The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-05-30
Think Of it When You Buy.

Think Of it When You Buy.
Millions of dollars are annually ship
ped out of the South to buy pork,
bacon, lard, tallow. etc. Hon. ID.
Wyatt Aiken, writing of a bill which
is before Congress to require Western
stock-shippers to unload their cargoes
once in "a hours, gives the following
statement:
During the discussion Of this bill
before the committee, many facts were
revealed that will give a prope con
ceptiOn of the magnitude, and perha Il
unavoidable lnhumanlty, of tins trade
in the shipment of cattle. Shippers
testified that they had as many as 200
fat hogs to die on a single train. Over
LOCO dead animals were taken from
trains arriving in New York during
the month of April, 1877, and there
were, perhaps, more every month
thereafter till cold weather.
Usually there are more animals Grip
pied, having broken legs, gored by
horns, or otherwise injured, thar die.
These dead animals are all fat, and the
crippled mes equally so; but the lat
ter, III their feverish condition, are no
more fit for human food than the for
mer. They all cost money, however,
n belong to men who care for moth
ing but success in their trade, and of
| course they sell eve the dead
| A dead fat steer Is valued at ten dol
lars. A large dead hog at the same.
A crippled animal is sold at the end of
his shipment for from one to two and
a half cents per pound. Our readers
may be anxious To know what becomes
of these dead animals. Let them read
OF and they Will find out.
AT every point of destination to
which animals are shipped there are
cattle inspectors. Ii these men are
incorruptible, (and IL really seems that
such men do not live now-a-days,) all
these dead animals are summarily dis
posed of, and the crippled ones are
condemned and sent to pastures to be
fed and cured, or if they die they go
like the others went. "A dead steer
has his hide taken off, and the meat
is, or should be, sen to the ''bOne
yard" where the carcass is converted
into fertilizers. If, however, a magic
influence is slipped into the hand of
the inspector, the carcass is started
for the bone yard" but winds up III
the market stall, where it is sold as
beef. There are butchers who deal in
cheap meats, and there are men who
buy these and sell them out
at reduced prices to The poor; for
those who are able to buy better meat
never p%atronize this class of butchers.
OF course if that meat is tainted by
disease there is nothing surer than
that this or some similar disease is
communicated to the parties who eat
that flesh.
Sheep are generally sent to the bone
yards when they die, for their car
casses are too small to warrant their
being bought for human food after
dying.
The hogs are always large, fat and
valuable, for it is generally the latest
that die. If they only nave a couple
of legs broken, or are cut and slashed
by each others tuSks, or split open be-
tween the hams by slipping, sliding or
"straddling," with their great weight.
they are at once butchered and sailed
away. There is no secrecy or conceal
ment about this.
But if they are dead, they are sold
by the pound to men who make a pro-
fession of manufacturing lard from
these dead hogs, it matters not wheth-
er they die from disease or s~uffOcatiOn.
SO they are fat. These manufacturers
have establishments where there are
immense cauldrons holding thousands
of gallons of boiling water, and they
are kept at all hours full, and heated
to a rapidly boiling point, Into the
boiling watts or tanks the dead hogs are
thrown without cleaning, hair, en-
trails and all together, just as they are
taken from the cars. In a very few
minutes the animal is boiled all to
pieces the hair leaves the skin. the
skin leaves the flesh, the flesh leave.
the bones, and all solid matter falls to
the bottom, while every particle OF
grease in the animal rises to the top OF
the boiling tank, and is drawn off a.
, melted lard. If the hogs have beer
lead for some hours the lard will in 8
few minutes reveal the fact by its ran
cid odor 1t is then at once treated
F with some chemical, SO as to deodorize
it, and make it fresh and sweet. This
/. lard is then put up in packages. small
and large, and sold by retail dealer.
/. in the Northern cities, shipped
throughout the South, eaten in ou1
food, chose of you who buy your larc
try to see if you cannot detect it IL
your breakfast tO-mOrrow.) and, in
. deed, shipped to Europe. There is n(
, deception or exaggeration IN this mat
; ter, for such testimony has time anC
again been taken and published by tn,
societies at the North, organized TO
, the prevention of cruelty to animals
The residue that is left in these caul
: drons, after the lard is drained of, il
collected, dried and sold to the fersili
i ger manufacturing companies"
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