The Elbert County tribune., 1906-06-07
WANTS new Law
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE ON PACK
ING HOUSE ABUSES.
PRESENTS SPECIAL REPORT
Says Conditions in Chicago Stock
Yards Are RevoItins-ursent Need
or Immediate Action by Congress


OF Immediate Action by Congress
Must Have Thorough Inspection.
Washington.-The President on Mon
day sent the following message to the
Senate and House of Representatives:
Il transmit herewith the report of
Mr. James Bronson Reynolds and Com
missioner Charles P. Neill, the special
committee whom / appointed to inves-
tigate the conditions in the stock yards
OF Chicago and report thereon to me.
This report is of preliminary nature.
Il submit 1t TO you now because it
shows the urgent need of immediate
action by the Congress in the direction
of providing drastic and thorough
going inspection by the federal govern
ment of all stock yards and packing
houses and of their products SO far as
the latter enter into interstate or for
eign commerce.
THE conditions shown by even this
short inspection to exist in the Chicago
stock yards are revolving. 1t is imper-
atiyely necessary, in the interest of de-
cency, that they should be radically
changed.
Under the existing law 1t is wholly
impossible to secure satisfactory re-
suits.
when my attention was first di-
rected to this matter an investigation
was made under the Bureau of Animal
Industry of the Department of Agricul-
ture. When the preliminary state
ments of this investigation We're
brought to my attention they showed
such defect in the law and such wholly
unexpected conditions that ! deemed 1t
best to have further immediate in
vestigation by men not connected with
\, h,,,- La fnf aA
Messrs Reynolds and Neill. 1t was
impossible under the existing law that
secret work should be done by the Bu-
reau 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 l had di-
rected 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 legis-
lation recommended, shall feel com
PEELED to order that inspection labels
and certificates on canned products
| 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 preparing food
products is uncleanly and dangerous
to health. Under existing law the ma
| tional government has no power to en-
| force 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 De-
| partment of Agriculture is not even
able to place inspectors in all establish
ments desiring them. The present law
| prohibits the shipment of uninspected
meat to foreign countries. but there is
| no provision forbidding the shipment
| of uninspected meats in interstate
| commerce, and thus the avenues of in
| terstate commerce are left open to traf-
| fic in diseased or spoiled meats. If, as
| has been alleged on seemingly good au-
| thority, 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 en-
| able the inspectors of the general gov
ernment to inspect and supervise from
| the hoof to the can the preparation OF
| the meat food products. The evil
seems to be much less in the sale of
| uTeSSeu CdICdSSto iiidii III thC Soic VI
| canned and other prepared products,
and very much less as regards prod
ucts sent abroad than as regards those
used at home.
"In my Judgment the expenses of
| the inspection should be paid by fee
levied on each animal slaughtered. III
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
| interest in the subject 1t would not
only be easy but natural to make the
appropriation insufficient. If it were
not for this consideration. should ia
vor the government paying for the in
spection.
81 call special attention to the fact
that this report is preliminary, and
| that the investigation is still unfin-
ished. 1t is not yet possible to report
on the alleged abuses in the use of del
| eterious chemical compounds in con-
nection with canning and preserving
| meat products. nor on the alleged doc
toring in this fashion of tainted meat
and of products returned TO the pack
ers as having grown unstable or un-
stable from age or from other reasons.
Grave allegations are made in refer
ence to abuses of this nature.
Let me repeat that under the pres
ent law there practically is no method
of stopping these abuses If they should
be discovered to exist. Legislation is
| needed in order to prevent the possi-
bility of all abuses in the future. II
no legislation is passed, then the ex-
cellent results accomplished by the
work of this special committee will
only endure so long as the memory of
the committees work is fresh, and
recrudescence of the abuses is abso-
lutely certain.
Il urge the immediate enactment
into law of provisions which will en-
nh th1, Ilor ~