within the limits of
investigation of this all embracing Bureau.
Meanwhile, the work which it was
intended to do must of necessity be neglected
in order to gather in all these
miscellaneous activities which plainly
are foreign to the purpose of the
original act. An unbiased study of these
activities magnifies to colossal
proportions the dangers which Professor
Rowland pointed out.
NO DELAY IN STARTING WHAT ROWLAND FEARED
From the first the Bureau
of Standards immediately began a system of
accretion from all sources, which it has
practiced ever since. The following
year, 1903, it was transferred to the
Depaxtment of Commerce. It took over at
once the supervision of polarizing imported
sugars, which for many years had
been a function of the Bureau of Chemistry.
This was its first offense of
scientific ethics, the cardinal canon
of which is, "Don't butt into any problem
already in charge of some one else. This
was followed by the invasion of fields
fully occupied by the Bureau of Chemistry
in studies of leather, paper, farm.
wastes, and other strictly agricultural
problems. This was followed by occupying
the field of specifications for civil
and military supplies, establishing new
definitions for Castile soaps, and finally
an assault on the Food and Drugs Act.
TRADE PRACTICES
The encroachments of trade
practices on the enforcement of the Food Law will
be shown in the last chapter.
I refer solely to the illegal
and unethical practices. They are also likely
to be dominant in the activities of the
Bureau of Standards in the case of
scientific associates. It is even possible
that activities of the Food and Drugs
Act, or the investigations of the Federal
Trade Commission may be invoked to
restrict the scientific investigations
of the Bureau of Standards. One of the
dangers which attend the exploitation
of trade practices is illustrated by the
attitude of the Bureau of Standards in
regard to Castile soap. The methods
employed by the manufacturers of so-called
Castile soaps are thoroughly outlined
in Circular No. 62 of the Bureau of Standards
devoted to this subject. The trade
practices are set out in detail. Brands
of Castile soap are made which are
entirely foreign to the original idea
universally accepted of this article. In
the data below it will be noticed that
the principal chemist who has been
consulted in this matter, and whose suggestions
have appaxently been adopted, is
the chemist of a firm making so-called
Castile soaps of different kinds without
any olive oil whatever entering into their
composition.
The Food and Drugs Act was
passed for the purpose of correcting trade
practices. Now the efforts of the Bureau
of Standards seem to be directed toward
establishing them as ethical processes.
This, of course, means great danger to
the consuming public. A great government
organization ought not to aid
fraudulent trade practices and try to
foist them upon the public, even by
mentioning them approvingly.
" Castile Soap
was originally made from low-grade olive oils. The name now
represents a type of soap, the
term 'castile' being applied to a soap intended
for toilet or household use, sold
usually in large, unwrapped, unperfumed
bars, which are cut up when sold
or when used. It is often drawn directly from
the kettle without 'crutching,'
but is sometimes crutched a little or even
enough to make it float and is
sometimes milled. It is also sold. in small
bars both wrapped and unwrapped.
The type is not one easily defined, so now
when made from olive oil it is
invariably sold as olive-oil castile. There are
soaps made entirely from cocoanut,
oil which are sold as cocoanut castiles or
hardwater castiles. Many other
castiles are made from a mixture of cocoanut
oil and tallow." (Dept. of Commerce--Circular
of the Bureau of Standards, No.
62--SOAP--p. 9, Jan. 24, 1923.
NOTE: Previous Edition of
Standard Circular No. 62 (Second Edition June 17,
1919, p. 7) reads as follows:
'Castile soap,
otherwise known as Marseilles or Venetian soap, is prepared
from low-grade olive oil.
A letter from Director of
the Bureau of Standards, dated September 22, 1924,
explains the change in language note above:
"As stated in
our letter of Sept ember 9, the statements made in paragraph
(c) page 9, of the third edition
of our circular No. 62 were intended to give
information as to conditions as
they are at the present time rather than as to
what they should be.
"The Bureau has
not issued a specification or set up a standard for Castile
Soap, nor has the bureau intentionally,
in a passive way or otherwise, injured
any existing standard or trade
practice regarding this commodity. Our sole aim
in circular 62 was to state the
facts as we found them." * * * (Signed F. C.
