Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1906-06-07
THE MESSAGE

lHL WLOOhUl
To the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatIres-I submit herewith the re-
port Of James Benson Reynolds and
Commissioner Charles p. Neill, the
special committee whom | appointed
TO investigate into the conditions in
the stock yards of Chicago and report
thereon to me. This report is of a
preliminary nature. l submit it to you
now because it shows the urgent need
of immediate action by the congress
in the direction of providing a drastic
and thorough-going inspection by the
federal government of all stock yards
and packing houses and of their prod
ucts, so far rs 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 inn
p%eratively necessary in the interest of
health and deceny that they should be
radically changed.
Before | had received the report of
Messrs. Reynolds and Neill, 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. If inspection of meat-food prod
ucts at all stages OF preparation is not
secured by the passage of the legisla-
aion recommended, | shall feel com
PEELED to order that inspection labels
and certificates on canned products
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 q 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.
aspecte1 meat to foreign countries, but
there is nc provision %forbidding the
shipment of u~ninspected meats in in
terstate commerce, and thus the ave
nues of interstate commerce are left
open 10 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 so y2rnment 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. If this
is not done the whole purpose of the
law can at my time be defeated
through an insufficient appropriation
and Whenever there was no particular
public interest in the subject it would
be not only easy, but natural, thus
to make the appropriation Insufficient.
/ should favor the government paying
for It.
The alarm expressed in certain quar-
tiers concerning this feature should be
allayed by a realization of the fact that
in no case, under such a law, would
the cast of inspection exceed eight
cents per head. | call special atten-
tion to the fact that this report is
preliminary and that the investigation
is still unfinished. It is not yet pos
Gible to report on the alleged abuses
in the use of deleterious chemica,
compounds in connection with canning
and preserving meat products, nor or
the alleged doctoring in this fashion
of tainted meats and of products re
turned to the packers as having grown
unstable from age or from other rea
sons. Grave allegations are made IL
reference to abuses of this nature.
Let me repeat that under the pres
ent law there is practically no methot
of stopping these abuses ii they SHOULD
be discovered to exist. Legislation il
needed in order to prevent the posi-
bility Of all abuses in the future. |
no Legislation Is passed, then the eS
cellent results accomplished by tn
work of this special committee will en-
dure only so long as the memory o
the committees work is fresh, and
recurrence Of the abuse is absolutel
certain.
I~urge the immediate enaction int
law Of provisions which will enabl
the department Of agriculture to II