Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-01-10
AMERICAN CATTLE
Were All Hight--Prohibitive Meas
urcs Uncalicd For.

Washington, Jan. 9.-The special
agent OF the agricultural department
VINO hns been investigating the condi-
ton OF our dressed beef and live cattle
trade with Germany has made his re.
port TO Secretary Morton
He shows cOnclusively that both the
dressed beef and the live cattle r,k
celved from this country were Of cxcep-
tionally good quality. In regard TO the
dressed beef he states that the first two
lots received were In poor conditio,
Owing to failure to maintaH the low
temperature In the storage room
throughout the voyage. The condition
OF all the subsequent shipments has
been thoroughly satisfactory.
Inc only criticism offered was from
some OF the retail butchers, who said
that some OF II was almost too fat TO
give perfect satisfaction. For every
shipment the conslgnees were furnished
IN advance certificate from the Gcr-
man consul in this country that all
the meat shipped had been officially In
spccted by tho government authorities
ana on arrival every quarter was fotnh
TO be provided with the official tag
showing inspection by American veter-
llarinns, Notwithstanding this pre-
caution, on tho arrival of the steamers
bearing these cargOes they were board
"a py me Hamburg veterinarians and
their assistants and every piece thor
oughly inspected. Every piece wna
round good and of first class quality.
A. considerable quantity OF this meat
had been purchased by parties In Ber-
lin and Dusseldorf. but owing to poor
transportation facilities existing I'm
Germany for perishable goods the meat
sold to these parties had to be sailed
and picked at Hamburg for trans
portntion. The wholesale butchers
would, he says, rather do their own
hatt 20. 1.
The report intlmates That the grounds
of protection are regarded by many
persons In Hamburg as mere sub
terfuge to gTutlfy the Agrarian party
In discussing the shipments of live
cattle the agent reports that in the
case OF the sixteen head showing signs
of sickness and which had to be killed
the actual nature OF the disease was
unknown to the veterinarians Who at
first attributed to impure water. An
analysis OF the water from the tank
from which the animals were supplied
proved this theory erroneous. Parts of
the intestines, liver and heart of one
OF the diseased animals was later sent
to Berlin and fortnight after the dis
ease was pronounced Texas fever by
the Berlils veterinarians.
Parties interested in the livestock
trade at Hamburg sent veterinarians
to Great Britain to obtain further In
formation about Texas fever and the
necessary precautions taken by English
authorities to prevent the spread OF the
disease to American cattle, landed In
British ports. The reports show that
they returned 10 Hamburg. and de-
clnred the prohlbltive regulations
adopted in Germany 10 be quite un-
called for. Butchers are reported unan-
imously Of the opinion that the Ameri-
can cattle were better In quality than
any they had killed during 20 years.
and moreover that there was not one
case in a hundred where any part
showed evidence Of disease although
II was admitted that this occurred fire.
quently in Germany in Danish cat
| tie.
One butcher who had slaughtered
| from 40 to 20 head of American cattle
| each week stated he never found one
that was not in a perfectly healthy
| condition. The interesta Of the whole
sale butchers, the reports show, are
very strongly In favor Of the live
cattle trade.
The agent reports that the price OF
| first quality American beef to the
| butchers ranges from si3.75 to Sl4 so
per head, dressed. which is 50. so to 81 so
to $3.50 less per 100 pounds than Ger
man or Danish meat Of inferior quality.