The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-07
Exhaustive Report of
 Conditions. APPROPRIATIONS INDICATED
Preservativss and Material Are
 Not Unwholesome.
Companies Have Been Improving con 4itions, and Although Things are Not Perfect, stIi Reports Were
 Highly coIored.

Chicago. July e.--The report of the ioinf committee of the Chicago Com mercial Association and the Illinois Manufacturers Association, appointed to investigate the packing industries of Chicago. together with the report of the experts who accompanied them was made public today.
 The committee says: That board of experts of the character employed, with professional ideals and guided and influenced by an aesthetic sense which enbodies something of necessity and something moresor luxury. should find the product wholesome, the wards gen orally clean and the inspection eff cient seems to your committee to cover the situation.
 .As result of this investigation we ourselves have rN hesitancy in stating that the meat products at the yards are wholesome and proper food
 We find that the companies have been improving conditions and products from year to year, that Improvements are constantly being made and will be made and we believe that the condi-s tions and surroundings at the plants carefully protect the quality of the pro- duct.
 List of Experts.
 The experts who accompanied the committee were Dr. W. A. Evans, Pro- lessor of Pathology. University of Illi- nois; Dr. Maximilian Herzzog, late Pa thologist Bureau of Science of Manila, P. L.. pr. M. P. Ravenel, Fathelogist to ths Phipps Institute. Philadelphia; Prof, A T.. Peters, V. S., University of Nebraska, and Prof. M. H. Reynolds. V 6, University of Minnesota, all em- lnent specialists. Their investigation occupied two weeks. during which they made a thorough study of conditions in the stock yards and packing houses as they could possibly make within that time.
 They say that part of most of the plants are up to date, yet. in each of these there are some sections that are ~indifferently good and in most of them some things that they cannot ap- prove of.
 The commlttse can cite no better ev- idence of the truth Of this statement that are now under way everywhere. These betterments relate in some places to minor things and in others they mean a complete rebuilding of old plants. Generally speaking. the more recently built plants are the best and much of the adverse tcriticism has had it's origin in conditions at old buildings which have been added to and adapted to expanding business
 Yet when the committee comes to anAylze the criticisms they find that part of 1t is based on principles that are known and part of it on aesthetic sense and popular demand that food products shall be produced in places conforming to certain somewhat vague ideals. The aesthetic sense embodies something of necessity and something more of luxury, in regard to the lat ter of which there may be a good deal of transformation.
 Examined the Preservatives.
 Nor Is there vagueness and less defi- mite information than in regard to pre- servatives. Even scientists differ on this subject. Your committee has in- vestigated by inquiry, by search and by analysis to determine where pre- servatives were used. It gives the pre- servatives used, but does not discuss the question of the harmfulness of the conservatives employed on the one hand nor the supposedly increased dan gers resulting from the use of unpre- served products, or products differently preserved on the other. It especially commends these questions for further scientific inquiry.
 The investigation of the regulations of the United States and the city of Chicago for inspection of meat, the committee says, was conducted by Doctors Hecktoen, Herzog and Evans, representing the Chicago Medical So- ciety, who had the especial counsel of Drs. Ravenel, Peters and Reynolds. These gentlemen wrote to a number ot scientists and the committee embodied in their report the reply of Professor William H. Welch of the Johns Hop kins University. who said:
 '-In view of the absence of any pos sible danger to health arising from the use of the meat of cattle affected with only localized tuberculosis, or actino- nnyosis (lumpy jaw) of slight or mod crate extent, 1t would in my opinion be extravagant and absurd to condemn the carcasses of such cattle. provided the animals are well nourished anC otherwise in good condition.
 It is, of course, understood that thu diseased part and organs are complete iy removed and destroyed and tha proper precautions are taken to guard against the accidental contamination of the meat with the tubercIe bacill during and after slaughtering A. regards tuberculosis, I consider thai all reasonable demands are met by tht condemnation of the carcasses affect ed with extensive active tuberculosil and with generalized tuberculosis Th' demands solely of public health would doubtless be met by less stringent reg ulations."
 Tn summing up their observations the committee says:
 The inspection of carcasses has beer observed in operation in all of thu houses and very considerable amount of time has been spent IT some cases for hours in succession q the same time and place, studying this demand of the work. There ar' unauestionabJy certain features re Earding which some minor suggestioni and criticisms might fairly be made but in general it was found that thu Inspection of the dead animal up tt the time the carcasses and separated organs passed from the killing room was reasonably careful. thorough anC in general efficient,
 The committee believe that the aate norton inspection Is of far less i'm portance than the inspection of tn 7 dressed carcass, and feel that if eithe mon or funds could be released in par from this and expended for additiona post nortem work an increased efficien cy might result
 The committee considers 1t of the ut