10. The Committee will endeavor to prepare and to place in the hands of the President of the National Board of Trade as soon as possible, drafts of Acts prepared in accordance with the general principles contained in this report.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

JOHN S. BILLINGS,
B. WILLIAMSON,

C. F. CHANDLER,
A. H. HARDY,

Committee of Award.

After some discussion, on motion of Mr. MEYER, of New York, the rules were suspended, and the report and accompanying draft of a bill were taken up.

Mr. MEYER, of New York, moved the adoption of the following resolutions :

WHEREAS, The National Board of Trade, at its last session, instituted a competition to secure the best essay upon the subject of adulteration of food and drink in the United States, together with drafts of suitable State and national laws designed to prevent injurious adulteration and regulate the sale of food without imposing unnecessary burdens upon commerce;

AND WHEREAS, A Committee of Experts were appointed to select the best essay and to prepare drafts of acts, that in their judgment, would best secure the objects for which the competition was instituted;

AND WHEREAS, This Committee have submitted a report with the drafts of acts referred to: Therefore, be it

Resolved, That the report of the Committee of Award upon the subject of adulteration of food and drugs, together with the draft of a national Act submitted by said Committee, are approved by this body.

Resolved, That the President and Secretary of this Board be directed to transmit to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, copies of the report of the Committee and of the draft of a national Act, requesting in behalf of this body the passage of the same.

Resolved, That the President of this Board appoint a committee of three, as the representatives of this body, to promote the proposed national legislation to prevent the adulteration of food and drugs.

Resolved, That the Secretary be instructed to transmit copies of the reports and of both drafts of acts to each of the constituent Boards, with the request that they will use their influence to secure their enactment.

Resolved, That the thanks of the National Board of Trade are due and are hereby tendered to Dr. JOHN S. BILLINGS, Surgeon U. S. Army and

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Vice-President National Board of Health; Prof. CHARLES F. CHANDLER, President of New York Board of Health; ex-Chancellor B. WILLIAMSON, of New Jersey, and A. H. HARDY, Esq., of Boston, for the valuable services rendered by these gentlemen to this Board and to the commercial community.

Mr. THURBER, of New York: The bill presented is too elaborate to admit of very close study at this time; but when it is transmitted to Congress and referred to the proper committees it will have to be examined carefully; and in the meantime all the Boards of Trade that are constituents of this body will have an opportunity to make themselves familiar with its provisions and make themselves heard. While it may seem as if we were adopting a bill without weighing carefully each provision of it, this Committee consisted of experts selected by our President. They were, perhaps, the best qualified men in the country to judge of this matter; and from what I have seen of the bill I believe that it is the result of the very best and most intelligent effort in that direction.

Therefore, I would be in favor of the adoption of the resolutions and of sending the bill to Congress in accordance therewith.

The bill was amended in two particulars, at the instance of Mr. WETHERILL, of Philadelphia, and Mr. BUCHANAN, of Trenton. The resolutions were then adopted, and the bill was approved in the following form:

A BILL TO PREVENT THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD OR DRUGS.

Be it enacted, &c., That no person or corporation shall knowingly transport, or cause to be transported, from the State, District, or Territory in which he resides or does business into any other State or Territory, or from any foreign country, or other State or Territory, into the State or Territory in which he resides or does business, for sale or barter, or to be offered for sale or barter, any article of food or drugs adulterated within the meaning of this Act, and any person violating the above provision shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than fifty dollars for each offence.

SEC. 2. That no person shall, within the District of Columbia or in any of the Territories, or in any fort, arsenal, dock-yard, or reservation, or other place under the jurisdiction of the United States, manufacture, offer for sale, or sell any article of food or

drugs which is adulterated within the meaning of this Act, and any person violating this provision shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars.

SEC. 3. If, on examination of any article of food or drugs imported from any foreign country, it is found to be adulterated within the meaning of this Act, a return to that effect shall be made upon the invoice, and articles so noted shall not be permitted to pass the Custom House or be delivered to the consignees, unless on reexamination, as provided for in this Act, it shall be found that the said articles are not adulterated.

