Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-06-11
POISON IN CANNED MEATS.
Famous Washington Physician Shows
the Crime of the Packers.

johnson. trustee of the American
Medical Associa ton. in speaking OF tn'
recent revelations of conditions Ill th'
packing houses
IF person dies of arsenic poison
ing" said DIR johnson. at his home
1921 Jefferson place. the coroner hold'
a postmortem examination and an in
quest in the endeavor to fasten tht
crime of murder upon the guilty party
"But if person dies through eating
the putrid products of the meat pac
which is as certain. though not always
as speedy. a messenger of death. the
public acuuiesces in the physician
verdict Of indigestion, catarrhal alice
ton of the stomach, appendicitis. OF
kindred diseases
The packers responsible for placing
such food products before the people
are morally. and should be held to tt
legally as guilty of murder as the
sneakinS assassin who furtivcly place;
deadly poison in the dish to be partakeI
of by the intended victim.
I'm both instances the helpless victim
is stricken down by an unseen hand
In one case. death quickly relieves ths
terrible suffering. while in the other
instance a slow and torturesome pro
cess is used, robbing the people of theit
health. and making burdensome lives
that should he filled with high hopes
and ambitions
THE terrible dangers of preserved
meats to tho health of the system can
not be exaggerated. neither can tht
deSpicable schemes reSorted to 10y the
packers in foisting off upon an I'M
suspecting public diseased meat, fish
and chickens.
'Puffed cans filled with meat which
has fermented, are perforated, and file
with q solution of formaline. when the
hole is soldered up. and they are put
people.
In PittSburg there was q trial
recently where the fact WAS brought
out that fish and oysters and other sea
food had been stored for fifty-one
months. The proprietor Of the cold
storage house brought suit against the
owners of the four-year-old fish for
storage charges. A counter claim was
put in, charging that the fish and
oysters We're not kept in proper con-
dition, as they We're not in first class
shape to sell after being held fifty-onc
months. A judgment was given the de-
PENDANTS against the storage house
proprietor.
Right in this city a porter delivering
oysters told me that the oysters hal
been in storage three years in this city
and that when they driei out. pint
or two of preservaline was put into the
kegs in which they were kept.
'"The effect of such food on the
human system is such as to produce
either acute Indigestion or q catarrhal
condition of the intestincs, which goes
on to a point where the appendix be-
comes affected. Various grades of ap-
pendicitiS then result. such as catarrha
or rccurrent, or a violent inflammation,
which results in perforation of the in
testines and peritonitis from which thu
patient dies. The catarrh that is set up
by this character of food erodes and
destroys the mucuous membrane of the
bowels, and then the various infectivo
intestinal bacteria attack the muscular
coats and cause Inflammation and per-
fOration.
"McdicalIv. it is reasonable to sup
pose that the Introduction of pre-
servatives or adulterated food into the
body weakens the blood. and is prob
ably largely responsible for a great
deal Of insanity. which is, increasing
with alarming rapidity. Appendicitis
ard catarrhal condition of the StOIna Oh
are mostly met with in large cities. and
not in the hills and mountains. whore
people live on fresh foods. But wher-
ever you find canned foods or pre-
served meats there you find such dis
eases most prevalent. In hotel i'm
Yellowstone Park. where ! was stop
ping. nineteen of the help We're affect
ed with stomach troubles. The cause
was found in a deserted ravine back of
the house where was piled a mountain
of cans from which the menu of the
hotel had been provided"
DIR. Johnson scouts as ridiculous the
cry being raised by the packers that if
the Beverage bill becomes law that
meat products will cost the people
more. He insists that the policy of
the policy of the packers in keeping
beef, Chickens,s and fish food in cold
storage until it spoils is an additional
expense borne by them so that they
car cry short supply when the live
products are not coming into market.
and at the same time have stored mil
lions of pounds of supplies.
Regarding the packing-hou chick
en-. Or. Johnson expresses horror and
loathing at the manner in which chick
ems are packed in cold storage without
being drawn. He insists that the
poisonous excretions in the intcstineS
are forced up into the blood vessels of
the chicken. and that the dark spots
next to the bones of the chickens which
come from the packers is putrid mat
ter poisonous to the system.
No food poison, however. he AYERS, is
so virulcnt as putrid fish. Such Il
poison, he states. acts upon the system
in the same manner as cadaver poison.
which is absolutely deadly.
1T is more dangerous to sell dis
eased carcass in butcher shop" said
he. than to fire a satling gun up the
street. With the gun some people
would escape, while with bad meat all
arc affected more or less
In commenting further upon the
practice of leaving the entrails in
chickens. Dr. Johnson quoted from "A