FDA History 07

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President Teddy Roosevelt: First For, Then Against,

Pure Foods

FDA History 07

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HISTORY OF A CRIME AGAINST THE FOOD LAW

CHAPTER VII: ATTITUDE OF ROOSEVELT

by Harvey W. Wiley, M.D., the very first commissioner

of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), then known

as the “US Bureau of Chemistry.”

 

Absurdum est ut alios regat, qui seipsum regire

nescit.

 

" The world has a sure chemistry, by which it extracts

what is excellent in its children, and lets fall the

infirmIties and limitations of the grandest mind. "

Emerson, Essay on Swedenborg.

 

IN EARLY DAYS

In the early days of the enforcement of the food

and drugs act great

encouragement was given, due to the soundness of

President Roosevelt's views as

to what is whisky. On the other hand the temporary

support of the harmfulness of

benzoate of soda, which lasted for only a few minutes,

was then entirely

abandoned. There was another incident which led me to

believe that the President

thought the Bureau of Chemistry was entirely too

radical in its efforts to carry

out the provisions of the law under the mandates which

the law gave it. Of

course the Bureau simply tried to do, to the best of

its ability, the duties

imposed upon it by the law. All the Bureau of

Chemistry could do was to serve as

a grand jury. Any indictments it might bring could

only be reported to the

Department of Justice and could only be ratified by

the decision of the Court.

Soon after the law went into effect I was called to

the White House by the

President and directed to bring with me Mr. Harrison,

the chemist in charge of

the New Orleans laboratory. At the appointed time Mr

Harrison had not arrived,

due to a failure of the Southern Railway to reach

Washington on time. I

therefore went to the President's office alone. On my

arrival I found the

President in rather an ugly mood. The French

Ambassador had complained to him

that a shipment of vinegar from France to New Orleans

had been refused admission

because of a cluster of grape vines hanging full of

grapes portrayed upon the

label. The analysis had disclosed that the vinegar in

question was not sour

wine, as both name and label indicated, but was an

artificial vinegar made by

passing dilute alcohol, presumably distilled from beet

sugar molasses, over

beech shavings. The shipment was ordered returned to

France, with the

instructions that the grapes should be removed from

the label. This was done but

the grapevine was left. The shipment a second time

reached New Orleans,

whereupon I instructed Mr. Harrison to send it back as

the grapevine was just as

indicative that the vinegar was made of sour wine as

were the grapes themselves.

On reaching the President's office and explaining why

young Harrison had not

accompanied me, he said very sternly:

" The Food Law is an excellent measure, but it

should be administered with

some discretion. Full particulars in regard to the

proper branding should have

been furnished at once. "

Explaining as best I could to the President I

quoted the very words of the

law itself, namely that an article was misbranded if

the label bore any design

or device or statement which was false or misleading

in any particular, that as

the executive officer I had no choice in the matter,

but my only purpose was to

execute the law as it was written. The scowl on the

President's died away and a

rather benignant smile took its place. He grasped my

hand cordially and said:

" If the French Ambassador bothers you again in

matters of this kind tell

him to go to Hades. "

Inasmuch as I valued my friendship for the French

Ambassador and his for me

very highly, I am certain that no one would have

expected me to use any such

language in any subsequent protest made from the

French embassy in regard to the

exclusion of French products from this country under

the law. Nevertheless, this

incident increased the feeling in my own mind that the

President was not

entirely in sympathy with a rigid enforcement of the

food and drugs act.

He evidently felt that the Congress had made a

great mistake in placing the

execution of the law in the Bureau of Chemistry. Mr.

Loeb, private secretary to

President Roosevelt, was strongly impressed that the

President considered the

Chief of the Bureau entirely too radical in his views

concerning the harmfulness

of preservatives. He thought the Chief of the Bureau

was lacking in diplomatic

discretion. The President was undoubtedly still of the

opinion that an underling

who had the temerity to appear before a Congressional

committee and denounce a

presidential policy on reciprocity had few, if any,

redeeming traits.

