Evening star., 1909-06-11
"U. S. Inspected and Passed F"
No Surety, Says Inspector

EAST ST. LOUIS. Ill. June 11.-After
eighteen months service as q federal
meat inspector in East st. Louis packing
houses, j. F. Harms has resigned and has
written a letter to Secretary Of Agricul-
ture James Wilson. demanding an tnvos-
tigation of the meat inspection system at
the National Stock Yards.
Harms, who has gone to his home in
Fremont, Ohio. asserts that he resigned
because he could not tolerate the condi-
tfonS he saw, and that inspectors in
charge of the bureau Of animal industry
are too lenient with the packers. He
says no animus prompted his letter.
Much meat that should never go into
food products. Harms charges, is passed
by the government inspectors and goes
upon the market tagged u. s. Inspected
and Passed"
He cites many specific instances In
which animals that had been held by the
inspectors were released by those higher
up in the department. and other products
which the inspectors condemned were
finally passed by the inspectors In charge.
The charges Harms makes are support
ed by another inspector still in the serv-
ice, who says he will testify to their
accuracy before any investigator.
~. S. Inspected" Meaningless.
After asserting that ~. S. Inspected
and Passed. as it appears on products
of all the packing houses. is meaningless
because of the inadequacy of the inspec-
ton. Harms says in part in the letter:
THE inspection at the National Stock
Yards. H.. is costing the people approx
mately 100000 a year. and II Is not ac-
tually worth 81 to them. For when the
word Is passed from the inspector In
charge on to the inspectors actually do
ing 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 a farce Mr.. Secretary, the packers
are getting today from 20 to 80 per cent
of what ought to be condemned and de-
stroyed.
..To illustrate: On April 1. 1909 Drs.
Graham and Stingley retained and con-
demned eleven beef carcasseS for emaci-
alton. On April 2 Drs. Clancy and Mea-
dors released six of said carcasses to the
packers. The remaining five were tanked
and destroyed.
Bad Carcasses Used.
ION the morning OF April was in .
cooler and a packing company superin-
tendent came in. When his attention was
called to the eleven carcasses he said:
Yes, they are a bad lot, and had been
on the floor last evening I would not have
let them come down. but would have sent
them to the tank
packers see and know these things and
acknowledge they are wrong. l nave
seen animals in dying condition dragged
into the killing bed and marked u. S.
Inspected and Passed
IF you please, Mr.. Secretary, have
seen from LOO to 800 pounds OF lard
spilled on the floor which ran down into
an open sewer in the floor. the sewer
outlet being quickly blocked, and said
lard taken up from the floor and out OF
the sewer. both of which were unclean
and insantary.
And your doctors. Clancy and Meadors.
passed same to the packers over the
protest Of the inspector on that foor.
and il went to the public marked U. b.
Inspected and Passed
Upon entering the offal cooler very
cary one morning l found that the rats
had held forth during the night and the
placed some twenty u. S. Retained
tags upon the meat products in that
cooler.
Your DIR. MeadorS released nearly all
of it to the packer and the bulk of 10
went into sausage and found its way to
the public marked u. S. Inspected and
Passed.
Filthy Practices.
Some of the filthiest things imaginable
are practiced In the sausage departments.
such as using bladders for castings with
out thorough washing or cleaning. the
use of filthy tripe In sausage. the use Of
Shiny hog stomachs for casings or con.
tainers, 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 ln