Mr. THAYER. I desire to make a short statement in favor of the bill, and also to show you a few examples of what is at present on the market, which this bill would protect us from. The CHAIRMAN. Very well. Mr. THAYER. Stripped right down to the bone, Mr. Chairman, this amendment is an amendment on the part of the public in favor of fair play. The business has gone right along, and particularly the spice business for a good many years peacefully and without much in the way of disturbance, but along about 1918 we began to have slack filled packages. People put out cans of pepper, for instance, like this which I will show the committee. I have indicated on that can by a white line just what space the content occupies. The CHAIRMAN. This white line that you have put on the can here indicates what? Mr. THAYER. That indicates the point to which the content reaches in the can. Senator KEYES. In other words, only one-third filled? Mr. THAYER. Only one-third filled. The CHAIRMAN. And from that white tapeline to the bottom. Mr. THAYER. From that line to the bottom is filled, but from the tape to the top is air. The public is paying for air and getting no benefit from it. There is a can that contains 1 ounce of pepper, a 1-ounce can. Senator FRAZIER. It says "One ounce" on there. Mr. THAYER. They all do. They all say "One ounce." already taken care of that in the food and drugs act. bear the weight. We have The label must The CHAIRMAN. The contents of these two are just the same? The CHAIRMAN. What is the idea of having all this additional space in this can? Mr. THAYER. To deceive the public. That is the object pure and simple. There is no other object in it. Senator FRAZIER. Perhaps the shaker is easy to handle on the larger can. Mr. THAYER. In other words, you can not tell by looking into that can how much is in there. That is to deceive the housewife. It is fixed on there so the deception is successful. The housewife can not look and see. There is a can of black peper. And here is a can that you can take the top off. They are all 1-ounce cans. And you can see to the extent that this one is empty. The CHAIRMAN. This one is empty up to that lead-pencil line? Mr. THAYER. Yes; up to that lead-pencil line. And that is all empty. The CHAIRMAN. Just space here? Mr. THAYER. Yes; just space here. Senator THOMAS. Are these common commodities throughout the country? Mr. THAYER. Yes. Senator THOMAS. Standard brands? Mr. THAYER. Yes. I might say that the business in spices throughout the country amounts to 55,000 tons every year, and that is practically 1 pound per capita. And most of it is sold in packages to retail at a popular price. Ten cents is the usual unit of value. When this bill first came before Congress we were heartily opposed to it, but we asked that it be amended so that the Department of Agriculture would permit tolerances so as to allow for expansion and drying out. And that is the reason we are in favor of it, because it is in the bill. In playing the game of business you have got to have rules, just the same as any other game. You can not play baseball without an umpire, and you can not play football without a referee. And we want the Department of Agriculture to be the umpire of this particular line. I was going to give you a short statement here, and I will read a part of it, with your permission. This is the unanimous opinion of the American Spice Trade Association. In a meeting in 1925 they unanimously passed a resolution favoring this bill, and that resolution was reaffirmed in 1926 and 1927, and again now. I will read: THE AMERICAN SPICE TRADE ASSOCIATION, GRINDERS'. SECTION, 82 Wall Street, New York, May 8, 1928. SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: We favor the enactment of H. R. 487 into law for the following reasons: 1. A serious situation exists in the spice trade because there is no national legislation against the use of containers which misrepresent the quantity of spices contained. The practice of deceiving the public by the use of tin cans and cartons which are two or more times larger than is necessary for the net weight carried is increasing. In other words, a form of deception has developed and is now of country-wide extent which in many cases amounts to rank fraud. I think you might agree with me in the case of that blue can. And that is not the worst example. There are some worse than that. [Continues reading:] As usually retailed, most spices are in containers of tin or cardboard with a sifting device at the top of such packages. In the case of slack filled packages this sifting top, almost without exception, is crimped or clinched on the body of the can so as not to be removable by the consumer. Deception is successful because the interior of such packages can not readily be inspected, as there is no opening other than the small perforations through which the spices are intended to be sifted. 2. The food and drugs act of June 30, 1906, is ineffective against false packing, such as above described. The legislatures of some States enacted laws against slack filling, but the requirements of these vary so much as to lead to confusion. Furthermore, the means for enforcing such State laws is apparently inadequate to make them effective. The national food law (food and drugs act of June 30, 1906) as amended by R. H. 487, would bring into operation the able enforcement machinery of the Department of Agriculture. What is equally important is that it would at once bring the evil of slack filling to public and trade attention in such a manner as to involve violators with the same loss of prestige and trade standing as those now convicted under this statute for adulteration and misbranding of food products. This effect in itself-of great power would do much to kill the evil practice of cheating by using locked packages, several times too big for the net weight declared upon such packages. 