 

ROOSEVELT FAVORED LEGISLATION

During the progress of the campaign for pure food

legislation, and especially

during the last one or two years when apparently

public sentiment was

sufficiently aroused and unanimous to warrant the

expectation of a speedy

successful issue, I felt that President Roosevelt was

heartily in favor of this

legislation. The appearance in 1906 of Upton Sinclair

Is novel entitled " The

Jungle, " brought public opinion to the pitch of

indignant excitement. President

Roosevelt was eagerly in quest of a law supervising

the packing of our animal

food products. The time of the session was so nearly

at an end, that it seemed

hopeless to bring in a meat inspection bill as an

expansion of the food and

drugs bill. It was deemed best, therefore, to try to

engraft the meat inspection

bill as a rider on the agricultural appropriation

measure. I am not aware

whether at that period it was a violation of the rules

to introduce legislation

on an appropriation bill; at the present time it is.

At any rate, a rider

satisfactory to the President was offered to the

appropriation bill in the House

of Representatives. It was not adopted, however,

except after serious mutilation

of the measure. The chairman of the House Committee on

Agriculture, Mr.

Wadsworth, thought the offered measure was too drastic

and uncalled for by those

engaged in our meat industry. President Roosevelt was

greatly disturbed at the

changes made in the measure, but was powerless to

prevent such modification as

the House Committee on Agriculture thought desirable.

It is not quite certain

whether the Agricultural Appropriation Bill carrying

these meat inspection

provisions became a law prior to, or subsequent to the

food and drugs act. Only

a search of official documents could determine this

fact. Nevertheless, it is a

matter of some importance, for if the appropriation of

the Department of

Agriculture was approved subsequent to the approval of

the food and drugs act,

any disagreements between the two acts would be

construed by the courts in favor

of the later bill. In point of fact, no effort

whatever was made by the Bureau

of Chemistry to enforce any provisions of the meat

inspection law. The reason

for mentioning these matters here is because President

Roosevelt's intense

interest in the meat inspection bill seemed to

obscure, at least for the time

being, any interest he had in the food and drugs act.

I had the good fortune to know somewhat intimately

two or three of the

newspaper men who had the ear of the President and I

learned from them that the

President's interest in the food and drugs act was

genuine and unreserved.

Particularly I knew well Harry Needham, intimate

associate of the President. Mr.

Needham subsequently met an untimely death in an

accident in an aeroplane in

Paris. As was recited in the chapter on " What is

Whisky, " I learned from Mr.

William Loeb, the President's private secretary, his

great interest in that

matter. This was subsequent to the passage of the food

and drugs act.

I had close relations also to two other men who had

more or less free access

to President Roosevelt. These were Mr. Mark Sullivan

and Mr. Robert M. Allen. I

have secured interesting data from each of these

gentlemen in regard to

President Roosevelt's interest in the passage of the

pure food bill. Mr. Allen

has furnished me with the following data, which I have

permission to quote. he

says:

" I do not believe that President Roosevelt had

shown any interest in the

pure food law prior to 1905. 1 feel without any

doubt that Roosevelt sincerely

and earnestly supported the passage of the act after

his message to Congress

in December, 1905. When he took this stand it was

characteristic of him to

back it. Hapgood, Sullivan, Needham, and Gilson

Gardner were close to the

President, as was also Dr. Abbott, editor of The

Outlook.

" The White House had a strong influence on their

activities for the bill.

Needham told the Dalzell story at the time it

happened. If it is true, and I

believe it was true, Roosevelt's statement to Cannon

that he would call

Congress into extra session if they did not pass the

food bill, was one of the

decisive factors in bringing the bill to a vote in

the House. There are so

many people, like the writers that I have mentioned,

so earnest in their

feeling that Roosevelt strongly supported the

passage of the Act from the fall

of 1905, that I do not want you to make any mistake

in this matter in your

memoirs. You have a big and important message to get

over. The country needs

it. "

I have the following statement from Mr. Mark

Sullivan, also :

" I cannot say that I have any positive

recollection of ever having

discussed the pure food bill specifically with

President Roosevelt. I did

discuss it very often with Harry Needham and with R.

