The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-06-12

the packers. DR.. Dyson, he said, sus-
gested that Neill and Reynolds go TO
Washington, make no report, but in
form the packers Of the conditions
found, and suggestions for remedies,
then TO wait thirty days and then come
back and see if conditions had not
been bettered. This, he indicated, was
to prevent injury to the trade.
Mr.. Neill said be replied that he
was not authorized to make any trade
or deal, that he did not know what
the presidents plan was, but believed
it was to secure adequate legislation.
DR.. Dyson, be said, in a letter stated
he was authorized to speak for large
Chicago packers. In this letter he en-
phasized the damage that would re
suit TO the farmers of the country by
d~iscrediting the sanitary conditions Of
the packers. The letter gave assu--
ance that the reforms would be made.
Mr.. Neil said he submitted these let
tiers, that the whole chapter might be
complete and, for the further easoa
that Mr.. Wilson had made repeated
statements that the packers wOulC
welcome legislation. Mr.. Neill denied
the statement of Mr.. Wilson that the
floors were scrubbed daily. The dir
of some of the rooms was caked Oh
the floor, and had not been washed for
weeks.
Again Mr.. Neil1 was asked.
You take direct issue with Mr.. Will
son on the fact that these rooms were
not cleaned?'
Yes, sir, l do. There were floors
there that were black. There was no
ventilation. Those rooms were not
chilly rooms"
How about the cooking rOoms?'
asked Mr.. Lorimer.
Mr.. Neill said the he remembered 4
particular one cooking Dom was dir
ty, and he remembered walls, partic-
ularly in the entrances, that were
sticky with dirt and a pillar that you
could scrape dirt from with your knife.
There were rooms with rafters fiOnI
ceilings which had nOt been wnlte-
washed in months.
In the boning room, Mr.. Neill sid
he had seen dirt. In this connection
he took issue with Mr.. Wilson's state
ment yesterday. One instance he re-
membered specifically, in the Nelson
Morris house. He saw one of the men
who was just finishing his boning walk
over the dirty floor to a pile of meat
on the floor, climb on the pile with his
feet, knees and hands, pick up a piece,
and throw it fifteen feet on the floor
to his bench, anu as the dinner signal
sounded at that time, he saw men
climb up on their tables, get their
lunches and Sit down on the tables 10
eat. This, he said, was directly under
the eye of the superintendents.
Mr.. Neill said the papers heraldet
their arrival in Chicago and their
presence in the packing houses was
known daily.
Chairman WadSworth took up the
statement in the report, we saw meat
shoveIed from dirty floors into rotten
boxes and pushed from loom to rOon.
How do you know they were rot
ten? Did you test them?"
I'VE felt them and smelled them.
There are floors there he continued,
which all the seas could not wash
! the dirt from"
Mr.. Neill denied that the unventi-
lated rooms applied to the cold stor-
age rooms, as indicated yesterday by
Mr.. Wilson.
When questioned by Representative
SColl as W Vial liz ACoAI " "S
"odor of decayed meats" in his re-
port, in view of the statement Of Mr..
Wilson that from a business PROPOSE
ton decayed meats could not be left
around.
at was certainly an odor of decay
ing meat persisted Mr.. Neill. 1T
may have been from the rotten meat
soaked wood"
This sentence in the report was
read and questions asked. In a word.
we saw meat shoveled from filthy
wooden floors, piled on tables, rarely
washed, from roOm to in rotten
box carts, in all of which processes it
was in the way of gathering dirt
splinters, floor filth and the ~expectora'
ton of tuberculosis and other diseased
workers.
How do you know it was tubercu,
losis eXpectoration?' asked Chairman
Wadsworth.
4 thought So answered Mr.. Neill
Then simplifying he said h mel
there whom he believed were tuDer.
cular. The slipping of a hog into &
privy was made the subject of a col
loquy between the witness and Repre-
sentative Brooks, of Colorado.
Mr.. Neill said he saw the hog fail
and identified a picture of the privy. L
was a very filthy one; the hog wa:
put up on the rack and he believed the
hog was never cleaned.
At this point Mr.. Wilson was allow
ed to state that there were men scrap
ing and cleaning these hogs, and tina
none were allowed in the cooling
rooms hat were not perfectly clean.
This was not a case for scraping
it was n for cleaning with IN anti
, septic fluid" replied Mr.. Neill.
Chairman Wadsworth persisted tina
this hog case contained the essence G
the whole report The statement wa:
positively made in the report that tht
hog was not cleaned, he said, when a!
a matter of fact Mr.. Neill had ad
mitted he had not followed the hog t.
ascertain absolutely the fact he has
stated.
Going back to the statement regard
ing the tuberculosis spittle ON tn