8 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



inspection, yet nobody ever hears of a government inspector 

 who is looking after the shipment of tallow from this state to 

 the oleomargarine manufacturers. Even if there were in- 

 spectors, or if all of the tallow from which oleomargarine is 

 made was from inspected meat, it proves nothing. It only tends 

 to allay the prejudice that the public minds entertain regard- 

 ing the general product, for the United States inspectors 

 throughout the entire length of the land, in every state, pass, 

 for food and for food products, nearly three- fourths of those 

 animals that are condemned for tuberculosis by tuberculin test. 

 This makes an unpleasant condition of affairs, because I do not 

 believe that any person, whoever he be, cares to eat meat either 

 from a diseased carcass, or tallow in oleomargarine from a 

 tuberculin animal. 



The only way, however, that it is possible for the people of 

 Maine to enjoy the certainty of eating meat that is not dis- 

 eased, even if it has been inspected by the United States in- 

 spectors, is to pass laws that such meat shall not be used for 

 food in the State of Maine and that no meat killed outside of 

 our borders shall be used for food within the state unless we 

 are positively assured that it is from creatures free from dis- 

 ease. It will be necessary to establish a standard independent 

 from that of the Federal Government, or our people will still 

 be consuming diseased meat. 



If nothing but butter was allowed to be used on the tables of 

 restaurants and boarding houses the price of butter would ad- 

 vance to a figure that would make it profitable to keep cows and 

 thereby increase the number of live stock. This would ulti- 

 mately tend to lower the price of meat. 



It is impossible to encourage farmers to engage in any line 

 of agriculture that is unprofitable; and it is impossible, except 

 by law, to restrain them from engaging in any particular occu- 

 pation that appears to be especially remunerative. It, there- 

 fore, follows that some steps must be taken, or the dairy indus- 

 try will surely follow in the steps of the sheep industry and 

 dwindle until it ceases to be one of our leading industries. This 

 does not mean that there are not men in the State of Maine 

 who are making good profits out of herds, but in that case they 

 are special examples rather than general examples and sell 

 their surplus stock for breeding stock, to which is added the 

 natural product that the herd produces. 