Brown, Acting Director; George
K. Burgess, Director.)
A further explanation by
Dr. Burgess, Director, in letter to T. R. Lockwood,
March 27, 1926, is as follows:
" The statements
were approved by the Soap Committee of the Soap Section of
the American Specialty Manufacturers
Association, as indicated by the
following quotation from Circular
No. 62 (page 4):
'The Bureau has
received much valuable assistance in the preparation of
this circular from the Soap Committee
.of the Soap Section of the American
Specialty Manufacturers Association,
and especially Messrs. A. Campbell and C.
P. Long, chairman and secretary
of the soap and soap products committee of the
American Chemical Society, for
which it wishes to express its grateful
appreciation.
Further explained by Dr.
Percy H. Walker, U. S. !Bureau of Standards, in his
testimony at Trade Practice Submittal
at the office of Federal Trade Commission,
March 30, 1926 (Transcript, Page 31).
"The gentleman
sitting near me has asked me to read from a circular of the
Bureau of Standards. I may preface
this by saying that THIS IS A PIECE OF
INFORMATION FOR WHICH WE ARE INDEBTED
TO THE SOAP TRADE. I SUBMIT IT AS A
PIECE OF INFORMATION. IT IS AS
FOLLOWS:" (Then follows the quotation from
Circular No. 62, 1923, Ed. p. 9,
quoted above.)
C. P. Long, referred to as
a source of information for Bureau of Standards
Circular No. 62, is, or was, Chemical
director of the Globe Soap Company,
Cincinnati, which manufactured or manufactures
four brands of "Castile" referred
to as "Castile in combination," namely,
GLOBE CASTILE, GLOBE LION CASTILE, GLOBE
WHITE CASTILE, and LION CASTILE.
The statement above that
true Castile is "invariably sold as olive-oil
Castile" is a gross error. This statement
is undoubtedly due to the regrettable
mistake of the revisers of the tenth decennial
pharmacopoeia, for the first time
in its history of defining Castile soap
as olive oil Castile. This gives no
warrant for calling other soaps, not made
wholly from olive oil, Castile.
DUPLICATION OF WORK OF BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY
BY THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS
The work of the Bureau of
Chemistry on tanning materials, hides, tanning, and
leather which is conducted under the appropriations
for agricultural
investigations, has been and is being
duplicated in part by the Bureau of
Standards of the Department of Commerce.
Work along those lines has been done in
the Department of Agriculture almost since
its organization in 1862, and was
specifically provided for in 1904, 23
years ago. Investigations on leather,
according to the annual reports of the
Bureau of Standards, were inaugurated as
a new line of work in that Bureau in 1917,
but 12 years ago. The attention of
the Bureau of Standards has been called
to this duplication which several times
has been the subject of conference between
the two Bureaus. Nevertheless the
more recent annual reports of the Bureau
of Standards continue to outline a
program on leather which involves a striking
and extensive duplication of lines
of work plainly within the scope of the
following long established and published
projects of the Bureau of Chemistry:
Investigation
of the Wearing Quality of Sole leather.
Investigation
of the Composition of Leather and Tanning and Finishing
Materials.
Deterioration
of Upper, Bookbinding and Other Light Leathers.
Tanning Sole
and Harness Leather on a Small Scale.
These projects were known
to the Bureau of Standards not alone through annual
reports, program of work, and other publications,
but also through the fact that
before the Bureau of Standards had organized
and equipped its laboratories the
courtesy of the laboratory of the Bureau
of Chemistry was extended to them and
its force was temporarily housed in the
laboratories devoted to the leather,
tanning and related work of the Bureau
of Chemistry. Nevertheless, the Bureau of
Standards later entered these fields despite
this knowledge and ignored the
usual customs of scientific bureaus to
referring inquiries and work within the
province of other bureaus to those bureaus.
In other words, the Bureau of
Standards has, without discussing the
subject with the Bureau of Chemistry,
duplicated and started to build up on
this work, knowing that it was already
organized and had been in operation for
some time in the Department of
Agriculture.
Moreover, with the view to
eliminate the duplications which had become
intolerable and indefensible, the Bureau
of Chemistry, in July, 1914,
transferred to the Bureau of Standards
and itself discontinued the work it had
been doing for many years, and before
the existence of the Bureau of Standards,
on paints, varnishes, inks, oil, and miscellaneous
supplies for the Government
departments with the distinct verbal understanding
between Dr. Alsberg, then
Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, and
Dr. Stratton that work in certain fields,
among them leather and tanning, should
remain in the Bureau of Chemistry.
