St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-15
MEAT INaPECrION.

one OF the most kn0tty measures
that the legislature will have to deal
with this session will be the bill provid-
ing for meat inspection. There are so
many interests liable to be affected by
the bill if it is enacted into a law, and
there are so many arguments both for
and against the measure, the average
legislator will probably find himself i'll
a tangled frame of mind when it ONES
to determining how his vote shall be
cast.
Aside from the sanitary benefits,
which all concede must ensue from an
honest enforcement of such law, there
are various questions to be considered
and determined relating to the indus
trial interests of the state. Ii the
bill simply provided for a meat
inspection, and the expenses of
the inspection to be paid out
of the fund arising from butchers
licenses, the proposition would be very
much simplified. But inasmueh as it
provides for hoof inspection, its object is
clearly to shut out all importation of
dressed meat, and co contine the fresh
meat supply to the meat product of the
state. The puzzle is to know whether
such legislation will stimulate the live
stock business in this state, or whether
it will simply give the local slaughter
houses monopoly of the meat supply
without contributing to the growth of
the live stock business. 1t is fact be-
yOnd all controversy that there are not
enough cattle raised in Minnesota to
supply the home demand, and the beef
supply for these two cities is now very
largely drawn from Chicago, Kansas City
and Montana. There is no mistake but
that Minnesota is capable of producing
all the beef that can be consumed with
in its limits for the next half-century;
but the question is. can our farmers be
encouraged to go more extensively into
cattle raising than they are now EN-
gagged. They say they cannot afford it
unless better prices can be obtained
than are now paid for beef in the gross.
If the slaughter houses advance the
price to point sufficiently high to en-
courage farmers to extend the ir live
stock business, then, as a matter of
course, the net prices must be adj
vanced in corresponding ratio: and
then comes the kick from the consum-
ers. The latter will resist all legislation
which cOmpels them to pay higher prices
for the home product, even though it is
done to encourage home industry. If
it could be so arranged that the farmers
could get price high enough to justify
them to go into the cattle-raising busi-
ness extensively, and the dressed beef
could be kept down to prices that Chi
cago and Kansas City beef are sold,
then the happy medium could be
struck, and the proposed meat IN
spection law would work like charm.
But where would be the profits for the
slaughter houses?
Thus it is seen that the proposition is
knotty one when it comes to making
it work equitably respecting all interests
to be affected by it. Still, as wise san
itary provision. there ought to be some
system of meat inspection established.
All cattle slaughtered here should be
inspected before being killed. When
dressed beef is shipped in, the shipments
should be accompanied by the certificate
of the local inspector at the point where
slaughtered, that the cattle were in a
perfectly sound condition at the time of
slaughtering. Unless such certificates
are furnished, the meat should be ex-
Guided from our home markets. In this
way the consumers could be protected,
and as they constitute the main body of
the people, their interests should be first
protected.