another. The following report of a convention illustrates the method of handling a series of quotations, as well as the manner of giving fairly both sides in a debate:
DENVER, Aug. 26.—Benzoate of
soda is not harmful when used to preserve
food.
This is the declaration of the convention of the association of State and National Food and Dairy departments, which today indorsed the findings of the Remsen referee board, which had given the preservative a clean bill of health.
The vote, which was 57 to 42, was taken after a hot debate.
The federal government was accused of licensing the sale of "medicated food fit only for the sewer." Dr. Charles A. L. Reed of Cincinnati, in attacking the Remsen board of scientific experts, which urged the government to allow the use of benzoate of soda as a food preservative, made the charge.
"That recommendation to the department of agriculture benefited only two classes of people," asserted Dr. Reed, "the manufacturers of benzoate of soda and the manufacturers of food of such a character that it could not be sold without being preserved by the addition of a chemical. The government is now licensing food for consumption which has to be medicated and which otherwise would be fit only for the sewer.
"The referee board experimented with healthy young men, but all of these young men were stuffed with great quantities of food while taking the samples of benzoate of soda and the results observed in them would not apply to the average consumer."
Dr. Reed's remarks followed speeches by members of the referee board, including one by Dr. Ira Remsen, its chairman.
