The Washington times., 1895-05-21
BEEF TRUST DOES NOT CARE
1t Persists in Selling Diseased Neat
to American Consumers.
Secretary Morton Says He Is Power
less to withhold This Condemned
Product from Sale.

Secretary Morton and the Bureau OF
Animal Industry, of which DIR. D. E.
Salmon is the head, have been ponderously
attacked by a New York paper as the
special friends OF the beef trust, and it
has been brought out incidentally that
it is much easier TO inspect and condemn
meat as unfit for food than it is to keep
it off the market.
Even here in Washington it is found
that meat supposed to be sent to the vats
for making fertilizers finds it's way to
the tables of unsuspeeting citizens, and
that what kind we get from Chicago,
whence the greater part of Washington's
meat supply is drawn, is past finding out.
Nearly 1000 hogs are condemned an
nually as infected with trichinae. They
are excluded from the exports to Germany,
France, and other countries which have
a microscopic inspection. But that makes
no difference to the great packing COM
panies.
They viii not turn this quarter of a million
dollars worth of meat into fertilizer
worth q tenth as much. They simply
send the diseased hogs to the American
and English markets, for at these no micro
scopic inspection is exercised.
But the question arises why does not the
Secretary force the packers to withhold
this condemned product fOm sale? The
answer Of the critics is that he is in league
with the beef trust to induce Americans
to take what foreigners reject
The answer of the Secretary is that the
Federal government has no power to COM
pei packers TO destroy the infected hogs
| or to turn them into soap grease. He
| said to The Times yesterday that he wrote
to Mayor Hopkins of Chicago, nearly a
year ago asking his cooperation in ridding
| the markets of this unsauitary pork This
| was all that he could do. 1t remains for
each State, under our doctrine of State
rights, to enforce regulations for the pro-
lection OF its citizens from bad food.
| 1t is stated in mitigation of the unfortu-
nate condition that owing to tie English
| aud American custom of cooking, pork
! thoroughly there are not nearly so many
! cases of trichiuosis in this country and in
| England as in Germany where close micro
| scopic inspection is exercised, but where
much swine flesh is eaten in sausages and
the like only partly cooked.
But how can these rejected pigs marked
as bad, with the government label, be
put upon the market without the buyer
| knowing what he is getting?
The critics answer that the Government
label simply shows that the meat has been
| inspected, and, rather than condemn it,,
gives the impression that it has been ap.
| proved as good, thus turning into an ad-
| vertise meDt of excellence what should be a
! badge of conde emnation.
The answer from the Department OF
! Agriculture to this is that it is simply a lie
out of the whole cloth. 1t is authorita-
lively stated that the labels put upon the
meat are of two kinds, and that the differ
ence is so clear that child should be able
| TO distinguish between the good and the
| bad. when once the difference has been
! explained.
The department it is said goes beyond
| it's actual authority to secure destruc-
tion of diseased cattle and hogs and their
products 1t is not possible to furnish in
spectors everywhere, and the bureau has
| taken advantage of this fact to make
packers agree to keep condemned meat off
| the market in return for the privilege of
having inspectors located at their abat-
| toirs. In this way bad beef has been al
most eliminated from our markets. and
great headway has been made against
| cattle diseases, butlso far it has not been
possible to get packers to live up to this
| in the matter of hogs having trichinae.
The last appropriation bill, however, has
a clause, which allows the department to
go much further infthe way of protecting
home markets than has ever before been
possible After July l it is promised the
effort will be made to enforce this, and it
only remains for the courts to uphold it as
constitutional and the department. of ami
NAL industry will extend its protection in
a large measure to domestic as well as to
foreign, markets.
-M