West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1905-01-05
An Interesting Article on the Meat
and Grain Shipped from
This Country.
Butchering Horses for Food, Cruel
and Blood Thirsty Business.
BY FRAME q. CARPENTER


ally be dependent upon us. as Is John Bull.
The first six months OF last year we sold
her 1000 tons OF meat. 40. 900 tons Of rye
and 500 ooo tons Of wheat
The farmers are objecung to these i'm
ports and they want a tariff. The truth Is
they cannot supply the nation no matter
what their protection is. Their soil is poor
and they lack the labor to work their ss.
tates. The character Of the empire is
changing. A generation ago the majority Of
the people we're farmers. Today two-thirds
OF them are engaged in professional pur.
suits. manufacturers and trade and there
is a steady exodus from the farms to the
cities. The farm hands get low wages. and
the hours are long. rhe factory hands
work less and are paid more.
The army has also cut down the farm en-
ployes. According to law every German
must be soldier at about the time he
reaches manhood. The chief hea dquarters
OF the soldiers are in and about the cities
and the farmer boys thus get a taste of
military life. They refuse to 60 back to
the farms at the close Of their service. and
the result Is that the agricultural workers
grow fewer and fewer. Today the great
part of the farm hands are women. and
much Of the farming is poorly done.
You have seen mention OF the agrarians
in the newspapers. They are the chief en-
emies OF American foodstuffs. They fight
the introduction OF our pork and would like
to put big tax on American breadstuffs.
Before came here ! supposed these men
were hard'hsted farmers like our grangers.
and that their party was a party of the poor
against the rich, of the farmer against the
monopolist. II is not. The agrarlans are
the mobiles OF Germany. They are the land.
holding classes and their relatives. many
of whom are IN Office and many are in the
army
The German empire is divided up into
large estates many OF which have been in
certain families Tor ages. There are also
smaller estates, but many men have In the
past lived off the income Of their farms.
The most OF them are extravagant and
have large families dependent upon them.
Their sons in the civil and military employ
are poorly paid and have to be helped. and
the result Is IL there is not profit from the
estates the whole family goes hungry. me-
taphorically speaking.
Again the soil of Germany Is poor. 1t
cannot compete with our rich lands OF the
West and the landowners are running be.
hind. They have mortgaged their estates
in some parts of Germany to 70 per cent OF
their value and they have an interest debt
to meet every quarter Their only hope is
to raise the price OF food stufs This
means keeping our grains out of the mar
kets which so far they have not been able
to do.
The agrarians are to some extent backed
by the kaiser. He is an estate owner him
self. He belongs to their class and he
knows that he can rely upon them. His
chief officials in both army and navy are
from the agrarians and he would please
them IL he could. At the same time he Is
broad-minded and far seeing He knows
more about the country perhaps than any
other man in it, and with all his idiosyn-
crasies, he is packed with common sense.
lie knows that Germany must have cheap
food IL low wages are to prevail in the fac.
tories and the Germans thereby be able to
compete with the rest Of the world in com
merce and trade.
The kaiser recently said he would not
sanction bread usury'. lie does much TO
hold the agrarians back. and at the same
time helps them whenever he can He
would like to see Germany raise it's own
wheat and rye for fear a war may shut of
outside supplies, but apparently realizes
the impossiblity.
Today the German army subsists largely
on American food It's horses eat Ameri-
can corn and when the troops were sent to
China not long ago they were supplied with
American canned meats. much to the dis.
gust OF The agrauans. This matter was
brought up in the reichstag and II was
shown that the American canned meats
were the cheapest and the best.
The kaiser we'll knows that our meats
are good. He likes American sausa-
ges and American hams and uses them in
the palace. When Admiral Evans was at
Kiel he had the emperor to breakfast. and
at that time tickled his palate with Smith
field ham. The kaiser demanded to know
where il come from and since then I am
told be has ordered a special shipment to
Germany. lie has sampled the canned
meats furnished the army and he knows as
we'll as any one that our meats are good.
lust now the agrarans are making big
!
open and secret. The meat inspectors
sympaihize with them. and our pork Is
thrown out on all sorts OF pretexts
The authorities Of the various provinces
have been practically instructed to dis
eliminate against Americans, to refuse our
consuls statistical information as 10 the
iniractions Of the laws upon provisions and
food products. and withhold from them the
| finding Of trichinae or other deleterions
substances In domestic meats and also the
condition Of human and'animal diseases in
their respective districts Such orders are
secre; ones. but that which have quoted
was stolen by a clerk in ore OF the provin.
cisl Offices and read in political speech m
the reichtag. a leading German paper IN
| commenting upon Il said
What the order really means Is that n
any disease Is found IN any meat sold In
| Germany 10 must come from the outside.
for we want the world to believe that we
have no disease, animal or human. and
that trichinae can only come from Ameri.
can meats
Nevertheless the Germans are now eat.
| ing 5000 900 pounds Of our meat a month
aud they would take millions more II the
sgrarians would let In The chamber Of
commerce Of Hamburg recently criticised
the meat inspection law. saying that Amer
icsn corned beef had been used Tor years
/ by the imperial navy and the general pub
/ lic. and that there Is no reason for object
| ing TO FOO 70 stated shat prize Of 1000
marks was offered two years ago fora case
Of trchinae caused by American meat and
that this had not set been clsimcd "
spoke we'll Of our lard and said that all
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