The Mena weekly star., 1909-06-17
WASIT ONLY A FARCE
RESIGNED INSPECTOR DECLARES THAT MEAT INSPECTOR IS AZ
 soLuTELY WORTHLESS.
UNFIT ANIMALS WERE PASSED
Attention of Secretary Wilson Called to the Practices at St. Louis Pack ing House-sausage Department Es' peclaIIy Bad.

St Louis, June 12.-After eighteen months service as United States meat inspector in East St. Louis pack ing houses, j. W. Harms has resigned and has written a letter to the Secre- tary of Agriculture, James Wilson, de- manding an investigation of the meat inspection system at the National Stock yards
 Harms, who has gone to his home In Fremont, O., asserts that he resigned because he could not tolerate the con ditions he saw and that inspectors in charge of the bureau of animal indus try are too ienient with the packers He says no animus prompted his let ter.
 After asserting that United States inspected and passed as 1t appears on products of all the packing houses, Is meaningless because of the made quacy of the inspection. Harms says in part in the letter:
 The inspection at the National Stock yards in Illinois Is costing the people approximately sl00000 year, and It is not actually worth $l to them. For when the word is passed from the inspector in charge on to the inspectors actually doing the work on the floors that they are getting too many condemned animals and to change the grading, what does that mean? It means that the whole thing is rotten and farce. Mir. Secretary, the packers are getting to-day from 70 to 80 per cent of what ought to be con demned and destroyed.
 ITO illustrate: On April 1, 1909, Drs. Graham and Stingley retained and condemned II beef carcasses for cancellation. On April ? Drs. Clancy and Meadors released six of said ear casses to the packers. Ae remaining five were tanked and destroyed.
 "On the morning of April ? I was in a cooler and packing company SUI perintendent came in. when his atten- ton was called to the II carcasses, he said: Yes, they are a bad lot and had I been on the floor last evening l would not have let them come down but would nave sent them to the tank"
 Men holding good positions with the packers see and know these things and acknowledge they are wrong. have seen animals In a dying condi ton dragged into the killing beds anG marked United States inspected and passed
 Some of the filthiest things i'm aginable are practiced in the sausage departments, such as using bladders for castings without thorough washing or cleaning, the use of filthy tripe in sausage. the use of slimy hog stom- achs for castings or containers, the using of meats that have fallen on the floor and are taken up and used without any pretense of cleaning.
 These are all permitted by those in charge If an inspector calls their attention to any of the wrong he Is told as l was, that the people who eat such stuff are too lazy to prepare any thing for themselves, and aught to have such stuff.
 will give you another instance that happened elsewhere. The meat in. spector in the department held some 5000 or 1000 pounds of cured meats for being sour, and, mind you, four or five other inspectors were called in and they all pronounced the meat sour. Your Dr. Meadors released 1t to the packer.