The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1906-06-14

! Mr.. Wilson sand ia labe,s were often
soaked on and new ones put on. That.
he declared, was 2 common thing to do
But worn labels did not affect the quail
ity Of the meat IN sound cans.
For the reas2n tleN meat once canned
kept indefinitely 1&nd when Theoretically
. sealed could not aethriorate. Mr.. Wilson
objected to the triat4 OF canning being
ator Beveridge's Amendment. Mr.. Will
! son declared that n can OF meat put up
J to-day would besasIgood az one put up
years hence. SO hong as the hermetical
would be misleading and unnecessary,
for people would demand. unreasonable
as 1t seemed, the meat canned to-day,
J though not one whit isweeter and better
J than that canneh ayyear ago. To the
suggestion that personalities were used
in curing hams. Mr.. Wilson emphatical-
J ly replied that the packers did not do
this. He declared that no borax was
used in curing hams and no preserva-
tives in canning meats. Only one prod
uct, he declared. went out that was
J preserved" Tripe. he said. that was
exported, was put in q nickle that con-
! tanned borax. 1t had also sugar and
salt in it. He said that hams. as was
we'll known. sometimes spoiled next the
bone. Then the bone and any of the
meat was at once removed. Inc
ham was then put back in the curing
room. and IL 1t came out sweet 1t was
\ used for ported ham, or for anything
that one used homeless hams, but the
meat was sound and sweet. The regular
homeless ham was perfectly sound. he
declared.
! On direct question Mr. Wilson said
that he represented the following COM
panies, regardless OF where they were
located and that all the large packing
houses followed exactly the same meth
DDS in their canning, curing and han
ding all meat products. The firms he
represents are the Armour interests and
Swift's. and the Hammond interests, the
Anglo-American, Fowler Brothers. Mel
son Norris & Co., the Schwarzchild &
Sulzberger Company. the Cudahy Pack
ing Company, and Mcneil and Libby.
!, He declared that the statements he was
4 making applied to all these packing
houses, and that he was personally ia
miliar with all conditions. Mr.. Wilson
said that diseased hogs were sold to
render into soap fat and for fertilizing
/ purposes and never made into lard. He
declared emphatically that the lavatory
and closet arrangements were not at all
as stated by Messrs. Neill and Reynolds.
and he had photographs to show that 1t
! would be physical impOssibility for "a
hog to have fallen and slidden into the
| closet as stated in their reports. Mr..
various photographs showing the rooms
were shown. but reiterated that Il: was
| SO and he saw it,
| AS to the dirty windows complained
OF. Mr.. Wilson said that at this season
of the year there were no windows in
| the packing-houses, all having been
| taken out for better ventilation. He
| demonstrated that the flooring Of the
stock yards was OF vitrified bricks, and
that they were flushed every morning
| and made as clean as q floor. He also
showed that most Of the floors Of the
| working rooms of the packing houses
| were Of brick. These were flushed and
cleaned every night Of the world. and
two forces OF cleaners were at work all
| the time, he stated He declared that
the statement that ohogs were dumped
out OF the cars and left sinking on the
platform for hours was untrue. Between
| 10000 and 90, hogs came in on the
| morning trains and were put in the
yards, the dead .onAs dumped on the
platform, and these, were carried away
just as rapidly as they could be carted
off. To the statement that the tables
were wooden on which meats were cut
and sticky with grease and malodorous
with decayed meat. Mr.. Wilson said that
common sense ought to tell any one that
meat handled with, the rapidity that
Il
marble tables. al the knives would dull
very rapidly. and they must be kept
| sharp as raZors,3 He said that as busi-
ness proposition; "decayed,rmeat'a1e
about such establishments as the Chi.
cago packing houses would very soon
put them out Of business. I'VE could
not afford it," he declared. 1--WE cannot
have decayed or spoiled meats about
| anywhere" He declared that Mr. Neill
had got his statements, IL not his ideas,
| bouleversed.
Mr.. Wilson declared that, II Messrs.
| Neill and Reynolds had come around
| the packing-houses at o'clock in the
| morning and seen the clean floors and
tables, all scrubbed and secured over
night. he didn't believe that they would
| have said SO much about dirt and lack
| OF sanitation. He said that by noon
| things were greasy and they smelled.
That grease and smells could not be
helped under the conditions. but once
| day, he declared, everything was clean
and moderately sweet smelling.
Stock Diseases.
There was much palaver over the diff
ferent kinds OF diseases that live stock
| can be afflicted with, and how 1t may
| be discovered and how the Government
| Inspectors treated such carcasses, tag
| ging them and branding them reject
ed" and a heap of talk about "ft and
| unfit food" and the meaning Of "un-
| sound" and all that, and old Noah Web
| ster was consulted for definitions and
| found unreliable for legal points.
Then they got back to preservatives
again. and the Chairman Of the Com
mittee expressed his Indignation because
while passing through Pennsylvania on
dining car last week he asked for
Worcestershire sauce for some fish he
was eating and 1t was refused him, be-
| cause Pennsylvania has a law which de-
clares that Worcestershire sauce Is "un-
wholesome" He declared against a law
that made stringent regulations like
that. He said that Minnesota and Wis
consin had the same Jaws. "Preserva-
| tiYeS.' the law calls them. Mr.. Wilson