Mexico weekly ledger., 1889-04-11
DRESSED BEEF.
OF A Strong And
Telling Address.
of the Hon. j. z, Merry
man of the St. Louis Bar Before
the House Committee on
Benevolent and Scientific
Institutions.


ton, the LEDGER to-day publishes a
logical speech covering every point on
the side of the packers and shippers:
M;ts',fl'i ttI ,irnGt. m,, # h C.nlu,llre
In the march of progress and inyen-
ton old methods al doing business are
constantly neing discarded. What Is
known AZ the dressed beef business is
Il decidedly modern discovery. y few
Years ago all the marketable cattle of
our western prairieS were shipped
alive in crowded ears 10 our eastern
cities aud 10 the seaboard, the journey
consuming many days, sometimes
weeks; oft deprived OF food and water
for more than iOrty-cight hours (; ell
~coluterin@ accidents and delays III
cident 10 all freight travel by rail;
landing II their journeys end i'll Il
teycfi~n condIuou-consvIucntlS, a.
all cattle men know, death OF Il few of
their Number i,y being $~mothered,
horned or diseased, was of no uncoIn-
mon occurrence. y remedy for this
evil was discovered in the refrigerator
car and the modern method of slaugh-
teFing and curing meat 3; now III place
OF the animal being sent to the sea-
board alive. II : slaughtered on our
~ = III ~ ~ "a "a Nsit
last decade the Mississippi valley. or
rather the portion al il washed by the
mighty Missouri. has become the great
feeder of the world. The dressed beef
interest working its way into the
hear. OF the WeSJ and establishing lis
packing houses nearer and nearer the
great cattle region until finally this i'll
dustry, planting its home on the banks
OF the kaw. has founded IA city that Is
the wonder and marvel OF the age.
Markets hitherto unknown have been
opened. and ii the stock raiser has
found q decrease in the price of his cat
tie i'll the past few years, it has been
from other causes and i'll spite OF this
industry, AS will he abundantly shown
before we have advanced far i'll this
investigation. Fat and fresh from
roaming over hill and plain knee deep
i'll clover, the Missouri beef is ~Slau~tl-
tered and without weary waits is land
ed i'll 81 pure, healthy and nutritious
condition in our eastern cities, or on
the isles of the ocean or the further
most known confines of civilization.
Through the dressed beef interest the
steer from the ranges has found its way
into the southern states where the i'll
habitants formerly subsisted entirely
| on pork. Kansas City has become the
i butcher for those who 20 down to the
sea III ships, and the great steamers
playing across the Atlantic, from the
abatt0irS Of western Missouri. supply
themselves with provisions sufficient
even for their return "trip. The canned
goods and the refrigerator OF this
industry are NOT strangers either to
the people OF the European countries
or wherever the ships land or the flag
of Il country floats.
INDUSTRY TO BE EXILED.
The measure which you now have
under consideration proposes to exile
this industry from the domain OF YOUR
state-to fitch from it its good name
through the miserable subtertuge OF
inspection law-to make proclamation
III all lands where Il market has been
built up after Years Of toll and labor,
that Oh its native heath beneath its
own vine and fig treei it has been guar
anteed against. | therefore beg of you
before you spread to the four winds OF
the earth that the beef industry of
Missouri carries disease, pestilence and
death III its wake, pause and consider
whether you have kept that COM
mandment handed down to us amidst
the thunders and lightning OF Mount
Sinai mOr than three thousand years
ago, viz: Thou shall not bear false
witness against thy neighbour An
inspection law for all the little towns
of the state is priHiu .fdcie evidence TO
the foreigner that disease is stalking
abroad and the dressed beef industry
will share the same fate Of the. Ameri-
can hog in Germany a few years ago.
Is there any necessity for thus strik-
ing down one of the principal indus
tries OF your state?
The speaker then explained the
complete inspecting system of Chicago
and Kansas City, explained fully the
ordinance existing in both cities
against the bringing Of diseased or u1-
wholesome meat into either OF them.
xn OBJECTION EVER MADE.
Not one single complaint has come
up from any quarter ofthe globe. Not
one reputable physician can be found
in any state of the union who eau
testify under oath that he ever obsery-
ed a patient diseased by partaking of
the food of this product. Nor has any
chemist vet put III ali appearance who
could say that Il single particle of it
was found TO be deleterious to health.
Therefore, if this bill now before You
is not required rs Il sanitary measure,
then II Is here under false p~retenses,
and its passage would he Il prostitu-
ton of the police powers of the state.
Judge Ryland in State W. Searcy, 20
Mo-, page 4o9, defines the police power
of the state as a power to preserve the
pau q nrbT1.Ta srnnff ,1opA = r.lt pal ,,
vice and protect the property and
health of the people. The advocates
of his measure, known ~ the National
Butchers Protective Association, de-
mand the passage of this bill, not to
| protect the health of the citizen. but
they desire you to violate your oath of
office in order to place in their hands
this weighty weapon enabling them to
strike down a successful rival that has
lowered the price of meat to the con-
sliIner and deprived them OF Il mono
poly that they have enjoyed since the
memory Of maj runneth mo- to the
contrary. They ask this as a protec-
tive measure in order that one Anleri-
can industry may be projected against
another-tlIat you must rob n in Or
der to enrich another
Taking advantage of depressed
market, caused by Over-producti0n,
they have ingeniously played upon
the passions of the cattle men and to
this phase Of the controversy we now
invite your attention. Some five or
six years ago our cattle markets BOOM
ed. Cattle ranges grew. Cattle kings
floGri5hed. They held their annual
conventions in st. Louis, at which
champagne flowed as freely a. the
waters of our mighty Mississippi i'll
June.time. Our newspapers wrote up
the marvellous tales of sudden wealth
acquired by the stock raiser. Large
syndicates also, before the advent of
Mr.. Cleveland, obtained long leases
from the Indians for an insignificant
consideration. From this state of az
fairs there could be but one result /:
Merchants, lawyers, doctors, preach
ers, servant girls and everybody who
could raise any money whatever, put
their money into cattle and cattle
ranches. Money for the same purpose
poured in from Europe and thousands
of acres Of our public domain was con-
verted by foreigners into cattle ranch
es, SO much so and to such an extent
that the platforms of the great politi-
cal parties denounced the policy of
| permitting aliens TO require title to
property in this country.
Mr.. Merryman then furnished fig
.,rax that ware show