Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-06-07
Packers Otherwise Favor
Passage of Beveridge
Amendment.
SAY THEY SUFFER NOW
representative Makes a Long
Statement to the House
Committee.

Washington. June THE house com
mittee on agriculture continued its
hearing on the NeiIl-Reynolds meat in
spection report today. Thomas z. Will
son. representing a large Chicago pack
ing house, continued his remarks on
the Beveridge amendment providing
for meat inspection
Only Objection Is Cost.
Aside from the objections he had
pointed out yesterday, Wilson said the
only one serious objection was the pro
vision placing the cost of inspection on
the packers We are now under an
expense aggregating S1,000.000 a year
for condemnation of animals" he said.
Neither the raisers nor the producers
bear any loss on condemned stock. 1t
all falls on the packers
Wilson Makes Statement.
Washington. June 1.-THE statement
made before the house committee on
agriculture by Thomas Wilson, mana
ger of the Nelson Morris company, was
a carefully prepared document. Be
sides making a general denial of the
allegations made in the Neill-Reynolds
report TO President Roosevelt, Wilson
also went into some of the details of
that report in an effort to controvert
statements of the presidents repre-
sentativeS.
Cleaned Every Day.
In regard to the interior of work
rooms. Wilson said that any person
would be pleased with their cleanly ap
pearance before the days killing and
dressing is begun. and that persons not
used to packing houses might be dis
gusted with the condition of the same
rooms several hours later. He con
tended. however, that there were no
unwholesome conditions there. Every
day. he said all rooms, tables, trucks
and utensils of all kinds are washed
as clean as water and scrub brush can
make them.
Lighting Impossible.
Speaking of the charge that there
are some rooms where there are no
connections with the outside air. Will
son said Neill and Reynolds doubtless
had reference to the chill rooms, |
where for obvious reasons windows
could not be employed. In answer TO ;
the charge that windows of other rooms |
were so dirty they will not admit light, !
Wilson said that at the time the inSpec-
ton was made by Neill and Reynolds |
the windows were not entirely in order
to let in all the air and light possible.
Toilets Kept Clean.
The charge that there were toilet
rooms off the work rooms was ad- !
mitted and the practice defended as
not being more unsanitary than a
toilet off the bedroom in a first class
hotel, as the toilets were kept in good
condition. Wilson questioned the charge
made in the Neill-Reynolds report that
the carcass of hog had slipped from
a carrier into a privy and had been
picked up and placed with the clean
carcasses. He called upon Neill to
state it did not happen in one of the
big packing houses.
1T did happen in one of the big con-
cerns,' Neill replied emphatically. AL
though requested by members of the
committee to state which one. Neill re-
fused But some of the very things
Wilson has jyst now denied" he said.
happened at Nelson Morris & Co.'S
place
He denied that girls were compelled
TO stand while working. saying there
were places for them to sit down.
Rooms were provided in which en-
pIoyes might eat and all the big pack
ers furnished coffee to the employees
for one cent a cup.
Use Misleading Names.
Considering the Beveridge amend |
ment, Wilson said the packers would
prefer that labels on the can might |
be omitted. Wilson admitted the names
of their products did not describe the |
article. AS an example he said his |
firm sold Oxford sausage, which was
Port sausage sold under the name COX
ford" Another article named Brown"
was simply beef stew. Representa-
tive Lorimer ADDED that Brown con-
tanned beef, pork. potatoes. carrots.
etc. "As a matter of fact" asked Rep
resentative Scott, ''is anything you put
up called potted chicken which is not
chicken?" mo sir; our potted chick |
en- is made entirely of chicken and
our potted turkey is made of turkey