Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-10-18
Trichins spiraIis.

1 81
! by the authorities at Washington to
| learn what it can about the hog parasite
| known as trichinse spiralis. Whatever
this commission may find out, it must
not be supposed that its report viii have
the least effect to induce those European
/ Governments that are excluding Ameri-
| can hog products to relax their exclu-
sive policy. 1t is, indeed, more likely
to produce the contrary effect. We
! must not forget that when the French
and German Governments first fuImi-
mated their edicts against the American
hog, this subject was pretty thoroughly
| Investigated, both officially and unoffi-
cially. 1t was pretty cOnclusively de-
monstrated at that time that American
pork was no more affected by the para
site than German pork, and that, as a
matter of fact, very few American hogs
were affected, and that the danger from
eating the products shipped abroad was
| almost infinitesimal. This conclusion
was officially stated, in substance, and
in sufficiently strong terms, by our Secre-
tary of State The British authorities
seemed on the point of initiating the ex-
ample of their continental neighbors,
but their consular agents here made
thorough Investigations, and upon their
favorable reports the home authorities
dismissed the thought of exclusion, and
ever since our hog products have been
freely admitted into Great Britain. Re-
opening the subject at this time will
give an impression that our officials
doubt the correctness of the conclusions
reached by their predecessors, and cast
more or less suspicion upon their own
truthfulness. So far, therefore, as for
eign markets are concerned, the inVesti-
cation now about to be made is likely
to be worse than useless.
There is no longer any room for doubt
that our hog products are shut out of
France and Germany not at all for sani-
tary reasons, but for exactly the same
reasons that actuate us in laying all but
prohibitory duties on French and Ger
man fabrics. Their object is to protect
their farmers against American cOmpe-
tition. That is absolutely all that their
policy means, and if we were to demon
strate to an absolute certainty that there
was not trace of trichin9e spiralis in
American pork they would not be at all
shaken in their purpose. The German
Government wants the support of the
landowners and agriculturists. The
| French Government experiences a SINH
lar want. They are going to have what
they want if they can get it by shutting
out American competition, be the cOnse-
quences what they may to the consumers
| of pork in their own country, and the
producers of pork in ours.
This has long been perfectly well IN
derstood in both France and Germany,
as well by the Chambers of Commerce as
| by experts, though in the latter country
these classes of people have been less
bold in saying what they know to be
| true. Within the past six months the
French Chambers of Commerce have
strongly memorialized the Government
on the subject, praying that only the
small percentage of diseased pork be
barred out. The fact that they have re
ceived no favorable response plainly
discloses the motive by which the Gov
eminent authorities are actuated in the
matter. The Agricultural Bureau has in
its possession a work by M. Joannes
Chatter, who was appointed by the
French Minister of Agriculture to take
charge of the investigation of this matter
at 'Havre. In the course of four months
this expert and his assistants inspected
upward of a million pieces of American
pork, and found that about two per
cent contained trichin@. He concludes
that Frenchmen run no more IRISH in
eating American pork than eating
German pork. How small this risk is
will appear from the following state
ment by Professor Bollinger, who has
devoted much attention to this
subject. He says: ''From numerous
examinations of American hams, the
trichin@ has been found uniformly dead.
Paris alone imported in 1880 thirty-nine
kilogrammes without a single case of
Infection - The German examiners
| 4IO E Svfo
the same as the French examiners, and
they, too, find the parasite dead, and
therefore innOcuous, in hams.
In view of all this, the futility of in
shutting an investigation with view of
securing more favorable action from the
French and German Governments is
sufficiently apparent. No proof that
we can adduce of the wholesomeness of
our hog products will move them in the
least. Until they become convinced
that it is bad policy to make food dear
for the benefit of the land-owning and
swine-breeding classes, we shall not be
able to induce them to let in American
pork, no matter how wholesome and ex-
cellent in quality it may be.
But the statement comes from Wash
ington that the object of the investiga-
ton is not so much to find facts with
which to ply the French and German
Governments as to discover in what To-
calities swine are affected by the para
site, and to learn how the disease may
be kept in check and ultimately eradi-
Gated. With this end in view, some
preliminary Investigations have already
been made in Chicogo. Prof. Detmers
has been examining specimens of hog
products and endeavoring to locate the
infected districts. The Commissioner
of Agriculture will, it is stated, instruct
the commission to proceed to those
districts and endeavor to dis
cover the causes of the disease The
inference is that Prof. Detmers has
found that the disease is confined more
or less distinctly to Localities. # this IS