The Coconino sun., 1921-01-28
GOVERNMENT BY INSPECTION1 )
 AND BUREAUS MAKE HIGH COSTS

Government by inspection, pursued ad absurdam by this nation and its states, counties and cities, has been found to be closely associated with the high cost of living. Prices of prod ucts are chased like coons to the top branches of the industrial tree by I packs of bureaucratic hounds; and as long as the hounds continue to circle about the roots the prices are afraid to come down.
 There has been great deal of clam or during the last three years about the difference in the price paid to the producer of agricultural products and that which the consumer is forced to pay. Profteering has been charged, but federal and state investigators have been unable to find concrete evi- dence. It seemed to be merely rep etition of the old Scotch maxim that many mickle makes a muckle." Light was recently thrown on the sit uation at banquet given by the live stock interests of St. Paul to the Min nesota legislature. On the menu card at that banquet appeared the follow ing memorandum concerning the off, ficial supervision through which a beefsteak must pass on it's way from the grower to the consumer:
 This beef came from Minne-
 sota herd tested for tuberculosis
 under the direction of the Minne-
 sota livestock sanitary board; was
 transported to South St. Paul by
 railroad under direct supervision
 of the Minnesota railroad and
 warehouse commission and the in-
 terstate commerce commission;
 was unloaded from the car under
 supervision of the western weigh
 ing association and humane soci-
 ety; was consigned to and sold by
 commission firm bonded to the
 state, the Exchange and Stock
 yards company, under supervis-
 ion of the United States bureau
 of markets, Minnesota department
 of agriculture, Minnesota railroad
 and warehouse commission, South
 St. Paul livestock sanitary board;
 was yarded in pens and handled
 through public stockyard where
 all rates, rules, regulations and
 business practices are regulated by
 the Minnesota railroad and ware
 house commission, United States
 bureau of markets, United States
 department of agriculture, Min
 nesota department of agriculture,
 United States bureau of animal industry and conditions supervis-
 ed by Minnesota state livestock sanitary board, South St. Paul board of health and Society for
 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; was weighed by an employee of the Minnesota railroad and ware house commission on a scale un-
 der direct supervision of Minne-
 sota state track and hopper scale
 department; was slaughtered in a
 packing-house where operations
 are supervised by the federal
 trade commission, United States
 bureau of animal industry, Min
 nesota department of agriculture
 and city and county health au-
 thorities.
 Treat it with due respect and
 ask yourself whether or not the
 regulations are sufficient. Per
 haps it is costly-and somebody
 must pay for it. When one reflects that each of those inspectors has to be paid for and that the cost is generally assessed to the possessor of the product when the inspection is made it becomes appar- ent why the consumer pays two or three times the price per pound for the meat that was originally paid to the grower. The cost of all those in spections is greater than the profit of any or all the middlemen through whose hands the beefsteak has passed. It is doubtful whether this could be classed as an exaggerated instance;