Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-03-22
From the Chicago Republican
The Trichina Imposition.

The latest fraud practised upon public
credulity affects seriously the interests of
the agricultural community. We mean the
atrocious trichina story, by which more
than one half of the American people have
heen frightened into the abandonment Of
| one of their accustomed elements Of sub
sistence. Pork, as an article of food, is to-
day in the United States as much avoided
as ever was strong drink by faithful Mus
| sulmans. The public have been regaied
with elaborate articles, showing beyond all
question the fatal effect upon human life OF
| introducing into the stomach any portion OF
pork. no matter how ininitesimal, which
contains one trichina; and the manufac-
| turers of microscopes have had their instru-
ments advertised, under the preteAt Of in
| forming the public how they might discover
the presence of the fearful creatures that
are supposed to be literally feeding on their
vitals.
The enormity of this hoax may best be
understood when it is known that not one
authenticated case of presence of trlchin@
| in pork in the United States has yet been
produced The whole story is fabrica-
| ton. made out of whole cloth, originating
and encouraged by spectators, who, to
escape losses, present or prospective, have
not hesitated to spread alarm among the
whole people, and cause serious loss to the
growers and packers OF pork.
A few facts are worth whole volumes of
theory. The actual existence of trichine in
pork is confined to very small district IN
| the Hartz mountains in Germany, and that
| fact alone demonstrates that they are the
result of some local cause. 1t is also known
that the only fatal cases are among those of
the people of that district who eat the pork
raw and incurred 1t is also demonstrable
that the presence of trichinee in the pork is
disease affecting the general health of the
animal and that it is as impossible to cure
and preserve diseased pork as it is to cure
and preserve fish that has begun to decay.
| No effort of science or of human ingenuity
can cure any pork that is diseased by the
presence of trichin@, or otherwise, before
killing. These are well established facts,
sustained by universal experience and by
every possible test. Consequently, any
pork that has been cured, and will pass an
ordinary inspection by an intelligent person,
may be relied upon as having been free
from disease, whether from trichine or
other causes, before killing. Pork cannot
be cured by any known means whereby, If
it contain trichine or be otherwise diseased,
that disease may not be easily and readily
detected; and therefore there is no more
danger of eating pork containing trichine
than there is Of eating pork or any other
animal food diseased in any other "ay
Trichine in pork, in the districts where
the fact is ascertained, are attributed to the
food upon which the hogs are reared. Corn
is too valuable in those districts, and pork
too cheap, to justify the growth Of the
former to fatten the latter. The swine are
therefore left to fatten themselves upon
what they can get; and no matter how un-
pleasant the thought may be, it is neverthe-
less true, that the peculiar flavor which has
made the hams of Westphalia so celebrated,
is due to the number and the character Of
the snakes upon which the hogs are fed and
fattened. Nature seems to have supplied
that district with the particular kind Of
snake upon which pork-growers may fatten
hogs with a flavor that has attracted the
taste of epicures the world over.
The pork of the United States, however,
is not affected by any such causes. 1t is
universally fed and fattened upon corn.
The hogs are not driven to feed upon snakes
or vermin; they are raised to be sold as
pork, and for that purpose corn is the
cheapest, as it is the best and most rapid
food for purposes of fattening. The pork
of the United States has, during the last few
years, been more generally than ever used
as food, particularly by the millions of SOL
diers On both sides during the war, and not
one case has ever been reported of any per-
son being injured or affected by the pre-
sence of any disease in the cured pork. 1t
| is possible that some unprincipled dealer in
| fresh meat may serve out to his unsuspect-
ing customers pork that is unfit to be eaten,
but that might happen as well in beef, NUT
| ton, venison, poultry, or even In vegetables
| as in pork; but in no event could such a
case occur in pork cured aud packed, be-
cause, as we have seen, diseased pork can
not be cured by any process When in that
state it rejects the penetrating and preserv-
| ing properties and operations of the brine.
| If any other reason were needed to dem
onstrate the total absence OF trichlne III the
pork packed in Chicago and throughout the
| Union, it is to be found in the fact that al
most every portion of the hogs killed, and
not used in packing, has already been con-
sumed in the shape of pigs feet tenderloins,
and other parts, eaten fresh by the people;
and vet not one instance has come to light
wherein any human being has in any wise
been injured by the food Had there been
trichinm in the hogs killed in the United
States during this or any previous season,
the injurious effects would have been mani
tested in some at least of the millions of in
stances where portions Of those same ami
mails have been eaten without previous
curing.
No reasonable man, no honest journalist,
and no one but wilful trafficker in human
fears, will, in view of these irrefutable facts,
any longer countenance or encourage hoax
which has already done great injury to one
of the leading productive interests OF the
country, and is calculated to do still more