The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-08
Insists That Slaughter
 Houses Are Dirty.
NTERRo6ATED BY COMMITTEE
Saw Decayed Meat Shoveled Into
 Rotten Boxes.
Manager Wilsen of the Nelson Morris Company Re-Iterates That the Packers Are Anxious for
 Practical Legislation.

Washington, June 1.-The House Committee on Agriculture continued it's hearing on the Neill-Reynolds meat in- spection report today. Thomas Wilson, manager for Nelson Morris and Compa- ny, and representing the large Chica- so packing houses. continued his re- marks on the Beveridge amendment providing for meat inspection. Aside from the objections he had pointed out yesterday, MT. Wilson said the only other serious objection was the provis- lon placing the cost of inspection on the packers.
 As to the cost. Mir. Wilson said the packers had very serious objections to having this expense placed on them.
 We are now under an expense az Frezating S1.000.000 year for condem- nation of animals" he said. Neither tn eraisers nor producers bear any of the loss of condemned stock It all falls on the packers" asserted Mir. Wilson.
 Representative Scott, tKan) sug- Eested that it was generally under stood the packers so controlled the meat market that they would be able to recoup themselves for the cost of Inspection.
 we. could not" replied Mir Will son. "The large packers kill only fif- ty percent of the meat supply of the country and do not control the market"
 Representative Henry suggested that the delinauencies of the packers had placed them in their present position and inquired why should the packers object to paying if the government is to pull you out of tho hole"
 Mir. Wilson objected to this view of ii the case. It was not the fault of the packers. The packers had sent men in- to every hamlet of the world to create a market The packers were willing to comply with any new requirements. but they were now losing money on their English market, and were carry ing if to develop trade q. fs AmNUnsnwt Huraen.
 "BVt we tee1 this to be an unjust. burden and one we ought not to be called on to bear" he added.
 Chairman wadsworth asked if any complaint had ever been made as to The quality of the goods shipped abroad.
 We'll replied MT. Wilson. T could not say no to that question occa- sionally we have a case of goods sent back but we always try to, get hoid of the goods that are the subject of complaint"
 What is the result of your foreign market of the present agitation?" ask ed Mir wadsworth
 "The result is very disastrous" re- piled the witness.
 "Our foreign demand for fresh meats and manufactured products has been practically cut In two. Our foreign competitors are all making the most of this, and are getting the beneft of agitation, and we are standing the loss
 "Naturally" suggested Mir. Wads- worth Eff your foreign demand falls off your purchase of live stock will be less?"
 q do not see where we are to lind markets If our foreign trade Is cut off" answered MT. Wilson.
 Well" continued MT. Wadsworth, "you will not have to buy the stock
 No; but cattle raisers are accus- toned to ship their stock to Chicago and get their money for IL. If this should stop I don't see how we are to avoid terrible calamity in the West, responded MT. Wilson.
 Under the Beveridge amendment MT Wilson said it would be possible for the Secretary of Agriculture to put an inspector at the elbow of every work man and charge the cost to the pack CTS.
 Representative Haugen r(owa) said it was well known that Congress in the past had not made adequate ap- propriation for ts inspection, and he wanted to know if it would not be bet ter for the raisers and packers to pay, say four cents a head. for the inspec- tion of cattle and two cents for the inspection of hogs.
 Ut would he better for us to divide up all we have I suppose. rather than go out of business replied MT. Will son. 'In all reasonableness and fair ness we are paying all that we should be asked to pay"
 Would Create Beef Trust.
 fa iua ted that the Beveridge amendment would put out of business thousands of slaughterers doing an interstate business and would result in creat- ing a beef trust in reality
 pr. Melville. chief of the bureau of animal industry, was asked incidental lv to state the number of government inspectors in Chicago. He answered: {: Seventy-seven veterinaries. fifty-five stock examiners and fifty-five taggers. making 1S7 in all In the whole ser vice he said there are 7S3.
 Solicitor McCabe, of the department of agriculture, brought out the fact that under the law no person could even take a beef steak across a State line if it had not been inspected.
 Mir. Wilson concluded with a renewal Of his invitation to the committee to visit Chicago and bring Mir. Neill with them,
 But don't Iegislate through MT. NeilIs eyes or my eyes, but through your own" he said,
 MT. Wilson made this statement in summing up
 we feel it Is going to be a dificult matter to create a law covering the necessary sanitary regulations regard ing the packing houses that will be constitutional. We feel that such law would be useful as applied to the products when they enter into inter- state trade. We do not want to raise single question. We want a law enacted. We want a good law and a stringent one. We want the sanitary Inspection and we want 1t thorough.
 T do not want the impression to ob- tain that we contemplate any attack Dn any law that may be passed"
 MT. Neill was then put on the stand. He said he wished first to make a statement. Before this Chairman Wsdsworth asked who sent MT. Rey- oolds and himself to Chicago,
 Ir. Scott tKansas). wanted to know "A training Mir. Neill had previously