SEC. 4. The owner or consignee shall have the privilege of calling at his own expense for a reëxamination, and on depositing with the collector of customs such sum as he may deem sufficient to defray such expense it shall be the duty of the collector of customs to procure a certificate, under oath from a public analyst, of a careful analysis of the articles in question; and in case the report by certificate of the analyst shall declare the report of the officer who examined the goods to be erroneous and the said articles to be unadulterated, the said articles shall be returned to the owner or consignee, and passed without reservation on payment of the duties, if any. But in case the officer's return shall be sustained by the analyst, the said articles shall remain in charge of the collector of customs, to be disposed of in accordance with regulations to be prepared by the National Board of Health and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury: Provided, That the owner or consignee, on payment of charges of storage and other expenses necessarily incurred by the United States, and on giving bond, with sureties satisfactory to the collector, agreeing to remove said articles from the United States, shall have the privilege of reexporting them at any time within the period of six months after the date of the report of the inspector or public analyst.

SEC. 5. In order to carry into effect the provisions of this act, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to appoint from names submitted to him for that purpose by the National Board of Health, one or more suitably qualified persons as special inspectors and as public analysts for adulterated food and drugs, at such ports of entry as the Secretary of the Treasury may deem expedient, and it shall be the duty of the National Board of Health to prepare instructions governing the work of such inspectors and

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analysts, which, when approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, shall govern their action, and that of collectors of customs, in preventing importation from foreign countries of food or drugs adulterated within the meaning of this Act.

SEC. 6. The National Board of Health shall make, or cause to be made, examination of specimens of food and drugs collected under its direction in various parts of the country, and shall publish in its weekly bulletin the results of such analysis. If it shall appear from such examination that any of the provisions of this Act have been violated, the Secretary of the Board shall at once report the facts to the proper United States district attorney, with a copy of the results of the analysis duly authenticated by the analyst under oath.

SEC. 7. It shall be the duty of every district attorney to whom the secretary of the National Board of Health or any collector of customs shall report any violation of this Act, to cause proper proceedings to be commenced and prosecuted without delay for the fines and penalties in such case provided, unless, upon inquiry and examination, he shall decide that such proceedings cannot probably be sustained, in which case he shall report the facts to the National Board of Health. And for the expenses incurred and services rendered in all such cases, the district attorney shall receive and be paid from the Treasury such sum as the Secretary of the Treasury shall deem just and reasonable, upon the certificate of the judge before whom such cases are tried or disposed of.

SEC. 8. An article shall be deemed to be adulterated within the meaning of this Act

1. If, when sold under or by a name recognized in the United States Pharmacopoeia, it differs from the standard of strength, quality, or purity laid down therein.

2. If when sold under or by a name not recognized in the United States Pharmacopoeia, but which is found in some other pharmacopoia or other standard work on Materia Medica, it differs materially from the standard of strength, quality, or purity laid down in such work.

3. If its strength or purity fall below the professed standard under which it is sold.

b. In the case of food or drink.

1. If any substance or substances has or have been mixed with it so as to reduce or lower or injuriously affect its quality or strength.

2. If any inferior or cheaper substance or substances have been substituted wholly or in part for the article.

3. If any valuable constituent of the article has been wholly or in part abstracted.

4. If it be an imitation of or be sold under the name of another article.

5. If it consist wholly or in part of a diseased or decomposed, or putrid or rotten, animal or vegetable substance, whether manufactured or not; or in the case of milk, if it is the produce of a diseased animal.

6. If it be colored or coated, or polished or powdered, whereby damage is concealed, or it is made to appear better than it really is, or of greater value.

7. If it contain any added poisonous ingredient, or any ingredient which may render such article injurious to the health of a person consuming it: Provided, That the National Board of Health may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, from time to time declare certain articles or preparations to be exempt from the provisions of this Act: And provided further, That the provisions of this Act shall not apply to mixtures or compounds recognized as ordinary articles of food, provided that the same are not injurious to health, and that the articles are distinctly labelled as a mixture, stating the components of the mixture.

SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of the National Board of Health to prepare and publish from time to time lists of the articles, mixtures, or compounds declared to be exempt from the provisions of this Act in accordance with the preceding section. The National Board of Health shall also from time to time fix the limits of variability permissible in any article or compound.

SEC. 10. The term "food" as used in this Act shall include every article used for food or drink by man.

The term "drug" as used in this Act shall include all medicines for internal or external use.

SEC. 11. All the regulations and declarations of the National Board of Health, made under this Act from time to time and promulgated, shall be printed in the Statutes at Large.

SEC. 12. This Act shall take effect ninety days after it shall have become a law.