M. Allen. I also did

discuss it occasionally with yourself, as you will

remember. Based on my

recollections of conversations I had with Needham

and Allen, my strong belief

is that Roosevelt not only believed in the Pure Food

Bill but was energetic in

getting it passed. It is true that the pure food

bill.and the railroad rate

bill were before Congress during the same session. I

think it possible, or

even likely, that Roosevelt's major interest was in

the railroad rate bill,

because at the time that was the great controversy;

but I have recently been

over the records sufficiently to show that Roosevelt

gave powerful aid to the

pure food bill. "

Mr, Sullivan then discusses another overlapping and

supplemental measure, the

meat inspection bill.

To continue the quotation:

" That Roosevelt threw immense energy into the

meat inspection rider there

can be no doubt whatever. In effect the one went

with the other. Roosevelt's

pressure for the meat inspection bill is proved by

scores of documents and

publications in old newspaper files. The two bills,

the pure food bill and the

meat inspection rider, went through the lower house

substantially on identical

dates. Everybody thought of the two as one. "

To this I wish to add my own recollection and

impression at the time. I was

fully convinced that although Mr. Roosevelt came into

action late in the fray he

was enthusiastic and earnest in his support of the

pure food and drugs act. It

was not until nearly five years later that I had any

intimation whatever that I

was wrong in this opinion. I did feel that I was under

a serious handicap at the

White House by reason of my opposition to Cuban

reciprocity.

 

 

HON. JAMES R. MANN

Leader in the House of Representatives for the

enforcement of the Food Law

 

Two important statements were made to me in 1912,

after my resignation from

the Bureau of Chemistry. Mr. James R. Mann, leader of

the final fight in the

House for the food bill, thought the President not

only was indifferent about

the matter, but considered the measure the work of

impractical cranks. Mr.

Roosevelt made a similar statement in a letter

published in a Kansas paper at

that time. Senator Heyburn, who led the final fight in

the Senat% showed me a

letter written to him by Mr. Roosevelt while the bill

was under discussion,

begging him to cease his efforts for such an

impractical measure, and aid him in

passing a bill to restore to the Naval Academy three

students who had been

dismissed for drunkenness. Even if it be granted that

the President favored the

food bill, it is perfectly clear that he took the most

active part in pre

venting the Bureau of Chemistry from enforcing it.

ORIGIN OF THE WHITE HOUSE PREJUDICE

The prejudice which the President had against the

Chief of the Bureau of

Chemistry was most pronounced. It arose early in his

administration when he was

urging Congress to pass the law remitting part of the

duties on imported sugar

coming into this country from Cuba. I have no desire

to criticize the President

for his attitude in this matter. At that time the

planter and manufacturer of

sugar in Cuba scarcely got a cent a pound on his

product. All the nations of

Europe producing beet sugar were paying large bounties

on beet sugar when it was

exported. The result was that practically all the

sugar consumed by Great

Britain, which was one of the great sugar consuming

countries of the world was

cheapened by bounties paid by France, Germany,

Belgium, Russia and Austria on

exported beet sugar. Sugar was so cheap in London that

the makers of cane sugar

in the West Indies had lost the greater part of their

trade. At the time (1902)

the United States was considering the subject of a

rebate of import duties on

sugar to Cuban planters a congress called by

beet-sugar producing countries in

Europe was sitting in Brussels considering the

question of abolishing export

duties on beet sugar. Sereno E. Payne of New York was

chairman of the House

Committee on Ways and Means before which the question

of rebate on Cuban sugar

was under consideration. I was very much embarrassed

on receiving a summons to

appear before that committee. I had no sympathy with

the proposed legislation. I

had devoted many years of study to the domestic sugar

problem, in investigating

the possibilities of extending our domestic production

from sorghum, sugar beets

and sugar cane. I was naturally a high protectionist

on sugars imported from

abroad. I went to the Secretary of Agriculture and

explained to him that I was

opposed to this legislation but that I did not want to

appear in opposition to

the President's plan. I asked him to communicate with

Chairman Payne and have

him withdraw the summons. The Secretary said:

I am just as much opposed to this legislation as

you are but being a member

of the President's cabinet I can not say anything; I

think the committee ought

to know the truth about this matter. (Quoted from

memory.)

