Respect For Food Research Articles

In a simple agricultural society the problem of food supply devolves upon every family. Nearly every family produces its own supply, and those who do not produce it themselves obtain it from their neighbors or in the local market. The effects of neglect or carelessness in the matter of sanitation fall upon the producers themselves. This is different in an industrial society. There a large proportion of the population is entirely dependent upon the general market. People buy their food at the stores, often chain-stores, which have imported it from distant places, much of it in cans or packages. Usually only a small part of the food which is consumed in any community has been produced in that locality. Much of it has come from other states and countries. And what is true in this respect of food is also true of drugs, narcotics, and liquors. Under the police power a state may protect its citizens in health, welfare, and morals; but how can a state protect the health of its citizens effectively when so much of what they consume comes from the outside? (Then, too, it must be remembered that the exercise of jurisdiction by a state over goods from without its borders is subject always to the risk that the Supreme Court will regard its action as an unreasonable interference with interstate commerce.) The transition from an agricultural to an industrial society is a gradual process. In the United States it came about during the second half of the nineteenth century. The federal law-makers, however, were not willing to face this fact squarely-as far as the food situation was concerned-until the twentieth century was well on the way. To describe briefly the movements, forces, and events which brought about this change in legislation is the aim of this article. The first step in the struggle to guarantee pure food and drugs by law was taken in 1850. In that year a federal statute was passed which provided for the classification of tea and for the exclusion of certain kinds.1 Between January 20, 1879, and June 30, I9o6, when the Food and Drugs Act was passed, 19o measures were presented in Congress which were designed in some way to protect the consumer of * A.B., (I911), A.M., (I912) State University of Kansas, Ph.D., (I922) University of Chicago and State University of Iowa. Teacher in several colleges. Head of the Department of History and Political Science of New River State College, Montgomery, West Virginia. Author of The Era of the Muckrakers (1932). 1 WILEY, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1930) I98.