Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-02
Copyright in the United States and Great Britain
by Curtis Brown. All rights strictly reserved.)

Copyright in the United States and Great Britain
by Curtis Brown. All rights strictly reserved.)
LONDON. August %, 1906.
- Utility American meat packers
may at least rejoice in having
companions in crime. Examina-
~ tons just made in England by
various sanitary authorities
conclusively demonstrate that English
meat packers and other food manufac-
turers are quite on par with their Amer
lean cousins whom they have so loudly
denounced recently. From every part of
London, and, indeed, from all the big cit
les of England. come reports from sani-
tary authorities to the effect that condi-
tions prevailing in a number of canning
factories, in meat markets, slaughter
houses and butcher shops could not be
worse"
According to statements made over their
own signatures by many of the most
prominent public analysts, meat prepared
and put up by English packers is often
In a condition not only dangerous to pub
lie health, but absolutely poisonous. All
sorts of ruses and lodges employed
for concealing the real nature of the food
stuffs prepared in this country.
When the first announcements of the
Chicago exposures reached England, a
universal shout went up from the meat
packers to the effect that had home in
dustries' been patroniZed there would
have been no cause for alarm. Almost
Immediately the importation of American
canned goods dropped off to an alarming
extent, and the American industry re-
ceived a staggering blow. No opportu-
nifty was lost by British packers them
selves, and the trade" generally, to roast
American products of every kind; and
while wrecking the American market
these packers made desperate attempts
thni rrpfr h<1
fore the public. Stores in various parts
of London displayed big signs reading
NO American timed goods sold here
British products only" and Use honest
British Goods; don't eat vile American
stuff"
But the triumph was not for long. Dr.
F. Cooper. one of the best known medical
men in London. who Is also member of
parliament, and of the London county
council rose up bravely to say in public
that English meat packers and sellers
were as guilty as their American rivals
In statement made to the writer on this
subject DR.. Cooper said:
The public has no conception Of the
nlthy conditions prevailing in most of the
English slaughter houses, especially the
small private ones. Chicago's worst places
could not be any worse than these. Most
OF the small slaughter houses in England
are absolutely without any inspection
whatever; the butchers may Kill when
they like and under whatever conditions
they please. The places literally reek with
filth; they are never properly cleaned up,
and the conditions under which animals
are slain make the meat unfit for human
consumption. l have proof of the sale in
London of the carcasses of animals that
have died of tuberculosis in various parts
of the country.
"As for meat inspection in this country,
1t does not exist The inspectors have no
training whatever-they know nothing
about meteorological or microscopical ex-
animation They only have their sense of
smell to go by. Butchers know this; and
when they have meat which is partiou-
larly bad and smells so loud that oven
an inspector would notice 1t they treat
the meat with permanganate of potash
which kills the smell temporarily-at
least, long enough for the so-called in
spector to pronounce 1t sound.
What with selling tuberculous and rot
ten meat, and with the perfunctory and