The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1906-06-07

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and the recrudescence of the abuses Is
absolutely certain.
II urge the immediate enactment
into law Of provisions which will en-
able the department of agriculture
adequately to inspect the meat and
meat food products entering into inter-
state commerce and to supervise the
methods of preparing the same and to
prescribe the sanitary condition under
which the work shall be performed.
therefore commend to your favorable
consideration and urge the enactment
Of substantially the provisions known
as senate amendment No. 20 to the
act making appropriations for the de-
partment of agriculture for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1907, as passed
by the senate, this amendment being
commonly known as the Beverage
amendment"
Abstract of the Report.
The report says that two and one
half weeks were spent in the investi-
cation in Chicago during which I'VE
went through the principal packing
houses in the stockyards district to-
gether with a few of the smaller ones
A day was spent by Mr.. Reynolds in
New York city in the investigation of
its leading slaughter houses"
The report says that in many of the
rooms where water Is used freely the
floors are soaked and Shiny and the
dark, dingy rooms are naturally not
kept suitably clean. An absence OF
cleanliness was found everywhere in
the handling of meat being prepared
for the various meat food products
The parts that are sent from the cool
ing room to these departments where
various forms of meat products are
prepared are handled with no regard
whatever for cleanliness. The workers
climb over heaps of meat, select the
pieces they wish and frequently throw
them down upon the dirty floor beside
their bench.
The report says that the radical de-
feet in the inspection system is that 1t
is confined at present by law to passing
on the healthfulness of animals at the
time of killing but that the meat that
is used in sausage and the various
forms of canned products and other
prepared meat foods goes through
many processes, in all of which there
is possibility of contamination through
unsanitary handling and further dam
ger through the use of chemicals. Due
ing all these processes there Is no
government inspection although these
products when sent out bear a label
stating they have been passed upon
by government inspectors.
The report arraigns the sanitary pro-
visions in the buildings as abominable
and says the men and women plunge
their unwashed hands into the meat
to be converted into food products.
The report says the burden of protect
ing the cleanliness and wholesomeness
of the products and the health of the
worker and improving the conditions
must fall upon the national govern
ment
Department superintendent seem
to ignore all considerations except the
account book" and proper care of the
products and of health and comfort
of the employees is impossible and the
consumer consequently suffers. Tuber.
culosis victims expectorate on the
spongy wooden floors of the dark work
rooms from which falling scraps of
meat are later shoveled up to be later
converted into food products
'In word" the report adds, I'VE
saw meat shoveled from filthy wooden
floors, piled on tables rarely washed,
pushed from room to room in rotten
box carts, in all of which processes
it was in the way Of gathering dirt,
splinters, floor filth. 1t was always the
reply that this meat would afterward
be cooked and that this sterilization
would pervent any danger from its use,
A very considerable portion of the
meat so handled is sent out as smoked
products and in the form of sausages
which are prepared to be eaten without
being cooked.
A particularly glaring instance of un-
cleanliness was found in arroom where
the best of sausage was being prepared
for export"
Even the ordinary decencies of life
are completely ignored, says the report
in discussing the arrangements for
men and women employed. The re-
port says:
The report urges compulsory examin
alton after slaughter, inclusive of
goats, now exempt from inspection.
intended for foreign or interstate conf
merce, in the list subject to the in
spection of the bureau of animal in
dustry, and that they should be equally
controlled by the regulations OF the
secretary of agriculture; increase OF
inspectors for night inspection and
special work; legislation prohibiting
declarations of government inspection
on food products unless subject to gov
eminent inspection at every stage Of
preparation; prohibiting interstate
transportation of any meat or meat food