RULES AND REGULATIONS

After the enactment of the food and drugs law the necessary rules and regulations for carrying it into effect were prepared. The law provided that a period of six months should elapse and that the enforcement of the law should begin on the first day of January, 1907. In the preparation of these rules and regalations not only were the rights of the public at large to be conserved, but also a due regard for the ethical interests in the food and drug industries. The committee appointed to formulate these regulations held meetings in Washington, New York and Chicago. Extensive advertisements of these meetings were published and all interests involved were invited to appear and give their views.

Secretary Wilson named the Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry as his representative on the committee authorized by the law to draft the rules and regulations for the enforcement of the new act. The representative of the Treasury Department was Mr. James L. Gary; the representative of the Department of Commerce and Labor was Mr. S. N. D. North. The Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry was named chairman. My colleagues entered most enthusiastically into the discharge of the duties assigned to them. First of all they studied the act in all of its relations. We sat almost continuously every day, and always with cordial collaboration and mutual sympathy in the difficult task set before us.

COMMITTEE TO FORMULATE RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR ENFORCEMENT OF PURE FOOD LAW

From left to right: Dr. S.N.D. North, Dept. of Commerce; Dr. H.W. Wiley, Dept. of Agriculture; and Mr. James L. Gary, Treasury Dept.

On the completion of our labors we each undertook to secure the signature of our respective secretary. The Secretary of Agriculture promptly signed our report; likewise the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Mr. Gary had some little difficulty in securing the signature of the Secretary of the Treasury. He thought that the regulations were a little bit too severe upon some of the food industries. Finally, however, he affixed his signature without any amendment whatever to the rules and regulations as presented.

During the hearings accorded interested parties there appeared before the committee practically the same interests that had been active in opposing the enactment of the law. The same arguments with which the chairman of the board had been so long familiar were repeated. Pleas for recognition of the use of borax under the regulations were made by the fishing interests of Massachusetts; the interests engaged in the manufacture of catsup begged for recognition of benzoic acid. The manufacturers of syrups pleaded for permission to use sulphur dioxide and were joined in this plea by the interests engaged in drying fruits in California.

An interesting incident occurred in this connection. It was while the committee was sitting in New York that the advocates for the recognition of sulphurous acid and sulphites were heard. A particularly earnest plea was made by the representative of the California interests, in which we were told that failure to use sulphur dioxide would ruin the dried fruit industry of that state. Reporters were constantly present at these hearings and this story of the California interests got into the afternoon papers of this city. About seven o'clock that evening the card of the California advocate was brought up to my room. When he himself appeared he was considerably embarrassed. Finally he stated the object of his visit. He said:

"My wife read an account of my remarks in the afternoon papers. On my return to my apartment she chided me for what I had said. She urged me--almost commanded me--to come to see you in regard to the matter and here I am. My Wife does not allow any sulphur dioxide fruit to come onto our, own table. She is so firmly convinced of the undesirability of this kind of preservative that she will not allow me or any of my family to eat foods preserved with sulphur dioxide."

This confession on the part of the representative of the California interests I imparted to my colleagues the next morning before the hearings began.

It is hardly necessary to say that any regulation for carrying a law into effect shall not presume to ignore any function of that law. As it was provided in the law that the Bureau of Chemistry alone was to be the judge of what was an adulteration and misbranding any decision of that kind under the rules and regulations would be illegal.

The report of the committee after receiving the signature of the three cabinet officers authorized to make the rules and regulations was finally published on Oct. 17,1906.