I replied that I also thought they ought to know

the truth, but that I didn't

see any difference between his telling them the truth

and 1, who was only one of

his assistants. The result was, however, that I had to

appear before the

committee. I was two days in giving them the data

which to my mind clearly

disclosed that the trouble in Cuba was not due to our

import tax, but to the

giving of bounties in Europe on exported beet sugar. I

quote from the hearings

of the Ways and Means Committee.

" It follows as a logical conclusion, therefore,

that the people who come to

this committee for relief from the low price of

sugar should strike at the

true cause, not the false one, of the evil of which

they complain. * * * Their

cause should be pleaded in the Parliaments of

Europe, not in that of America;

their plaints should go before the Reichstadt,

Bundesrath, and the Corps

Legslatif, and not before the American Congress. The

place to plead their

cause is before the Congress of Brussels, not before

the Ways and Means

Committee of the Congress of the United States. "

 

RECIPROCITY WITH CUBA

THE COLLOQUY WHICH UNDID ME

(Hearings Before Committee on Ways and Means,

Fifty-Seventh Congress, First

Session, Wed., January 29, 1902, Page 572)

MR. RICHARDSON: You have read the report of the

Secretary of War?

DR. WILEY: Yes, Sir.

MR. RICHARDSON: And the recommendation of the

President?

DR. WILEY: Yes, Sir.

MR. RICHARDSON: And General Wood?

DR. WILEY: I have not read that, but I have heard

of it. I have read the

other two, however.

MR. RICHARDSON: You do not agree with them in the

recommendations in respect

to the treatment of Cuba on this question?

DR. WILEY: I do not.

MR. RICHARDSON: I ask you this, doctor, for this

reason: Do you contemplate

remaining in the Agricultural Department? Is that your

ideal (Laughter.)

You need not answer if you do not wish. I ask

simply because I have heard

that you did not.

THE CHAIRMAN: You need not answer that question,

doctor.

MR. RICHARDSON: Not unless he wishes to.

MR. HOPKINS: I do not think that is proper.

MR. RICHARDSON: I do not want him to answer it

unless he is willing to do so.

MR. ROBERTSON: That has not anything to do with the

case.

MR. RICHARDSON: The object of my question is just

this, Mr. Chairman, as I am

frank to state, and he need not answer it if he does

not wish to do so: I have

understood that the doctor contemplated leaving the

Agricultural Department and

going into the sugar-beet industry. Whether that is

true or not I do not know.

DR. WILEY: It is the very first I have heard of it.

(Laughter.) Mr. Chairman,

it is the first intimation of the kind I have ever

had. I thought the gentleman

implied that I would be removed because I did not

agree with the Secretary or

the President. (Laughter.)

As I left the committee room, a famous artist, Mr,

Augustus C. Heaton, who

had been in attendance, handed me the following rhyme:

" A chemist both learned and witty

Came before a sugar committee,

And O such statistics and learned linguistics

He poured upon Recipro-city. "

As it turned out it was no laughing matter.

The result of my testimony was what I had

anticipated. President Roosevelt

was furiously angry. He sent at once for Secretary

Wilson and ordered him to

dismiss immediately that man Wiley. The Secretary

pleaded for my life,

explaining that I did not go up there willingly, but

had earnestly tried to have

my subpoena recalled. The President relented and said

to let it go this time,

but to tell Wiley never to do Such a thing again. The

result was that I never

was a favorite at the White House as long as Roosevelt

was president. I was not

surprised, therefore, to find that he took the lead in

so limiting the

activities of the Bureau of Chemistry as to deprive

the Chief of that Bureau

from performing the functions placed upon him under

the law.