146 BULI^ETIN 65. 



is entirely independent of the packers and who is in no way de- 

 pendent on their good will. 



Then again the existing method of furnishing government in- 

 spectors at our great packing centers only, and thus giving a 

 monopoly to the large operators, cannot be long maintained in a 

 country of equal rights and privileges. The most obvious cure for 

 this evil is to make all packing establishments government insti- 

 tutions, where the small packer shall have equal privileges with 

 the large, and where all carcasses shall be subjected to the same 

 scrutiny and all shall go out with the same guarantee. 



Such a proposition will doubtless be severely criticized both 

 from the medical and economic standpoint. 



On the medical side it will be argued that if the soluble poisons 

 in the meat and milk were as injurious as represented, we would 

 see the evil results on every side and that medical men would be 

 universally cognisant of them. And yet do we not see clearly 

 to-day much that was never suspected twenty, thirty or fifty j^ears 

 ago ? How recent is the acceptance by the profession of the doc- 

 trine of contagion in tuberculosis, in tetanus, in pneumonia, in 

 influenza, in glanders, etc. Are we to suppose that our forefathers 

 were surrounded by fewer evidences of contagion, at a time when 

 no precautions were taken to prevent it, than we are with all the 

 antiseptic and antiz5'motic provisions of the present day ? The 

 facts of contagion were doubtless more abundant in their days 

 than in these, but their attention had never been drawn to them. 

 So now let the attention of physicians and sanitarians be given to 

 the morbid action of soluble poisons of tubercle and evidences of 

 their evil results will accumulate on all sides. It is the scrutiny 

 and not the facts that are wanting. 



The economist will object to drastic measures for the suppres- 

 sion of tuberculosis on the ground of expense. Who is to pay for 

 the municipal abattoirs, the inspectorships, the disinfections, and 

 the indemnities for slaughtered animals ? In return let me ask, 

 who now pays for the constant losses of live stock which the pro- 

 posed system would put a stop to ; for the frequent infection of 

 sound herds by unfortunate purchases of animals that prove to be 

 tuberculous ; for the losses to the nation, to the community and 

 family of the tuberculous one-eighth of all deaths ; for the loss of 



