Soda-Fountains and Their Dangers
Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, the Government pure food expert, points out that untold dangers are active in soda-fountains. He is not defending the barroom; he is not against what are called soft drinks, that is, if they are what they ought to be; he is not condemning the dispensers of the soda-water; he declares that it is in the chemicals. The man who sells genuine soda-water, he thinks, is a benefit; but the man who sells injurious chemicals and habit-producing drugs in soda-water glasses is the one who ought to be driven out of business, he feels. "Pure soda-water," he tells us, "should include three ingredients—pure fruit flavors, pure carbonated water, and sugar—not saccharin, or some injurious sweetening." He declares that Congress ought to define what soda-water is. "Soda-water as generally sold does not and is not supposed to contain any soda, and a great deal of it contains saccharin instead of sugar. Saccharin should be prohibited by law; it is injurious to every one, and affects children seriously. Much of the carbon mixed with the water contains lead. Such a mixture should be prohibited by law. Caffein used by unscrupulous soft-drinks dispensers should be driven from the market by law," he declares. He also says: "I could not venture an opinion on the yearly number of little children whose lives are ruined by the use of caffein and other dopes which are hidden in soda-water glasses. The number is frightful; and the same is true of grown-up folks. "At the rate silly parents are allowing children to ruin their nervous systems and stomachs by drinking the dregs of dirty, insanitary, filthy, drug-store soda-fountains, I am inclined to believe that the next generation will develop a race of nervous wrecks. Many mothers would lift their hands to heaven in holy horror if their little girls or boys should walk into their homes puffing cigarets, but still they will lead them to soda-fountains and allow them to fill themselves with all sorts of stuff that has just as bad effect on their systems. Children should not be allowed to touch anything that tends to excite the nervous system, whether it is coffee, caffein, or any of the other drugs that are passed out so freely."