Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-05-22

| the figures are to be used for statistical
purposes.
From all quarters comes commenda
| tons OF the President for his action in
the case OF the Nayassa rioters. In this
as In many other matters President
Harrison is manisesting his good judg
ment and observation-disclosures. This little
island off the west coast Of Hayti has no
claim to protection from this country
| only on the ground that an American
company mines phosphate rock there
on its own account and tiies the Ameri-
can flag. The alleged rioters were Ameri
CABS. and that they were colored Ameri-
cans has nothing to do with the question.
There was no American judicial officer
on the island, nor within reaching dis
lance, and an Americans only chance
under such conditions was to look out
for himself. The people who were ILL
treated and who took lives In con-
sequence knew this very well. Says
President Harrison Escape was impos-
sible, and the state Of things generally
such as might make men reckless and
desperate. The United States govern
ment should provide by law for the
execution Of contracts to labor in
Nayassa before public officer. whose
duty il should be to see that tie men
who go there to labor are well informed
az To the nature Of the obligations
island an officer with power to
hear complaints and to adiudge |
controversies" The point is very
well taken. Navassa is not, as it
stands, worth Selling by any govern
ment of Importance; but If our govern
ment assumes to exercise jurisdiction
over the island it should maintain there,
at the least, a resident magistrate, with
power to adiudcate upon any legal ques
tions that may arise.
A point Of great sanitary and domestic
importance, and one to which we have
frequently alluded, is the consumption
Of meat, and the unhealthful condition
of much of the beef which Is consumed
in Boston and other eastern cities. A
writer In the Boston Evening Transcript
states this case very fully when he says
Observing housekeepers complain that
the beef usually found at provision
stores lacks the qualities that satisfy the
cravings of healthy appetite or dis
eliminating taste, and that when cooked
1t is bloodless AMI tasteless; all of which
IL true. The trouble or fault complained
OF Is because the cattle are killed in
Western cities, and the dressed beef is
then transported hundreds of miles
in refrigerator cars to cold stor
age warehouses, from whence it
is sold to dealers and cut up for
distribution to their customers
This method chills the beef, and the
cooking process, involving a great change
of temperature, converts the blood,
which contains the nourishment, into a
pale reddish watery fluid that is quite
tastelcss; and leaves fibre for mastiea-
ton that is insipid, and with about as
little flavor AS il 1t were bran or sawdast.
Epicures long since decided that birds
and game of all kinds, which had been
kept in cold storage houses, to be served
after the season had passed, were delu
sion, and were not satisfactory in flavor il
unreasonable" There can be no gues-
ton as to the readiness and availability
of the beef that arrives in refrigerator
cars for the use Of provision dealers 1t
is quite apparent. But the unsatisfac-
tory results that appear at the table
where it is served are too noticeable to
be ignored. 1.-The remedy" remarks the
writer in the Transcript. ''is simple
one. Insist upon serving beef that has
been slaughtered near the place of con-
sumption. The cost should be no
greater, aud the satisfaction will be at
once recognized" As we have before
said, this is what meat consumers at the
great metropolitan centres will ere long
demand. Then will beef production all
over New England pay and farmers will
enjoy such a prosperity as they have
not before known since the old times.
The people at large, moreover, will be
furnished with healthful meat at far
less price than they now pay for that
which is unhealthful and in many cases
totally unfit to be eaten.