Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-05
IMPROVEMENT IN METHODS
Better Sanitary Conditions Now Pre-
vail
THE TESTIMONY OF OBSERVERS
New Meat Inspection Law Will Be-
come Effective October Sec
rotary Wilson's Visits.

After the first day OF October next every
piece of meat which leaves packing house
or slaughter house will bear brand or
label marked ~. S. inspected and passed"
And according to the regulations which
were Issued by the Secretary of Agriculture
the other day this brand or label will be a
notification TO the world that the United
States absolutely guarantees. under its Off
cial seal that the product is clean, whole
some and that 1t was packed and slaugh-
tered under the most careful sanitary con-
ditions which the ingenuity of man can
devise.
According to the census reports of the
year 1900 there were 929 packing plants in
the United States The total capital invest
ed in the industry was 1927 .699, 40 and the
value of the annual product of these estab-
lishments reached the enormous total of
1913, 914, ga. or course this included a great
many small establishments which are not
affected by the Wadsworth- Beverage law
and the Secretary of Agriculture is not pre-
pared to say at present just how many of
these plants will be subject to government
inspection, but the Secretary does say, and
he says II with a great deal or emphasis
that no establishment which fails to provide
Itself with government inspectors VIII be
permitted to ship ham, a quarter of beef
or can of goods, in which meat enters as
component part, to any place OUTSIDE the
1t first provides for government inspection.
To Go Into Effect October /.
The new law will be put into full force
and effect on the first day of next october.
On that day every ham, every side of beef
every strip of bacon, every can of lard, every
package of meat food products. in fact,
every article of food of which meat forms
q part whether in a barrel, box, can or can
Nroa in nv n
or loose, must bear government stamp be-
fore railroad company will accept 1t for
shipment to point outside the state IN
which it was prepared.
Secretary Wilson is thorough in every
thing he does, and he is particularly thor
ough in his examination into the conditions
OF the packing houses which will ask for
government inspection. e has visited half
dozen cities already, and has seen for HIM
self what the conditions are He has taken
the SAY so" of no employe, but has gone
direct to headquarters and has looked for
himself into the situation. The ecretary
has satisfied himself to existing condi-
tons He knows just what Improvements
have been made and he is prepared TO re-
spond Immediately to any request which
comes for the installation OF the govern
ment inspection service in each and every
plant. Up to date somewhere between a
hundred and a hundred and fifty packing
houses have applied for government inspec-
ton. The Secretary is somewhat surprised
that the number is not greater and he does
not hesitate to express himself as beilevlnS
that many establishments VIII regret their
hardness when II IS too late. In the mean
time he proposes to continue his personal
investigation. He may drop into the slaugn-
ter houses of Buffalo next Tuesday and to
look into the canneres of New York on the
following day, and then to run up to Bos-
ton. and from there to Omaha, Kansas
City and Fort Worth. No one VIII be ad-
vised as to his itinerary, for the reason that
he wants to see Just how things are con-
Quoted under normal conditions. Thus far
he has found an exceedingly satisfactory
state of affairs wherever he has gone. he
was in Chicago two or three weeks ago,
and while there he held consultations with
the federal inspectors in charge OF prac.
tically all of the big packing centers or the
country and the general conditions reported
nv these men were eminently satisfactory,
the two exceptions being Kansas City and
Buffalo
Chicago Packinghouses Inspected.
During the discussion of the meat In
spection law by the House committee on
agriculture eight of the largest slaughter
ing and packing concerns In the United
States united in publishing a page a6ver-
tisement throughout the country, In which
they Incited the general public to visit the
plant and "see for yourself what the con-
dIticns are" In response to this advertise
ment a wel-known man OF washington,
being IN Chicago, took occasion 10 make
thorough inspection Of the packing indus
try' -Four DAYS were spent in the stock
yards and Paeklngtown, and during those
four days every possible portion OF the
plants. from the platform upon which the
livestock Is unloaded. through the killing
room, the cooling room and the canneries.
even to the cellars and the watts In which
condemned carcasses are converted into
fertilizers, were examined and examined
thoroughly.
There Is nothing pleasant about a slaugh-
terhouse. The letting Of blood of any ami
L. l., Id
IN the head IS unconscious when the keen
edged knife Is drawn across It's tender
throat. and the death of such an animal
does not create the horror which one feels
II he has the slightest sentiment OF hu-
mainly in his makeup upon witnessing the
slaughter OF sheep, q lamb or a calf. But
the cutting OF the jugular vein of 80 hogs
an hour causes feeling OF revulsion 10
one who witnesses the operation: and $50
hogs an hour is the record OF some OF the
expert butchers. Still. the operation. as
conducted in the Chicago stock yards, is
quick and thorough and consequently In
finitely more human than such a process
could possibly be as conducted on the farm
or In the ordinary butcher shop.
But ii Is after the actual slaughter that
the witness becomes impressed with the
scientific modern methods Of the big estab-
nshmerts for, from the time the animal,
which is 20 be converted into human food
leaves the floor upon which he is killed I'M
I'll Il Is finally cut up In the cooling room,
II never again leaves the trolley. which in
the case OF hogs moves continuously from
the scalding vat TO the room of final dispo-
sitOn
Slaughter and Inspection.
II takes forty-seven men 10 dress a steer
and the time occupied in the operation is
thirty-two minutes. But, although a hog
is smaller animal. he passes by and
through the hands OF no less than a hun
dred and thirty-two men from the time he
touches the killing floor until his carcass
finally reaches the chill room. and besides
this small army of employees the swine
passes and is examined by three govern
ment inspectors. The first one examines
the carcass for the first symptoms of tliber-
culosis, which is always shown In the sub
maNillary gland. Should LESSONS of this dis
ease appear the hog is decorated with a
government tag The second inspector ex-
amines the Interior department OF the
'porker," and IL he finds symptoms of
other disease he adds ring 10 that tag
and. finally. when a bunch OF tagged ami
mails are shunted of from the main troll
ley Into specially prepared room they
pass Into the third inspectors Jurisdiction
and he makes final disposition OF them.
Perhaps he will find that the disease
LESSONS do not extend beyOnd the first