50 ANNUAL REPORTS (VF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



them, such as the meat-inspection act, and to some extent the food and 

 dru<i:s act, are desi<;ned to protect the public health. Others have 

 for their object the protection of the live-stock industry by control- 

 ling: or prohibiting]: the shipment of diseased animals in interstate 

 commerce, the prevention of the entry into this country or the spread 

 of injurious insects and plant diseases, or the conservation of our 

 game birds and animals. Still others are intended to facilitate the 

 marketino; of farm products or to prevent abuses in the prepara- 

 tion and shipment of foods, drujrs, insecticides, and fungicides, and 

 of virus, serums, and toxins for combating animal diseases. Long ex- 

 perience in the administration of these laws indicates that many of 

 them should be strengthened if they are to serve most effectively their 

 original purposes and to meet new situations which have arisen since 

 they were placed on the statute books. Appropriate recommenda- 

 tions regarding the necessary amendments w^ill be submitted to the 

 Congress at its next session ; I will merely outline them here. 



THE MEAT-INSPECTION ACT. 



The meat-inspection act has been in operation 14 years and certain 

 changes in it are clearh^ desirable. Authority should be given to 

 require that carcasses and parts of carcasses, meats, and meat food 

 products shall bear labels which will correctlj^ indicate their kind 

 and character. An amendment to this effect would go far tow^ard 

 preventing fraud and deception because purchasers would then have 

 exact information as to what they buy. The existing doubt as to 

 whether the law applies to shipments from a State to a Territory 

 or to the District of Columbia, or vice versa, should be removed. In 

 order to maintain a prosecution for the shipment of unsound meat, 

 under the act as it now stands, it is necessary for the Government 

 to show knowledge on the part of the shipper as to its unwholesome- 

 ness at the time he offers the product for shipment in interstate 

 commerce. This requirement should be eliminated. 



On account of the peculiar construction of section 21 of the act, 

 there is some question as to whether the prohibition contained in it 

 regarding the interstate transportation of unwholesome meat and 

 meat products applies only to farmers, retail butchers, and retail 

 dealers. There is also doubt as to whether the element of sale is 

 necessary in order to constitute an offense under this section. These 

 ambiguities should be corrected, and amendments should be inserted 

 which would effectively prohibit the interstate shipment, for food 

 purposes, of articles which become unsound subsequent to inspection, 

 as well as traffic in unsound meats by persons who conduct their 

 own transportation. 



Specific authority should be provided for the withdrawal of in- 

 spection from establishments which violate any of the regula- 