Authority for the Work. Authority
for the work on tanning materials, hides,
tanning and leather, which the Department
of Agriculture has been doing, is
contained:
(a) In the organic
act creating the Department of Agriculture, which act
defines its duties as "to acquire
and to diffuse among the people of the
United States useful information
on subjects connected with agriculture in the
most general and comprehensive
sense of that word,
(b) In subsequent
annual appropriations made for work on these and related
subjects after statements by the
several bureau chiefs before Congressional
committees, describing the work
being done;
(c) In a special
order, by the Secretary of Agriculture, on July 1, 1904,
as follows:
"There is hereby
established in the Bureau of Chemistry a laboratory to be
known as the Leather and Paper
Laboratory to which are to be committed the
analyses and investigations relating
to the following subjects:
"Investigations
of tannins and tanning materials and their effects upon the
strength and properties of leather
with a view to promoting the agricultural
industries relating to the production
of tannins and tanning materials and
leather of a high quality.
"All technical
problems of a chemical nature relating to the production of
tannins and tanning products and
of leathers.
"All technical
problems of a chemical nature relating to the production of
leather, * * *."
(Signed) James Wilson, Secretary.
The substance of this order
has been made public in Bureau of Chemistry
Circular No. 14, 1904, on " The Organization
of the Bureau of Chemistry."
History of the Work. Work
on tanning materials, hides, tanning and leather,
began in the Deparment of Agriculture
in the early days of its existence, and
has been described in the various annual
reports as far back as 1872. The nature
and results of this work were laid before
Congress not only in these annual
reports but in the hearings before the
appropriation committees. This work had
progressed so that by 1900, that is before
the establishment of the Bureau of
Standards, it was definitely organized
and a cooperative basis between the then
Divisions of Forestry and of Chemistry.
The work on all these lines has
continued uninterruptedly. Since the specific
organization of this work the
Bureau of Chemistry has developed an experienced
and informed personnel which
has done much valuable work in the conservation
and development of raw
materials; in the development and improvement
of methods of examination to
determine quality: on the care and serviceability
of leather; and in an advisory
capacity to the Government, the public
and the industry, the results being
published from time to time either as
Government bulletins or in scientific
journals until the publications now number
in all more than eighty-five.
It has been the claim of
the Bureau of Standards that all standardization
work and even all scientific work of the
Federal Government should be done
there. Obviously this Teutonic, imperialistic
viewpoint can not be admitted by
any of the Federal Departments, first
because it is not fair, economical or
efficient, and second, because such has
never been the intent nor practice in
government work. It would seem clear that
from any reasonable point of view each
Department should, so far as feasible,
standardize those materials which fall
within its functions, and this has been
the practice until the Bureau of
Standards has constantly encroached upon
the fields of other bureaus of the
several departments.
This ruthless and expensive
duplication of fields of work has actually, as is
to be expected, resulted in needless duplication
on specific problems, as
strikingly shown by the duplication of
the work done by the Bureau of Chemistry
on the wearing quality of shoe leather,
published as Department Bulletin 1168 in
1923, which work was duplicated even to
the conclusions and published by the
Bureau of Standards in 1925 as Technological
Paper 286, "Comparative Durability
of Vegetable and Chrome Sole Leathers."
The last and most astonishing
encroachment of the Bureau of Standards on the
functions of the Department of Agriculture
is found in the appropriation to
investigate agricultural wastes. These
studies heretofore have been almost
continuously conducted by the Bureau of
Chemistry. It will result in useless
repetition of many studies in the past
thirty years looking to utilization of
cornstalks, salvaged fruits and watermelons,
waste of canning factories,
unmerchantable marketable products, and
various other agricultural wastes. These
may not rise to the dignity of crimes
but they afford striking instances of bad
ethics.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
The most objectional feature
of the activities of the Bureau of Standards,
aside from the attempt to mutilate the
Food Law, is seen in employment of
research assistants. This activity seems
to fly directly in the face of the
statements of President Coolidge, at the
beginning of this chapter.
In Circular No. 296, Bureau
of Standards, Page 3, is the following statement:
"Devices developed
during the research are for the free use of the
industry, the government, and the
public and will not be patented unless the
patents are dedicated free to such
use."
