The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1907-02-15

The story which appeared in the
columns of the Palladium yesterday
| morning relating to the discovery OF
the fact that a bullock slaughtered
at the abattoir was suffering from an
| aggravated case of tuberculosis. caus-
ed much comment throughout the
city. That the finding of evidences
of this dread disease in beef that
| on foot had passed the inspection OF
both the government and city off,
cials caused considerable uneasiness
there is no denying. and the concen-
suss of opinion seemed to be that
there was an urgent need for change
in the existing regulations governing
the slaughter OF cattle for local con-
sumption. While there was no dis
position on the part of anybody to cri-
ticize the local inspector. who is as
well qualified to discharge the duties
of his office, such as they are, as
any of his predecessors, there was "A
most pronounced sentiment that tho
proper city officials should take i'm
mediate steps to throw greater safe
guards about this inspection.
inspected Only One Foot.
Under the federal law all slaughter
ing establishments that conduct an
interstate business must stand for an
inspection Of all animals killed. by
government oficial which begins when
the beef arrives at the slaughtering
point, and ends when its carcass is
ready for shipment The cattle that
are slaughtered by butchers or firms
that do no outside business, but place
their beeves in local retail establish
ments come under the eye of the city
inspector only when on foot. and
there is no provision in the ordinance
governing the Office requirig him to
make an inspection of the meat The
necessity for such an inspection can
be understood when one takes into
consideration the fact that the bullock
condemned at the abattoir "wednesday
was before Ii met death an exception
ally healthy looking animal.
Dr. Wagner on Subject.
There is a growing sentiment in
cities and towns all over the country
for more rigid inspection of cattle,
said DIR. Wagner. government inspec-
tor. in discussing the matter with a
representative of the Palladium, last
evening. II notice that among the
Indiana cities Lafayette has taken the
initiative, inasmuch as the board OF
health there some time ago issued
an order requiring that all of the
rln 1aH /.
place, and that is under government
inspection. No beeves are placed on
sale in that city that do not bear the
government tag. The city of Cincin-
natl until recently experienced n great
deal of trouble with this diseased
meat proposition. The city was pay
ing an inspector 800 per month. A
man was finally selected from the gov
ernment corps at a salary of $4,000
per year, and now a beef or hog must
be tagged either by the government
or the city before 1t can find a sale.
There is a heavy penalty for viola
tion of the ordinance covering this
matter
Many Hogs Condemned.
When I first came to Richmond
some months ago was informed that
/ would not have much to do. since
there were no diseased cattle In this
section of the country. but ! soon dis
covered that my informant was mis-
taken. There are diseased cattle ev-
erywbere, although I will say. not
nearly so many here as I have found
in a number of other places. / have
several hogs Of late.
like the bullock they pre-
sented a most healthy appearance,
and on foot would have passed in
spection anywhere. I have also had
some trouble with immature calves.
Their meat is very poisoness and
bound to cause more or less sickness.
lay at the condemnation of the bull
lock told me afterwards that to his
knowledge several beeves whose in
testines had presented the same APP
pearance az those OF this bullock had
passed inspection in the past. but
there was not the slightest suspicion
1n the part of anybody that they were
afflicted with tuberculosis. He ex-
pressed great regret over the fact that
his had happened.
Other Cattle Affected.
II understand that there are num-
,er OF fine looking beeves on the farm
rom which this bullock came. and !
I'm pretty well satisfied that they are
III more or less afflicted with tuber-
.ulosis The man who owns them
yves IL to himself and family and the