Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1906-06-08
The MESSAGE

To the Senate n House OF Repre-.
sentatives--I submit herewith the re-
port Of James Benson Reynolds and
Commissioners Charles p. Neill, the
special committee whom l appointed
to investigate into the conditions In
the stock yards of Chicago and report
thereon to ME. This report is Of a
preliminary nat ] submit It to you
now because 1t shows the urgent need
of immediate action by the congress
In the direction of providing q drastic
and thorough-going inspection by the
federal government of all stock yards
and packing houses and of their prod.
ucts, SO far IS The latter enter into
interstate or foreign commerce.. The
conditions shown by even this short
inspection To exist in the Chicago
stock yards are revolving. 1t Is i'm
peratiyely necessary in the interest OF
health and deceny that they should be
radically changed.
Before ! had received the report of
Messrs. Reynolds and Neill, l had di.
rected that labels placed upon any
package of food products should state
only that the carcass of the animal
from which the meat was taken had
been inspected at the time of slaugh-
ter. II inspection of meat-fOOd prod
ucts at all stages Of preparation is not
secured by the passage of the legisla.
ton recommended, | shall feel com
PEELED to order that inspection labels
md .,ArtiGnnfn, on pannn1 nrnInnfo
shall not be used hereafter.
Under existing law the national gov.
eminent has no power to enforce In.
spection of the many forms of pre-
pared meat-food products that are
daily going from the packing houses
into interstate commerce, and, owing
to a Inadequate appropriation, the
department of agriculture is not even
able to place inspectors in all estab.
lishments desiring them. The present
law prohibits the shipment OF unin.
spectei meat TO foreign countries, but
there is no provision %forbidding the
shipment of ~uninspected meats in in.
terstatc commerce, and thus the ave.
nues OF interstate commerce are left
open to traffic in diseased or spoiled
meats. II. as been alleged on SEEM
ingly good authority, further evils eX-
list, such as the improper use of chem.
icals and dyes, the government lacks
power to remedy them. A law Is need,
ed which will enable the inspectors of
the general go comment to inspect and
supervise from the hOof to the can
the preparation of the meat-food
product. The evil seems to be much
less in the sale of dressed carcasses
than In the sale Of canned and pre-,
pared products.
In my Judgment the expense OF In
spection should be paid by a fee levied
on each animal slaughtered. II 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
public interest in the subject it woul,
be not only easy, but natural, thu.
10 make the appropriation insufficient
IT 1t were not for this consideration
should favor the government payinl
for It.
The alarm expressed In certain quar-
ters concerning this feature should b
allaycd by a realization Of the fact tina
in no case, under such a law, woul
the cast of inspection exceed eigh
cents per head. call special after
ton to the fact that this report
preliminary and that the investigated
is still unfinished. 1t is not yet POI
tible to report on the alleged abuse
in the use OF deleterious chemic;
compounds in connection with cannin
, and preserving meat products, nor @
the alleged doctOring in this fashiO
of tainted meats and OF products r
turned to the packers as having grow
, unstable from age II from other re
!. !. sons. Grave allegations are made
reference to abuses Of this nature.
: Let me repeat that under the pre-
y ent law there Is practically no metht
; OF stopping these abuses II they shou
: be discovered to exist. Legislation
needed In order to prevent the pos
biIity Of all alb Uses In the future.
40 legislation Is passed, then the e
cellent results accomplished by d
work of this special committee will G
dure only SO long as the memory
@ the committees work is fresh, and
recurrence OF the abuse Is absolute
: certain.
urge the immediate ~enaction in
= law Of provisions which will enat
the department Of agriculture to