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The word "practices" on line 81 is in-
tended to include at least sales, marketing,
advertising and financing.
As you can see the article itself is very
short and quite self-explanatory.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Key, do
you want to have Delegate Bard continue
at this point?
DELEGATE KEY: Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Bard.
DELEGATE BARD: Mr. Chairman,
ladies and gentlemen. I find it very diffi-
cult to find any parallel to the position in
which I find myself other than possibly to
speak after the Gettysburg Address.
We have just completed, to my way of
thinking, a momentous decision and for me
to appear at this time on an issue that is
highly critical and to have the Chairman
of the Committee which is recommending
this issue not present for various reasons
and the Vice-Chairman, I am glad he is
here, down with the flu, and I hope the
bug does not get him before we finish with
the vote.
Moreover, if I had my way I think we
should discuss it Monday morning. I think
it is a highly critical issue. I am concerned
with giving full attention to it. I think it
marks an issue that in a sense is a turn-
ing point for us and therefore at this late
hour before a holiday, it will necessitate a
kind of self-discipline on the part of each
delegate to give this the same importance
that was given to the issue of judicial de-
cision.
I first want to pay tribute to the Com-
mittee on General Provisions. This is a
truism. This Committee listened to the pro-
posal with some skepticism and as the
members heard more and listened to re-
sponses, they recognized the validity of the
arguments, first one, and then more and
then the majority, then practically all
members, with some desiring even a
stronger statement.
I want to thank especially Delegates
Boyer and Wheatley who worked for un-
derstanding and ultimately a strong rec-
ommendation on the part of the Commit-
tee. It came slowly. It came as a result of
a number of days, it came to Committee
members who were not tired. It came to
Committee members who could give it full
attention. I hope that we would have your
full attention on this.
For nearly a week we have talked about
the structure of state courts and we have
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sought to reform our court system. I, like
most of you, felt that the courts needed
improvement. The focus of all of our discus-
sion was to secure better justice.
I want to talk about justice too, the kind
which goes along1 with freedom from unjust
treatment. It is freedoms from the hazards
of today's risks and the goods we use and
consume.
As President Johnson said, "The problem
of dangerous products and the hazards to
life and limb are of great moment." We
live surrounded by a great many hazards
we know nothing about; the food we eat,
the medication we take and the cars we
use would make life terribly awesome if
we were to contemplate the unnecessary
risks we run.
I would like to read a statement by James
Macnees in Wednesday morning's Balti-
more Sun, November 15, 1967.
"Senator Mondale (D., Minn.) said today
that chemical analysis of meat pur-
chases made by the Department of Agri-
culture in Maryland last July 1, dis-
closed ten separate instances in which
the products would have failed to meet
Federal standards.
"Had the plants involved been subject
to Federal inspection, the products could
not have been sold to the public, the Sen-
ator said.
"The Minnesotan charged that because
of the 'cosmetics' available to the meat-
packing industry, the consumer can no
longer depend on his eyes or his sense
of smell to tdl him whether the meat he
purchases is wholesome.
"In three of the Maryland purchases,
chemists found that ascorbate had been
added to the meat, he told the Senate
subcommittee on Agricultural Research
which is considering1 updating the 61-
year-old Federal meat inspection law."
In Congress today there is full recogni-
tion that today consumer protection is
vital. In the Senate, Democrats like Prox-
mire of Wisconsin, Muskie of Maine, and
Republicans Ike Tower of Texas, Brook of
Massachusetts, Percy of Illinois have taken
strong positions for consumer protection.
We have gone a long way since the con-
cept of caveat emptor was conceived. In the
19th century this principal of let the buyer
beware was enunciated at a time when
there were no synthetics, when they were
no powerful drugs — and I stop here to
say that one of my early interests in this
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