The Harrison times., 1906-07-21

When the president had sent his
packing house message to congress,
accompanied by the report of Neill
and Reynolds, showing insanitary con-
ditiOns and violations of law, the pack
ers replied:
Every pound of meat in our pack
ing houses comes from animals that
are inspected and passed by trained
veterinary agents of the department
of agriculture. This is the absolute
fact. We are not interested in an
imals condemned before slaughter"
If this statement is true as 1t may
be, 1t shows either that President
Roosevelt is mistaken or that his ad-
ministration has been conniving at the
very things he now pretends to con
denim, so that his words have not been
backed up by his acts. The packers
statement is cOrrObOrated officially by
the records Of the department of agri-
culture and the war department In
the bureau of animal industry of the
agriculture department there is not a
scrap of paper on file rejecting in any
way on the conduct of the packers.
though hundreds of men are paid by
the government of the United States
to inspect all the processes and prod
uctS of the packing business and see to
it that none but wholesome and clean
meats were allowed to be sent out of
the state to consumers. This has been
the case for years, and the administra-
ton, If its present charges are true
has been deCeiving the people by means
of false whitewashing reports ever
since the Spanish war began. And it
must have done so knowingly and sys-
tematically, for General Nelson \.
Miles fully exposed the methods of
the beef trust seven years ago and
turned the evidence over to the war
department. Referring to the presi-
dents sudden spasm of virtue and pro-
found indignant ton on the eve of con
gresSiOnal election, General Miles gave
out an interview on June 4, in which
he said:
The disclosures about packing house
products now being exploited are no
news to me. | knew it seven years ago
| told what l knew then. Had the
matter been taken up ut that time
thousands of lives would have been
saved. | believe that 5000 United
States soldiers lnet-th -thairaIive,e, t,..@-..-----
of alulteratcd, impure, poisonous
meat. There is no way of estimating
the number Of soldiers whose health
was ruined by eating impure food
have barrel of testimony on the sub
ject in the way of aftidavits that
collected when | made my inveStiga-
ton seven years ago. The investigat-
ing committee closed the case and re
fused to hear 1000 witnesses whom J
had ready.
Il turned the reports over to the war
department, and a whtewashing in
yeStigatiOn was instituted and success
fully carried out The official report
was that Il colossal error had been
made As a matter of fact. it was a
colossal fraud, and the persons who
perpetrate1 it and were interested in
1t should have been sent to the peniten-
tiary"
Under such circumstances. the presi-
dents action is, in any just view of
it, either political feint or Il cOnfes-
sion that his administration is rpSDOn-
Siblc Tor the very evils he Is now at
tacking, by reason of the incompetency
of the agricultural and war departments
and their cOnnivance at frauds and
other crimes. In either case 1t is evi-
dent that the administration has been
on level with the graft system which
has so long prevailed in the police ad-
miniStration Of certain cities. 1t is
probable that nothing will come OF
these present spectacular inVeStiga-
tiOnS but bill in congress which will
be held over the heads of the packers
until they fill the itching palms of the
Republican campaign managers. as the
corporations in general filled the ROOse
velt war chest in 1904