New-York tribune., 1906-07-01
MAYOR DUNNE'S REM EDY
Control of Abattoirs-
English Meat Inspection.
London, June 20.

houses of the English type cannot be based
on actual knowledge II he had accurate in
formation he would lay more stress on sys-
tematic inspection the main safeguard
against unsound and diseased meat and other
food products, and attach less Importance TO
municipal management OF slaughter houses
When the Public Health act was passed by
Parliament about thirty years ago stringent
measures were provided for the inspection of
meat. and municipalities and. urban councils
were allowed at their discretion to build and
operate slaughter houses. About 1890 these
laws were amended so as to enable the local
authorities in London and elsewhere to inspect
slaughter houses, to close them If improperly
conducted and 10 license the business for a linn
tied period. These measures are enforced sys-
tematically. yet experts like Professor Fleming
have declared that at least per cent Of British
cattle are tnberculous, and consequently it is
possible that much diseased meat is consumed
in large towns. These suspicious have been SO
alarming that municipal slaughter houses have
been strongly recommended by the health
authorities in many towns but the bulk Of the
business has remained in private hands subject
TO constant inspection. The Mayor OF Chicago
apparently has had the same resource in reserve
for the regulation OF Packngtown, but he has
neglected to make rigorous use of it, When
suddenly confronted with public agitation he has
cried aloud for municipal ownership as the only
expedient for regulating an unmanageable bugi-
ness Of enormous magnitude
The English precedents for municipal man
agement OF abattoirs are not SO numerous as
Mayor Dunno has assumed them to be- When
the Public Health act was amended sixteen
years ago there were not more than twenty
seven public slaughter houses in the United
Kingdom. and some OF these were I'm small
towns. About fifty towns have incurred debt
for the construction OF abattoirs, and perhaps
| twenty more have established them without bor-
rowing money for them: but many OF these are
small communities. The annual receipts for
fifty OF these public abattoirs do not aggregate
more than 100000. so that the business from
the point Of view OF the Chicago packers fs in
significant. The bulk OF the slaughtering for
London with its immense population, is done in
private slaughter houses under fairly close in
| spection AT Deptford and Isngton the slaugh
ter1ng is supervised systematically by off,
Gals OF the city corporation that the business is
considered semi-publc. although not in a strict
sense municipalized. Inspection is virtually the
only safeguard against improper food supplies
in the metropolis. Glasgow has a series OF
slaughter houses at the foreign cattle wharf and
elsewhere. and Edinburgh and Dundee also have
municipal system OF abattoirs admirably con-
Quoted Manchester. Leeds Brighton, Black
pool Exeter Reading and other English cities
have municipal slaughter houses; but the sys-
tenn is not yet general, although reforrners as
sert that il is likely to become so in the large
| towns.
1he improvement in public health brought
about during recent years through regulation
| or the food supply must be attributed mainly 10
systematic inspection. Municipal ownership
| has been an incidental effect rather than an
efficient cause. In towns where the slaughter
ing Of cattle and sheep was conducted without
an adequate water supply or in crowded quar-
ters where ventilation impracticable and
offensive refuse could not be disposed of prop
erly the private yards have been condemned and
the business has passed under public manage
mont. In other cities the owners OF private
slaughter houses have reconstructed their estab-
| shments and altered their methods SO as TO
comply with official requirements and to protect
their business investments. The local authorities
have been empowered to send inspectors at any
| hour Of the day 10 slaughter houses and they
have succeeded in enforcing sanitary regulations
There has been a marked dimnutlon Of null
sances and the sale of diseased meat has been
materially reduced Yet salutary as these re-
forms have been. less attention has been paid to
the subject Of public abattoirs in England than
in either France or Germany where the regula-
ton OF the food supply has been more thorough
and scientific. Moreover. while the slaughter
houses have been kept under tolerable SUPER
vision many branches Of the British timed meat
and fish trade have been allowed 20 keep their
houses in such order they considered neces-
sary. The bulk OF this timed business has been
conducted with superficial inspections even In
towns where the abattOirs are under public man
agement and the health officials are most effl-
cient. The most ardent advocate OF municipal
/ ownership in England does not venture to assert
that it is a safeguard against the mismanage-
ment of the timed meat and flsh trade here
Mayor Dunno may fancy that he reform the
abuses OF PackingtOwn In that way but Eng
lish experience points TO systematic inspection
of slaughtering and all the allied timed trades
as the only effective remedy.
When the first versions OF the Chicago
scandals published here the halfpenny
press dealt with the subject in the most sensa-
tional way. charged the packers with converting
offal into tnaed meat and distributing poIsons
under entcing labels over the world. and de-
manded the summar. rejection AZ British ports
OF all food products which were not inspected