3. As chairman of the committee on slack filled legislation for the American Spice Trade Association, I present herewith my report to be read at the meeting of the spice trade to-day. They are convening in New York to-day. [Continues reading:] It is submitted as the expression of the views of the trade in general toward slack filling. 4. No business can long survive on fraud, and it is in the interest of the entire spice-grinding trade that we ask for the enactment of H. R. 487 in its present form. 5. The enactment of this bill is a measure of economy. Your committee is asked to consider the fact that this country consumes 59,000 tons of spices per year. Much of this reaches the consumer in ground form and in packages containing the quantity which can be sold at a convenient retail price. The waste attending the use of tin and other packing material, far in excess of the quantity of such material actually required, is enormous. No only is there direct loss from money spent on superfluous packing material, but there is involved also additional needless transportation expense to the spice packing plant and from such plants to distributors for material which is not needed, amounting to a heavy tonnage. This is further augmented by the use of outside containers, such as boxes, cases, etc., of double or three times the size actually necessary to serve the purpose intended, and all this waste is paid for by the consumer. 6. Slack filling is just as much a form of misbranding as false statements concerning countries of origin; misstatements as to quality and false statements as to net weights. Yet the law in its existing form does not protect the public against this very gross form of misbranding-slack filling. The public is entitled to the relief and protection the enactment of this bill would give. 7. As an association of grinders and packers of ground spices, having a national distribution for our goods we approved H. R. 487, and request that your committee report this bill favorably to the Senate. Very respectfully yours, CHARLES A. THAYER, Presented by Charles A. Thayer, Then I will present the report of the committee on slack-filled packages: REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SLACK-FILLED PACKAGES TO THE AMERICAN SPICE TRADE ASSOCIATION, ANNUAL MEETING, MAY 8, 1928 The committee on legislation concerning slack filling has to report that slack filling is more prevalent than ever. During an association of over 25 years with the distribution of spices, your chairman has never seen fake filling so generally practiced as at present. Whatever laws exist for stopping it are either ineffective, or so little supported by public opinion that they are unenforced, ignored, and flouted as if such an evil had never received the attention of State and National Legislatures. The extent to which deceitful packing has poisoned the judgment of buyers can be gauged by the large and increasing number of requests to manufacturers to change over from a package of legitimate size to one large enough to accommodate double or more the net weight carried. An important point to be considered with this is that buyers often specify in ordering short-filled tins that the tops shall be crimped on so as not to be removable. Men who would not appropriate a penny that did not belong to them are actively taking from the public thousands of dollars by pretending with packages of false volume to deliver more spice than the consumer under the rule of implied warrants thinks she is buying. The flimsy defense that all packages are weight branded is sophistry in the light of the fact that the average housewife knows nothing about weight of spices in relation to volume. In the absence of any policing of the matter by State and Nation, correction must be applied from within. There are twojustifications for such house cleaning. First, no business can long survive on fraud. And fraudulent packing has fastened itself upon the package spice business like a malignant growth, much worse now than a year go, and very much worse than two years ago. No other trade is so afflicted by this disease. Some trades that suffered from it held trade conferences under the guidance of the Federal Trade Commission, drew up codes of ethics, and adopted them in the form which makes them law as promulgated by the commission. On the ground that good health is as desirable for a business as for a body, let us by all means, direct and indirect, strive to eradicate the evil from our trade. If we do not act, the rivalry as to whose deliveries will consist of the most tin and carboard and the least spice will continue and become worse than the ridiculous extremes already attained. The second justification is that public confidence in any line of food products is a valuable thing-a very valuable thing. Let the cheating practice of making a quantity of spice appear to the consumer several times greater in volume than it actually is continue unopposed and commerce in packaged spices will become an object of scorn and synonymous with unscrupulous dealing. An understanding of the situation would be easier if fraudulent filling benefited anyone in the long line which begins with the grower of spices and ends with the consumer. As