Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-04-11
BEE ON TIE HOOE.

representative U NelllS bull providing for the inspection of beef on the hoof was rejected yesterday in the house. as it was intinated in these columns last week it would be-. There was no conceivable reason why the bill should have found favor with the house. unless, indeed, It was to help the live stock men and very few Connecticut farmers at the expense of the thousands of con- sumers of beef in the state. If we remember rightly, however, it was not exactly Mir O'Neilrs bill, as he had intro duced 1t by request. In so far as the quality of beef is concerned, the western dressed beef as it comes to OUT markets is good enough for any table. It now runs the gauntlet of a triple inspection. The self-interests of the dre ssed beef men themselves prompt them to send a good article here, andEin addition the laws of Illinois and the local ordinances of Chicago are very, strict in their bearing cn the matter. The state live stock com missioners destroy or quarantine all dis eased cattle; another stale officer looks after maimed and Sdowned" cattle. and the city of Chicago has three in- spectors who have authority to condemn any animal which they deem unfit for food. MT O'Neilfs bill could give us no more rigid inspection than this. 1t will be seen that the objections to Chicago dressed beef on the ground that the cattle are not healthy when killed are hardly tenable.f No beef that is newly killed is fit to eat. It should hang several days, the longer the better Slaughtered at Chicago and put in cold storage or refrigerating cars it is really better when 1t comes out of the car than when it went into it. Transportation facilities are much better now than they used to be, but they are still not what they should be as regards the conditions surrounding the animals in transit, and the fewer hours live steer is confined in any car the better for the consumer, When Chicago dressed beef was first put in the market a great cry was raised against 1t by eastern butchers. To-day nine-tenths of them GIe selling Chicago beef. They pretended they were afraid of the quality of the beef-in reality they were afraid their profits were going to be cut down. When they learned to the contrary they were quite as ready to sell Chicago beef as they were to decray it at the outest.
 The O'Neill bill, as well as similar measures introduced this winter in the legislatures of other states, was in the interest of the live stock dealers and not of the consumer as pretended. The in- terest of the consumer lies in the preser- vation of both systems. Between mid dlemen and freig ht carriers the consu- mer gets very little show. Once let either the dressed beef or live stock monopoly get the upper hand and the consumer,s unless he be able to cover his plate with dollars, will have a chance to feast only on the memory of the beef that oncesgraced his table. Under the present system beef is reasonably cheap to the consumer, and there are very few families that cannot enjoy the luxury. It is well, therefore, that Mir O'NeilIs bill, or any other that strikes at the interest of the consumer, should be re- jected.
 The legislature has done good thing in killing the beef inspection bill.