Immediately following this
statement is another to this effect:
"The work of
a research associate is one of peculiar trust, often
confidential, on problems of concern
to an entire industry."
It is thus seen that much
of the research work done may be of this
confidential character and if so would
not be published in any manner to,
prejudice the interest of the industry
concerned. While associate scientists
conform to government regulations in regard
to conduct, hours of work and leave
of absence, they are paid by the industries
interested in their work. I can find
no statement in Bulletin 296 as to the
total amount of compensation of these
workers. Correspondence with the industries
is sent free of postage, and all
facilities of every description for the
work are provided by government
appropriation. No estimates of the total
value of these contributions by the
government are given. The total number
of research associates in 1926 is given
at 62. On page 8 the amounts saved by
the researches of the Bureau in many
instances are stated. From study of brakelining
methods fifteen million dollars,
from tire studies forty million dollars,
and from motor-fuel investigations one
hundred million dollars are saved annually.
With such savings as these the
pitifully meager $2,000,000 appropriation
granted to the Bureau of Standards
proves Uncle Sam a. piratical piker.
The limit of activities seems.
to have been reached in the following case
copied from the Washington Star, April
4, 1927. It is an illustration of one of
the experiments of the Bureau of Standards
with a machine intended to measure
the shock absorbed by the driver of an
automobile. The description is as
follows:
"To find out
how much shock the driver of an automobile absorbs through the
bumping and rolling of his car
on the road is the purpose of this delicate
measuring device designed by the
Bureau of Standards. The information will be
given to manufacturers for its
bearing on driving efficiency.
The following pertinent suggestions
find an appropriate place here:
From "YOUR MONEY'S WORTH,"
by Stuart Chase and F. J. Schlink, published by
The Macmillan Company, comments on the
Bureau of Standards.
BUREAU OF STANDARDS
The Bureau of
Standards was set up by legislative enactment in 1901. It was
placed under the control of the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor (now
Commerce), but has always functioned
with a considerable degree of
independence. Its director is appointed
by the President, upon nomination by
the Secretary of Commerce; its
staff is under civil service regulations and
protected to an almost unique degree
from political pressure.
Its original
duties were simple--the erection of suitable scientific
standards for weights and measures.
Page 198.
Gradually the
Bureau began to take on other duties. Its scientific staff
provided a nucleus for further
investigations on the Government's behalf, (and
later on behalf of industry at
large.) On account of its excellent equipment
and expert staff, other departments
got into the habit of referring dubious
materials and devices to it for
analysis and test. Page 198.
Which brings
us to ask a blunt and necessary question. Why does a service
run by taxpayers' money refuse
information covering competitive products--to
that same taxpayer? The answer
is obvious but not altogether convincing. It is
argued that the general release
of test results covering competitive products
by the name of maker will promote
commercial injustice. Page 203.
In the long run
would not the great savings which the Government achieves
through the Bureau's work be multiplied
a hundred fold if all could take
advantage of its findings-both
ultimate consumer, manufacturer and dealer?
Page 204.
Furthermore there
is no reason why the citizens who pay for the Bureau and
the other Government laboratories
should not have the right to initiate a
series of tests when the field
is important and the known information either
inadequate or non-existent. Manufacturers
and promoters can now secure all the
results of competitive tests (maker's
names deleted); and they have initiated
thousands of new tests which the
Bureau has conducted often without cost to
themselves. Has not the ultimate
consumer an equal right? Page 204.
The Bureau of
Standards meanwhile has ruled that proper coöperation of the
federal authorities with state
and other governmental bodies, justifies the
release to the latter of technical
information. It is willing to approve or
condemn commercial products by
name in a table giving comparative quality or
performance. Local governments
can thus secure what the taxpayer can not. If
any state or city government wishes
to know what is the best typewriter ribbon
or lubricating oil to buy, its
officers need only write the Bureau to learn
the detailed results of tests that
have been made upon the product before its
acceptance or rejection for Government
purchase under specification. If the
article has not already been tested
by the Bureau, it is likely that the
needed analysis can be arranged
for without charge. Page 216.
