Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1906-06-14
OUT AT LAST.
NeiII-ReynoIds Report on
Meat Horrors.
The President Sends with 1t a Mes
sage Urging the Passage of a
Drastic Inspection Law.
The Senate and House of Represen-
tatives:


tatives:
| transmit herewith the report of
MIR. James Bronson Reynolds and
Commissioner Charles =. Neill, the
special committee whom | appointed
to investigate into the conditions in
the stock yards of Chicago and re-
port thereon to me. This report is Of
preliminary nature. | submit it
to you now because it shows the ur-
gent need of immediate action by the
congress in the direction of providing
drastic and thoroughgoing inspec-
tion by the federal government of all
stock yards and packing houses and
of their products, 50 far as the latter
enter into interstate or foreign com
merce. The conditions shown by
even this short inspection to exist in
the Chicago stock yards are revolving.
1t is imperatively necessary in the
interest OF health and Of decency that
they should be radically changed.
Under the existing law it is wholly
impossible TO secure satisfactory re
suits.
When my attention was first direct
ed to this matter an investigation was
made under the bureau of animal in
dustry of the department Of agricul-
ture. When the preliminary state
meuts of this investigation were
brought to my attention they showed
such defects in the law and such
wholly unexpected conditions that |
deemed it best to have further i'm
mediate investigation by men not
connected with the bureau, and ac-
,t,4 i \ l.
and Neill. 1t was impossible under
the existing law that satisfactory
work should be done by the bureau Of
animal industry. | am now, however.
examining the way in which the work
actually was done.
Before | had received the report of
Messrs Reynolds and Neill | had
directed that labels placed upon any
package of meat food products should
state only that the carcass of the ami
NAL from which the meat was taken
had been inspected at the time of
slaughter. If inspection of meat food
products at all stages of preparation
is not secured by the passage of the
legislation recommended | shall feel
compelled to order that inspection
labels and certificates on canned pro
ducts shall not be used hereafter
The report shows that the stock
yards and packing houses are not
kept even reasonably clean, and that
the method Of handling and prepar-
ing food products is uncleanly and
dangerous TO health. Under existing
law the national government has no
power to enforce inspection of the
many forms of prepared meat food
products that are daily going from
the packing houses into interstate
commerce. Owing to an inadequate
appropriation the department of agri-
culture is not even able to place in
ispectors in all establishments desir-
ing them. The present law prohibits
the shipment Of uninspected meat to
foreign countries, but there is no pro
vision forbidding the shipment of un-
inspected meats in interstate com
merce, and thus the avenues of inter
state commerce are left open to traffic
in diseased or spoiled meats. If. as
has been alleged on seemingly good
authority further evils exist, such as
the improper use of chemicals and
dyes, the government lacks power to
remedy them. A law is needed which
will enable the inspectors of the gen
eral government TO inspect and super
wise from the hoof to the can the pre-
paration of the meat food product.
The evil seems to be much less in the
sale of dressed carcasses than in the
sale of canned and other prepared
products.
In my judgment the expense of the
inspection should be paid by a fee
levied on each animal slaughtered. If
this is not DONE the whole purpose Of
the law can at any time be defeated
through an insufficient appropriation:
and whenever there was no particular
public interest in the subject it would
be not only easy but natural thus to
make the appropriation insufficient.
If it were not for this consideration |
should favor the government paving
for it.
| call special attention to the fact
that this report is preliminary, and
that the investigation is still un-
finished. 1t is not yet possible to re
port on the alleged abuses in the use
of deleterious chemical compounds in
connection with canning and presery
ing meat products, nor On the alleged |
doctoring in this fashion of tainted |
meat and of products returned to the |
packers as having grown unstable or |
unusable from age or from other rea-
sons. Grave allegations are made in |
reference to abuses of this nature.
Let me repeat that under the pres
ent law there is practically no method |
of stopping these abuses if they |
should be discovered to exist. Legis- |
lation is needed in order to prevent |
the possibility of all abuses in the |
future. If no Legislation is passed. |
then the excellent results accom- |
plished by the work of this special |
committee will endure only so long
as the memory OF the committees |
work is fresh, and a recrudcscence of |
the abuses IS absolutely certain.
nrnn rLn i'm N Cd 70 L., l.r,n.t....-..L |