Wichita eagle., 1889-03-15
THAT ST. LOUIS FAUX PAS.

l
St. Louis Monday, for the alleged pur-
pose of ascertaining whether or not there
is in existence such a thing as cattle
combine, and if so what effect it has II
fixing the price of live stock and con-
trolling that market, and what ieglsla-
fy its arbitrary exactions, utterly ignor-
ed the mission it was called and conven-
ed to perform and assumed the preroga-
tive of declaring to the world that the
live stock of this country, particularly OF
the west, is so unreliable for human food
a necessary precaution to protect
the lives and health of the
people. That august assemblage further
assumed to dictate the form of legisla-
ton the states should enact to afford the
people such needed protection(0. 1t
went SO far as to adopt draft of bill
for the benefit of the different states,
presumably upon the hypothesis that
the states do not know what they want,
or haven't sense enough to express 1t in
diligently if they do. The provisions of
the measure adopted by the convention
are substantially the same as the inspec-
| ton bill that was defeated by the late
legislature Of this state, yet the repre-
sentatives from the state in the conven-
ton voted for it.
OF course the action of the convention
( has no binding effect upon any state, be-
ing merely matter of recommendation
| to the states in interest, whichmeans all,
| but the moral effect upon the country at
large and upon the world, as far as it
uses our meat products, will be just the
same as though it were a formal enact
ment of law. Nor will its damaging eff
! fects be confined to fresh or uncured
meats. Everybody everywhere is bound
| to know that if it is necessary to inspect
the live animal intended for human con-
sumption as green or uncured meat, 1t is
equally important to inspect it before it
is killed when intended to be cured,
picked or canned, as none of these pro-
cesses will eliminate the germs of disease
from the meat that may be in the ami
NAL when alive. The provision of the
proposed measure exempting from its OPP
Grafton the class of meats last mentioned
is a dead give away on the whole scheme
showing as it does most clearly that it Is
meant to cripple and if possible destroy
the packing interests of the country, re-
gardless of the interests Of the consumer
or the cattle producer, and in spite of
the fact, as has been repeatedly and con-
clusively proven, that the great packing
| centers Of the country have been of in
| calculable benefit to the producer, and
no detriment to the consumer, either in
the price or quality of the meats pre-
pared and furnished for food, whether
In fresh state or preserved.
1t would have been equally as compe-
tent and far more practical for the con-
vention to have declared that the relief
needed rests with the local retailer of
fresh meats, and to have drafted a
a bill fixing a scale Of prices to be
charged by them, and then restricted the
meat inspector, if such an officer was
deemed necessary, to the inspection of
meats offered for sale.
That there are grounds of complaint
at existing conditions (the low price of
stock and high price of meats at retaiD-
there is not nor has there been any COM
plant from any quarter as far as we have
heard at the quality of fresh meals sup
piled from wholesale slaughtering estab-
lishments-but it is very clear to our
mind that the efforts so far made to rem
edy the evil have all been aimed at the
opposite direction from where the real
trouble lies. With twice as many
cattle in the country as there was
say five years ago, the cattle
raiser cannot reasonably expect the same
price now as then, but with such condi-
tons the consumers do have right to
expect, aud even demand, reduction,
in part at least, in the price they are re-
quired to pay for same.
There has been enough discussion and
investigation of the subject, it seems to
us, to make the matter plain to every
body who is not blinded by prejudice or
self interest, anG if state legislatures de-
sire to do the real sufferers a service and
it is their province to take such action,
they will have no difficulty in finding
the place to apply the astringent. AS far
as Kansas is concerned we think it is
safe to say that the legislature will de-
cline 10 act upon the recommendation of
the convention. There will certainly be
no special session called for that purpose.