The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1906-06-09
The MESSAGE

To the Senate and House OF Repre-
sentatlveS-I submit herewith the re
port Of James Benson Reynolds and
Commissioner 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 q
preliminary nature. / 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 ever this short
inspection to exist in the Chicago
stock yards are revolving. 1t is i'm
peratively necessary in the interest OF
health and deceny that they should be
radically changed.
Before l 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-
ton recommended, | shall feel com
nol1aI IN Ordn. thot fncnnofinn 10 hn1c
and certificates On canned products
shall not be used hereafter.
Under existing law the national gov
eminent has no power to enforce in
pared meat-food products that are
daily going from the packing houses
into interstate commerce, and, owing
to an 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.
spected meat to foreign countries, but
there Is no provision ~forbidding the
shipment of u~ninspected meats in In
terstate commerce, and thus the ave-
nues of interstate commerce are left
open to traffic in diseased or spoiled
meats. If, 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 yernment 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
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
each animal slaughtered. If 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 would
be not only easy, but natural, thus
to make the appropriation insufficient.
II 1t were not for this consideration
I should favor the government paying
for 1t.
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. 1 call special atten-
ton to the fact hat this report is
preliminary and that the investigation
Is still unfinished. 1t is not yet pos
cible to report on the alleged abuses
In the use Of deleteriOus chemical
compounds in connection with canning
and preserving meat products, nor on
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-
Grave allegations are made in
reference to abuses of this nature.
Let me repeat that under the pres
ent law there is practically no method
Of stopping these abuses if they should
be discovered to exist. Legislation is
in order to prevent the posi-
bility of all abuses in the future. If
no legislation is passed, then the ex-
results accomplished by the
work of this special committee will en-
lure only so long as the memory OF
he committees work is fresh, and a
of the abuse Is absolutely
1 urge the immediate enaction into
Of provisions which will enable
he department Of agriculture to in