The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-16
Tart Letter in Answer
 to President.
COMPLAINT AGAINST MEAT BILL
Executive Thinks It Too Favorable
 to the Packers.
Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture says He and His Col-
 leagues are as Honest as
 the Occupant of the White House.

washington, June 15.-Chairman wadsworth, of the House Committee on AgriuIture, made public the correspond ence between President Roosevelt and himself regarding the meat inspection bill prepared by the Committee.
 The President in his letter says that almost every change in the House amendment were for the worse as com pared with the Senate amendment and ih his Judgment so framed as to minimize the chance of roofing out the evils in the packing business. In his reply MT. wadsworth declares the President Is "very, very wrong" in his estimate of the committees bill and calls attention to provisions in the bill and concludes with an expression of regret that the President should feel justified by iR- uendo at least. in impugning the sin- cerity and competency of committee of the House of Representatives. You have no warrant for it. says MT. Wads- worth in closing. President Roosevelt's letter to MT. Wadsworth follows:
 The White House,
 Washington. June IA, 1905.
 
 I have gone over your bill very care fully and not only obtained report from MT. MeCabe as I told you I would, but also obtained a report from NIT. Reynolds on 1t. I am sorry to say the more closely I investigate your pro- posed substitute the worse I find it. Almost every change is one for the worse. so that 1t hardly seems neces- sary for me to enumerate them.
 aVery, Very Bado
 Perhaps the amendment as you have now drafted 1t is not quite as bad as 1t was when you submitted 1t to me in the first instance; but it is very, very bad . There seems to be one point in which it is possible that the amendment is even worse than the original amend ment if, as seems likely, there is no provision for making plants accessible at all hours to the inspectors. In any evcnt, I am sorry to have to say that this strikes me as an amendment which, no matter how unintentionally, Is fram- ed so as to minimize the chance of root ing out the evil in the packing busi- ness.
 Doubtless it suits the packers who object to thorough-going inspection much better than the Senate amend ment and have no doubt that not only the packers but their allies in business and those stock growers who are in fiuenced by them would prefer 1t. But I am convinced it would in the long run be heavy blow to the honest stock raiser and the honest packer to adopt these provisions rather than the far better ones contained in the Sem ate amendment; for as compared with Senate amendment, this proposed amendment which you tell me is that of the majority of the House Commit tee, would hamper in the most grossly improper fashion the Secretary of Ag- riculture in doing the work which you have appointed him to do. and will prevent even so much of this work as can be done at all from being well and thoroughly done.
 Might Not Sign It.
 If the bill should go through in the form that the majority of your Com mittee proposes, 1t might be that I should sign it as working a certain slight improvement over the present law; but If so I should accompany it by. a memorandum explicitly stating how grave the defects were, and can not even promise to sign 1t because the provisions (about the courts as well as about other matters) are so bad that in my opinion if they had been delib- erately designed to prevent the reme- dying of the evils complained of they could not have been worse.
 It seems to me that the surest way to keep our foreign trade from us and indeed our interstate trade likewise in a thoroughly unsatisfactory condition, and to prevent its resuming the posi- tion which it formerly had is to enact the law in the shape proposed in the amendments submitted to me by you.
 Sincerely yours,
 Theodore Roosevelt.
 Hon. James Wadsworth, Chairman
 Committee on Agriculture. House
 ot Representatives
 Following Is the reply of MT. Wads- worth:
 Committee on Agriculture.
 House of Representatives,
 Washington, D. C.. June IS, 1906. My dear Mir. President:
 received your letter last night. You are wrong, Very, very wrong" in your estimate of the Committees bill. It is as perfect a piece of Legislation to carry into effect your own views on this question as was ever prepared by a committee of Congress. Every mem- Der of the Committee is as absolutely honest and sincere as yourself in his desire to secure the passage of rigid meat inspection bill. They know the meaning of the English language.
 Information Unreliable.
 To show you how unreliable the in formation s upon which you base your opinion of the bill, call your atten- ton to the following language in your letter:
 There is no provision for making the plants accessible at all hours to the inspectors"
 If you will turn to page of the bill (copy enclosed) line ?. you will find the following words: And for the purpose of such examination and in spection, said inspectors shall have ac- cess at all times to every part of said establishments"
 Can the English language be made any plainer?
 Turn also to page 6, line Is, and you will find this language:
 The Secretary of Agriculture shall cause an examination and inspection of cattle, sheep. swine and goats and the food products thereof, slaughtered and prepared in the establishments hereinbefore described. for the pur- poses of interstate or foreign com merce to be made during the night time as we'll as during the day time, when the slaughtering of said cattle. sheep, swine and goats or the prepara-