Omaha daily bee., 1919-08-18
NEW EVIDENCE
ION SALMON PACK
IS DISCOVERED
Jefferis Will Not Attempt to
Find Reason for War De-
partment Giving Pack
ers Monopoly.
BY E. c. SNYDER.
staff Correspondent of The Omaha Bee.)

Washington, D. c., Aug. l7.-(Spe-
cial Telegram. THE ghost of the
salmon pack of 1918 refuses to be
laid. Although Congressman jeff
eris was assured by the War de-
partment that more than 5O,O00,O0O
cans of salmon packed last year and
purchased for the use of the army
had been returned to the Gamers in
May, 1919, the congressman feels
that if the blame were all on the
Gamers, as represented, there wa3
no reason for the stipulation in the
contract that the government must
store this fish for six months after
May, 1919, free of charge, and in aI-
dition pay 100000 to the Gamers as
refund for marking and Grating
the cases in which the salmon was
stored"
The Omaha legislator felt th0:
there was considerably more behind
this fish story than was told in the
War department letters and subse-
quent events have increased his sus-
picion. A we'll known broker in this
city stated that, as representative OF
the Gamers in this city he had pei
sonal knowledge Of the negotiations
incident to the return of the 1918
pack of salmon; that this pack was
of as high grade as that of any other
year; that if it were not the govern
ment might return the pack without
further contract, as the fish was
guaranteed until July | of this year.
Distributed to Trade.
He further states that 80 per cent
of the pack has long since been dis
tributed to the trade without evil
result to health, and that s per cent
of the salmon was shipped to the
British army and navy canteen serv-
ice, reputed to be one of the strictest
organizations of its kind in the
world. This was done under a pre-
vious agreement with the govern
ment which had requisitioned the en-
tire pack.
This broker declares that the gov
eminent bought heavily of this fish,
because of the statement Of the De
partment of Agriculture that salmon
has as great food value as fresh
meat. He states, after the signing
of the armistice, the "doughboys'
showed very great aversion to
canned salmon and in many in
stances refused to eat it. Thus the
government found that it was pos
sessed of approximately 5O,000,000
cans of salmon, with no demand for
it in the service. 1t was then. the
broker declares, that the inspection
was had and the fish declared bad.
The Gamers, in a meeting with the
government officials in Washington,
proved the fish to be absolutely mar
ketable, the broker maintains, but
agreed to accept the fish under the
terms of the contract.
Results ofsInspection.
Confronted by this new angle of
the fish situation, Congressman
Jefferis Immediately requested that
the bureau of chemistry of the De-
partment of Agriculture, which was
to inspect all the salmon before 1t
was returned to the packers, furnish
a report of the amount now IN
spected and how much, if any, of
the so-called bad salmon was de-
stroyed.
The bureau answered that about
50 per cent of the fish had been in
spected and that the salmon that
passed into trade channels and was~
found adulterated was not allowed
to be sold for consumption. 1t
adds: None of the shipments have
been ordered destroyed. In recogni-
ton of the fact that the preponder-
ating portion of all these lots OF
goods is unobjcctionable, the bu
reau has made arrangements to per
nit the packers to overhaul and de-