The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1906-02-09
WASHINGTON.
Legislative and Gem
eraI Topics from
the Capital.
Feb. ;, 1905.

ne Toes @! bllt NIt EODN
Law have showed their hands in
the Senate by Introducing Il meas
IRE striking ont all bur he enact
ing clause of the Hey burn bill
to substituting for il
a bill prepared by the National
Food Manufacturers Association
Now a national pure food law
has been long and urgently need
ed. 1t touches every man,
woman and child in the country.
especially the children. aud it
is law that no honest manu-
facturer has anything TO fear
from it. 1t has been urged 10y
all the State food authorizes and
by all Of the Agricultural col
legeS in the country The Hey
burn bill was drawn under expert
advice to fill this particular need
and il put the execution OF the
law into the hands of he Depart
mcnt OF Agriculture where it
would be enforced. [; also made
the Department of Commerce and
Labor, the Treasury Department
and the Department OF Justice
PARTIES TO it's administration.
IL was not a measure that any
manufacturer of impure. food
liked. and As they did not dare
to fight 1t in ;he open, they have
prepared substitute which will
he so placed that il is likely 10
die of hamilton. The substitute
measure while on the face of it
is even more drastic than the
Hepburn bill. and leaves a bean
tIful outlet for every retail dealer
in misbiauded and adultrratpd
foods 10y requiring tlat the label
and th" name of he shipper shall
appear only OH the box or crate
il which the goods are shipped
aud not on the packages sold Ia
the consumer. One can easily
see how parcntially protective a
law of this sort W"uld be. 1t
also provides against Publishing
the names of firms miahrduding
4 and adulterating foods aud thus
robS the law Of the greatest of all
safeguards, namely publicity,
The measure has not get cone to
a vote But there Is bound tu
be a lively fight. and the manu-
facturerS have strong lobby
engaged in trying to push the:r
measure through.
Shippers of live cattle who
would gladly make an extra
penny out OF the SutleringS OF
their dumb victims, have en-.
Countered a strong obstacle III
the House in the shape of the
Humane Societies which are try
lug to block what would be a
diSgracefully inhuman law Cat
tie shippers are limited by statute
to 2S hours as the longest haul to
which they can subject the stock
without rest, food or water. This
law was for years dead letter
but it has been enforced by Sec
rotary Wilson for two years past
and the shippers are feeling the
pinch of it. They are now try
ing to get the time extended st
that they can haul cattle 80 hours
without rest, food or water,
claiming blandly that the cattle
suffer less in this way than
through the additional handling
to which they would be subjected
were more frequent stops made.
This is pure sOphistry and is de
signed to make the run lust as
long az it can be made without
actually losing on the weight OF
the beasts shipped Their suf-
ferings are nothing. 1t is merely
question of making the great
est possible profit out of them.
If the decent minded men and
women who are urging a reduc
ton instead of an extension in
the feeding time have h Q r
way, it will result either in the
shippers being forced to put on
cattle cars with feeding and
watering attachments or, better
still in moving the slaughter
houses from Omaha and Chicago
nearer to the cattle raising cen
tiers. The Beef Trust is largely
Indifferent to the outcome of the
fight. 1t does not have to pay
for shipping the cattle and if
the extra expense to the seller
forces the trust to pay a trihe
more for the beef. it will come
out of the consumers pocket
anyhow. Of course should the
slaughter houses have to be
moved, it would entail some addi-
tiOnal expense that would have to
be made up out of the seller and
consumer combined. But the
question of the humanity or the
humanity involved is a mere
Il 4