It is clear from
the foregoing that a real start in the testing technique
has been made in American Government--federal,
state and municipal. There is
the beginning of solid ground Under
our feet. It is equally clear that an
.enormous amount remains to be
done, both in the direction of coördinating and
making available the results of
present activities, and in the development of
new activities. Uniform state laws
and city ordinances would seem to be
essential next steps. Another is
the release to taxpayers of the invaluable
information of the Bureau of Standards,
and of the other federal, state and
municipal bureaus. Page 217.
During 1926 sixty-two associates
representing various industries were
stationed at the Bureau of Standards.
The Portland Cement Association maintains
a corps of eight chemists and physicists
at the Bureau. The Natural Terra Cotta
Society has two, the National Dyers and
Cleaners has three, the Society of
Automotive Engineers four. Circular, No.
296, describes in part the gigantic
association of the Bureau with big business.
Such intimate union as this justly
merits the condemnation which President
Coolidge has pronounced against
collaboration of government with business.
AUTHORITY FOR THE COLLABORATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF BIG BUSINESS WITH THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS
In a circular of the Bureau
of Standards, No. 296, which describes the
activities of the research associates
of that Bureau, on page 1 is given the
authority for such collaboration.
On April 12, 1892, Congress
passed a joint resolution for the promotion of
learning in the City of Washington, for
the express pupose of opening Government
scientific exhibits and collections to
students of higher education. The joint
resolution provided as follows:
"Whereas, large
collections illustrative of the various arts and sciences
and facilitating literary and scientific
research have been accumulated by the
action of Congress through a series
of years at the National Capital; and
"Whereas it was
the original purpose of the Government thereby to promote
research and the diffusion of knowledge,
and is now the settled policy and
present practice of those charged
with the care of these collections specially
to encourage students who devote
their time to the investigation and study of
any branch of knowledge by allowing
to them all proper use thereof; and
"Whereas it is
represented that the enumeration of these facilities and the
formal statement of this policy
win encourage the establishment and endowment
of institutions of learning at
the seat of Government, and promote the work of
education by attracting students
to avail themselves of the advantages
aforesaid under the direction of
competent instructors; Therefore,
"Resolved, That
the facilities for research and illustration in the
following and any other governmen
al collections now existing or hereafter to
be established in the city of Washington
for the promotion of knowledge shall
be accessible, under such rules
and restrictions as the officers in charge of
each collection may prescribe,
subject to such authority as is now or may
hereafter be permitted by law,
to the scientific investigators and to students
of any institation of higher education
now incorporated or hereafter to be
incorporated under the laws of
Congress or of the District of Columbia, to
wit: 1. Of the Library of Congress.
2. Of the National Museum. 3. Of the
Patent Office. 4. Of the Bureau
of Education. 5. Of the Bureau of Ethnology.
6. Of the Army Medical Museum.
7. Of the Department of Agriculture. 8. Of the
Fish Commission. 9. Of the Botanic
Gardens. 10. Of the Coast and Geodetic
Survey. 11. Of the Geological Survey.
12. Of the Naval Observatory. (Approved,
April 12, 1892.) "
It will be observed that
this joint resolution was passed about ten years
before the Bureau of Standards was established.
In 1901 another authority is
quoted. It is entitled:
GOVERNMENT TO PROMOTE RESEARCH
AND ENCOURAGE STUDENTS
This is found in a Deficiency
Appropriation Bill which became a law on March
3, 1901. The provisions of this bill are
as follows:
"That facilities
for study and research in the Government departments, the
Library of Congress, the National
Museum, the Zoological Park, the Bureau of
Ethnology, the Fish Commission,
the Botanic Gardens, and similar institutions
hereafter established shall be
afforded to scientific investigators and to
duly qualified individuals, students,
and graduates of institutions of
learning in the several States
and Territories, as well as in the District of
Columbia, under such rules and
restrictions as the heads of the departments
and bureaus mentioned may prescribe."
This legislation also was
enacted before the Bureau of Standards was
established. It provided facilities for
study and research along the line of the
joint resolution above mentioned. There
is no indication of any collaboration
with big business of any kind but only
with students who were seeking
opportunity for education and research.
On Page, 20 of Circular No.
296 it is stated, under the caption, 'Actions by
Congress":
"The full text
of the two actions by which Congress opened the way for the
admission of qualified individuals
to the use of the research facilities of
the National Bureau of Standards
is given below."
It seems rather strange that
this statement should be made by reason of the
fact that there was no National Bureau
of Standards in existence at the time of
either of these Congressional authorizations.
