The National tribune., 1906-06-14

;, Mr.. Wilson saM oofd labels were often
soaked on and new-ones put on. That.
he declared, was. a common thing to do
, But worn labels did not affect the quail
ity of the meat In sound cans.
For the reason th.ft meat once canned
kept indefinitely and when hermetically
, sealed could not l6etBriorate, Mr.. Wilson
objected TO the Sflate of canning being
placed on the bill. as indicated by Sen
ator Beveridge's amendment. Mr.. Will
: son declared that a. can of meat put up
, to-day would besasIg good as one put UP
years hence. so long as the hermetical
: sealing continued sound. Hence dates
would he misleading and unnecessary
for people would demand. unreasonable
as 1t seemed, the meat canned to-day,
: though not one whit sweeter and better
than that canned ayyear ago. To the
suggestion that preservatives were used
in curing hams. Mr.. Wilson emphatical-
ly replied that the packers did not do
this. He declared that no boraX was
used in curing hams and no preserva-
tives in canning meats. Only one prod
uct, he declared. went out that was
Il preserved" Tripe. he said, that was
exported, was put in a nickle that con-
tanned borax. 1t had also sugar and
salt in it. He said that hams, as was
well known, sometimes spoiled next the
bone. Then the bone and any of the
tainted meat was at once removed. The
ham was then put back in the curing
room. and IL 1t came out sweet it was
used for potted ham, or for anything
i that one used boneless hams, but the
meat was sound and sweet. The regular
/ boneless ham was perfectly sound, he
| declared.
| On direct question Mr.. Wilson said
| that he represented the following com
| panieS, regardless of where they were
! located, and that all the large packing
houses followed exactly the same meth
| DDS in their canning, curing and ham
| ding all meat products. The firms he
represents are the Armour interests, and
| Swifts, and the Hammond interests, the
Anglo-American, Fowler Brothers. Mel
son Morris & Co, the Schwarzchild &
Sulzberger Company. the Cudahy Pack
ing Company, and Mcneil and Libby.
! He declared that the statements he was
making applied to all these packing
| houses, and that he was personally ia
miliar with all conditions. Mr.. Wilson
| said that diseased hogs were sold to
| render into soap fat and for fertilizing
purposes and never made into lard. He
declared emphaticaIly that the lavatory
| and closet arrangements were not at all
as stated by Messrs. Neill and Reynolds.
and he had photographs to show that 1t
would be physical impossibility for q
| hog to have fallen and slidden into the
closet as stated in their reports. Mr..
| Neill was very much surprised when the
various photographs showing the rooms
were shown, but reiterated that 81: was
so and he saw it,"
AS to the dirty windows complained
| of, Mr.. Wilson said that at this season
of the year there were no windows in
the packing-houses, all having been
taken out for better ventilation. He
demonstrated that the flooring of the
stock yards was of yitrified bricks, and
that they were flushed every morning
and made as clean as floor. He also
showed that most of the floors of the
working rooms of the packing houses
were of brick. These were flushed and
cleaned every night of the world, and
two forces of cleaners were at work all
the time, he stated He declared that
the statement that ohogs were dumped
out of the cars and }eft sinking on the
platform for hours was untrue. Between
$4,000 and $4,000 hogs came in on the
morning trains and were put in the
yards, the deadb ones dumped on the
platform, and these, were carried away
just as rapidly as they could be carted
off. To the statement that the tables
were wooden on which meats were cut
and sticky with grease and malodorous
with decayed meat Mr. Wilson said that
common sense ought to tell any one that
meat handled with, the rapidity that
they handled meats could not be cut on
marble tables. as the knives would dull
very rapidly. and they must be kept
sharp as raZors. He said that as Il busi-
ness proposition "decayed, fmeat'' 1eft
about such establishments as the Chi
cago packing-houses would very soon
put them out of business. I'VE could
not afford it, he declared. I'VE cannot
have lecaVp1 gnnilnn TO a
anywhere" He declared that Mr.. Neill
had got his statements if not his ideas
bouleversed.
Mr.. Wilson declared that if Messrs
Neill and Reynolds had come around
the packing-houses at o'clock in the
morning and seen the clean floors and
tables, all scrubbed and secured over
night. ne didn't believe that they would
have said so much about dirt and lack
of sanitation. He said that by noon
things were greasy and they smelled
That grease and smells could not be
helped under the conditions. but once a
day, he declared, everything was clean
and moderately sweet smelling.
Stock Diseases.
There was much paiaver over the diff
ferent kinds of diseases that live stock
can be afflicted with, and how il may
be discovered and how the Government
Inspectors treated such carcasses tag
ging them and branding them reject
ed" and a heap of talk about ''fit and
unfit food" and the meaning of "un-
sound" and all that, and old Noah Web
ster was consulted for definitions and
found unreliable for legal points
Then they got back to preservatives
again, and the Chairman of the Com
mittee expressed his indignation because
while passing through Pennsylvania on
dining car last week he asked for
Worcestershire sauce for some fish he
was eating and it was refused him, be
cause Pennsylvania has a law which de-
clares that Worcestershire sauce is ''un-
wholesome He declared against a law
that made stringent regulations like |
that. He said that Minnesota and-Wis- |
consin had the same laws. "Preserva-I |
tives," the law calls them. Mr.. Wilson
severely criticised sol he portions of the |
Beveridge bill; but he, like all the 9TH |
ers, declared that "a" bill that would |
be made into law and signed by the |
President would be acceptable. crude as
it might be, because something must be |
dnn 70 fI,1 to-