The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-16
PUBLIC MUST
 BE CONFIDENT OF LIVE STOCK
Federal Meat Inspection Guarantees Wholesome
 ness of Food.
MEAT PACKERS
 GET ADVICE
Told That Government Supervision is Only Worth
 While Kind.

Washington, Sept. 1G-The sta bility of the live stock and meat in dustries of this country depends on public confidence. and until the pub lie has assurance chat all of its meat IS wholesome the work of establish ing public confidence will be incom- pIete. At present about two-thi-ds of the meat supply is federally in spected and stamped accordingly by the United States Department of Az ricultUre, but until something effect i've is done toward insuring proper inspection of the remaining one third which is slaughtered and sold entirely within state boundaries and over which the national government has no direct authority, the public, as a whole. can never feel certain that the purity and wholesomeness of it's entire meat supply is assured.
 Those statements were emphasized by Dr. John k. NIOhIer. chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States Department of AgriCul- ture. in an address on Sept. 16. be- fore the American Meat Packers As sociation in session at Atlantic City. The Bureau of Animal Industry, he said, has just completed a survey If municipal and state meat inspection. Where inspection is maintained it is frequently incomplete. Less than one-fOurth of the cities reporting indicated that ante-mortem eXamina- , tions are made and in many cases little assurance was furnished that ] condemned meats are actually with 1 held from distribution.
 | If your association has not aI- ready taken an active interest in mu- | nicipal and state inspection,' Dr. | NIohler continued, my remarks | would be incomplete if I did not urge i upon you a close study of the condi- I tions and problems"
 | The days of resisting inspection, he i said are past, a is the idea that a mere pretense of inspection is ac- l ceptable to the public The destruc- ton of condemned meat, he insisted is no more wasteful than condemning the use of wooden cars in a train oi steel cars.
 Any inspection worthy of the name | Dr. Mohler stated. must be thorough including an examination both before and after slaughter and study ot the organs as well as the meat itself Such inspection can be given at low cost. The Bureau of Animal Indus
 try, maintains its very thorough in. spection service at a cost to the peo
 pie of less than six cents for ever
 animal slaughtered. That amour covers both ante-mOrtem and post
 mOrtem inspection and the final ex
 animation of the finished products.
 Federal inspection applies to al
 slaughter houses and packing plant engaged in interstate or expor | trade Where the products of the es
 tablishment are consumed entfreI
 within the state the national govern ment has no authority to inspect tn
 animals it slaughters or the product
 it sends out. It has been found tha federal inspection covered, in 1918
 75.1 per cent. of cattle slauEhtered
 an increase of 13.7 per cent. over tn
 corresponding figure in 1914. In tn
 samep eriOd the per capita consump D
 tion of beef increased 13.3 per cent
 pr. Mohler thinks that, while tn
 similarity of the figures may b
 largely a coincidence, it is logica
 that federal inspection of meats ha
 had something to do with the amour . which people eat. In view of sue
 conditions, he said, it is obvious fror
 the standpoint of public service tha plans should be made that will in
 sure the people of the country whole
 some meat and ample supply. He toI
 of woman who recently appeare
 before the city council of San Diego
 Cal, which was debating changes i
 local meat regulations. She told tn < | council there were three reasons wh
 she did not want to see anything bu |. government inspected meat in Sa Diego, and thereupon introduced he three children to the council Sh - explained that Uncle Sam demande | federal inspected meat for his so | diers and sailors and that her chi
 dren were just as valuable to her a - Uncle Sam's were to him.