Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-01-03

Washington. Jan. 3.--That half tho
meat eaten III the United States can he
called uninspected and that a real and
serious danger to the public exists az a
result Is one of the conclusions reached
by DR.. A. ID. Melvin. chief of the United
States bureau Of animal industry. In
his annual report 10 the secretary of
agriculture.
Inefflciency of the government In
spection because of its lack OF author
ity to reach business done entirely
| within n state. Is given rs one of tho
| causes. and Or Melvin points out thu
great need of supplementing tho gov
ernment inspection OF meats with state
and municipal Inspections
Reaches Only onc-Half.
| The result of the federal inspection
| is to cause the diversion OF diseased ana
suspicious looking animals TO the un-
| inspected establishments where thny
are slaughtered for the local market,
says tho report.
MANY cities have an inspection
service but very few have an adequate
force and the inspection often consists
| OF merely examining the meat as Of
! fcred for sale In the markets, when IL
| Is usually impossible To detect disease
| the evidence OF which may have been
removed with the viscera or organs"
says DIR. Melvin.
AS a rule. sanitary conditions arn
very bad nj uninspected slaughter
houses. and in order to provide rest
protection against diseased or unwhole-
some meat competent veterinary and
sanitary inspection at the time OF
slaughter Is essential"
inspection Accomplished Much.
| Despite the shortcomings of THE In
spection. 1t has many advantages and
is producing results which are increas-
ing from year to year. DR.. Melvin shows
in his report. With the new law. a
steady Improvement in the sanitation OF
packing houses has been brought about.
and as a result there has been con-
siderable decrease In the amount OF
meat condemned in the inspections.
Notwithstanding the efforts 20 give
n competent inspection. tho service has
been uniustly attacked the report as
serts. The incident at East ST. Louis
| is recalled and Dr. Melvin says tho
/
animus and not in fact In some cases
other attacks were the result of ignor-
ance of conditions or misrepresentu-
| ton OF facts. Thorough investigation
Of some cases OF ptomaine poisoning
charged to meat. proved that in not
| one OF the instances could the trouble
he properly ascribed to that cause In
other cases, typhoid fever had been
IN, r,t, ,,.l,
maine poisoning were circulated.
Such instances says DR. Melv'r
Should be sufficient to show tha
credence should not be placed in 80
ports rejecting against the meat H.,
spect!on"
Little Bad Meat Passed.
In n force OF $500 people engaged l.,
inspecting meat. DR.. Melvin de, ,4ras.
| 1t would not be unusual II some Oh
were found unworthy All men ara =
able to errors in Judgment and c1auo
ering the immense amount OF most In
spected. If 1t should happen that msaf
which should be condemned wsrS
| passed the amount was such an ia,
finitesrnai part of the entire quantity
that 1t did not affect the value and tna
| Integrity Of the service as a whole
MORO imam oo1uoV,uoo ANIMALS ~ efc f
spected at the time OF slaughter dur
ing the fiscal year just closed and more
than 100000 were condemned In whole
or in part On re-inspection more than
25.o0oo00 pounds of meat and meat
products were condemned which had
become unwholesome since inspection
at the time OF slaughter
The inspection service had an appro-
prIation of $4,000, 900 to do business on
during the yaar and cpop+ Q o GO A am