a matter of fact, the industry is heavily penalized, or, rather, fined, for its laxness in withholding opposition to slack filling by all the extra cost for unnecessary metal and cardboard plus the expense for enlarged shipping containers capable of carrying three or four times the weight of spice put into them, and plus again the in and out freight charges on superfluous material. The Haugen bill was again introduced in Congress. This would amend the food and drug act of June 30, 1906 (the national food law), by making the misbranding section of the law apply also against slack filling. In its original form the association was not in favor of the law and asked for an amendment which provides that the Department of Agriculture shall establish tolerances to allow for drying out or expansion of foods in packages, etc. With this tolerance amendment the bill passed the House and now is before the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, to which all interested are invited to address their comments on this bill. Nothing new as to State laws. Enforcement seems to be suspended. MAY 8, 1928. The CHAIRMAN. What quantity of spices is put out in these deceptive cans of all that is marketed? Mr. THAYER. It is very close to half. Very close. When the food law was under discussion in 1904 and 1905 there was a great hue and cry by manufacturers about their business being destroyed and ruined by the enactment of that law, but those same gentlemen to-day are heartily gald of that law and that it went into effect, because it establishes public confidence in manufactured food products, and that is what we are aiming at in connection with the spice business in this law. I thank you very much, gentlemen. The CHAIRMAN. M. K. Dunn, of the American Grocery Specialties Manufacturers Association. Mr. Dunn, you expressed a desire to be heard. STATEMENT OF MORLEY K. DUNN, REPRESENTING THE AMERICAN GROCERY SPECIALTIES MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION, 580 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY The CHAIRMAN. Will you state your full name and your address and whom you represent? Mr. DUNN. My name is Morley K. Dunn; 580 Fifth Avenue, New York City. I represent the American Grocery Specialties Manufacturers Association, if not the largest, probably one of the most prominent of the food associations in this country. The CHAIRMAN. Are you here opposing or favoring the bill? Mr. DUNN. In favor of the bill. The general counsel of this association cooperated with the department in drafting this bill. And we indorse the argument used by Mr. Campbell. I represent also the National Association of Retail Grocers. This organization is also in favor of the bill. The CHAIRMAN. What percentage of the grocers of the country belong to this association? Mr. DUNN. It is estimated that 25,000 retail grocers are organized. The CHAIRMAN. And they all favor this legislation? Mr. DUNN. Yes, sir. Because of the local organizations affiliated with the national organization we cover practically the entire country. The CHAIRMAN. Then there is alınost unanimity among the retail grocers in favor of this legislation? Mr. DUNN. Yes, sir; the organized grocers. The CHAIRMAN. What percentage of the grocers belong to the organization? Mr. DUNN. To the national organization? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. DUNN. Roughly 10 per cent to the national, but the local organizations of the different States. are affiliated through their organizations. The CHAIRMAN. What percentage would that be? Mr. DUNN. I should say at least, offhand, 50 per cent. I will not take more of your time, gentlemen. These two organizations are in favor of the enactment of this bill that has passed the House. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Mr. Thomas J. Hickey, representing the Flavoring Extract Manufacturers' Association. Mr. Hickey, do you desire to be heard? Mr. HICKEY. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Are you here favoring or opposing the bill? STATEMENT OF THOMAS J. HICKEY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, FLAVORING EXTRACT MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 1261 FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL. The CHAIRMAN. Give your name and whom you represent, Mr. Hickey. Mr. HICKEY. Thomas J. Hickey, of Chicago; executive secretary of the Flavoring Extract Manufacturers' Association of the United States. Our association comprises practically all the larger and better firms making household flavoring extracts throughout the United States. We are opposed to this bill because panel bottles have been used in the household flavoring extract trade since the beginning. This type of bottle has therefore come to be distinctive of the industry. The CHAIRMAN. Have you any exhibits? Mr. HICKEY. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Let us have them as you go along. Mr. HICKEY. These are the typical household flavoring extract panel bottles. The CHAIRMAN. Have you any of them where the centers are compressed or brought together? Mr. HICKEY. No; just in this form here [indicating]. The CHAIRMAN. Are these all of the same style? Mr. HICKEY. Practically all. That is what is known as the panel bottle in our industry, and has been universally used so that it has become a hall mark of our trade. The CHAIRMAN. Let me ask you this, Mr. Hickey. The centers there are drawn very close together. Mr. HICKEY. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. What is the reason for making a bottle of that kind, shape, and style? |