It is plain that only students of
universities and higher institutions of
learning were included in this
authorization.
That it should be the basis
of linking up Government activities with
corporations who desire research for their
own individual benefits or that such
activities as scientific associates could
by any means be included in either one
of these enactments is not even to be
inferred. It is a well known principle of
nearly every kind of business that research
is absolutely necessary to keep pace
with the progress of science. A business
that does not conduct research is
likely to go upon the rocks. Those corporations
which have the most extensive
research laboratories are those that are
making the most progress and securing
the best results from their activities.
In most instances these great
corporations conduct their own researches.
In some instances they appeal to such
institutions as the Mellon Institute of
the University of Pittsburgh, or to such
scientific institutions as the A. D. Little
Corporation of Cambridge, Mass. In
all cases where new processes are devised
and new products perfected, the
corporations protect themselves by letters
patent. In the Mellon Institute,
according to, the official report (1925)
it is stated that about 300 patents on
industrial procsses have been the result
of their investigations. When we turn
to the activities in the Bureau of Chemistry
in which new discoveries are
patented for common benefit, we find that
81 patents have been taken out.
The number of investigators
and importance of the investigations at the
Bureau of Standards almost equals those
of the Mellon Institute of the
University of Pittsburgh.
"At the close
of the Institute's fiscal year on February 28, 1927, as shown
in the accompanying chart, fifty-eight
industrial fellowships were operating,
employing one hundred and two research
chemists and engineers. The sum of
$598,493 was paid during the year
in support of research in the Institute by
the fellowship donors--an increase
of $70,942 over the payments of the
preceding year. The total amount
of money appropriated by companies and
associations to the Institute,
for the sixteen years ended February 28, 1927,
was $4,318,397, all of which was
disbursed in sustaining fellowship research.
"The extent and
variety of the Institute's scientific investigations on
behalf of industry are shown in
the appended list of the industrial
fellowships in operation during
the entire fiscal year, February 28, 1926, to
February 28, 1927. There were sixty-seven
fellowships--twenty-two multiple
fellowships and forty-five individual
fellowships--on which 124. scientists
and engineers were occupied in
research.
The Mellon Institute and
the A. D. Little Corporation of Cambridge, Mass.,
are doing the same kind of work. as that
conducted by the Bureau of standards
and are in direct competition therewith.
This is unfair competition.
Apparently all of the expenses
of the Scientific Associates in the Bureau of
Standards and in addition their postage
are paid by the tax-payers of the United
States.
No statement is made of the
amounts paid by the industries to the sixty-two
associates employed in the Bureau of Standards
in 1926, nor of the number of
experts belonging to the Bureau or cooperating
with them. If the industries paid
the representatives $2,500 a year, their
contribution amounted to $155,050 per
annum.
SUMMARY
While I have called attention
to only a very few of the activities of the
Bureau of Standards, and chiefly those
that belong by all right and custom to
the Department of Agriculture, at least
I have shown the ground work of the
indictment against this Bureau. It has
attempted to repeal some of the most
important features of the Food and Drugs
Act. It has claimed as its own the
inventions of others. It has broken deeply
into the activities already started
by the Bureau of Chemistry and some of
the other Bureaus of the Department of
Agriculture, violating the fundamental
principle of ethical standards. The
Bureau of Standards should violate no
standards. It has undertaken collaboration
with great industries in such a way that
the extent of its activities have not
been disclosed, nor do we know, from any
reports that have come to my notice,
just how great a contribution is made
by these industries in the way of paying
the salaries of the scientific associates.
In this respect it is in competition
with the Mellon Institute and other organizations
of a similar character
specifically intended to conduct this
research work in an open and proper
manner. The Mellon Institute has given
information of the amount contributed by
those industries. I have not been able
to discover any such information in the
reports of the Bureau of Standards.
No kind of investigation
seems to be foreign to the Bureau of Standards. It
has departed so widely from its fundamental
conception as to be no longer
recognized chiefly for the purpose for
which it was specifically designed,
namely, the determination and preservation
of all standards of measures of all
deseriptions for all legal and technical
purposes. Either the original act
establishing the department of Agriculture
should be repealed, or any further
incursions of the Bureau of Standards
into the domain of Agriculture "in the
most general and comprehensive sense of
that word," should cease.
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