202 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



become alTected in anv way by the disease. The men who pass on 

 these questions are well educated in veterinary science and compara- 

 tive pathology, and are carefully trained in meat inspection, and 

 hence have special knowledge of animal diseases and their bearing 

 on human health. 



It is safe to say that most of the meat which is condemned under 

 the federal inspection would be sold for food if it were not for this 

 inspection. A considerable quantity of diseased and unwholesome 

 uninspected meat is really placed upon the market, as the federal 

 inspection covers but little more than one-half of the total meat 

 supply of the United States. A large part of the remainder receives 

 no inspection whatever, while a small proportion is subjected to some 

 kind of inspection b}^ state or local officers. As pointed out in pre- 

 vious reports, it is important that the States and municipalities 

 should provide an efficient inspection for the meat that is slaughtered 

 and sold locally, and hence is beyond the control of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment. In some of the States and in quite a number of cities this 

 subject is receiving consideration with a view to inaugurating inspec- 

 tion. An inspection to afford real protection to the health of the 

 public should be made preferably by a competent veterinarian at the 

 time of slaughter, and the places at which meat is slaughtered and 

 prepared for food should be maintained in good sanitary condition. 



It often happens that the local authorities must deal with small, 

 scattered, poorly equipped, and very insanitary abattoirs, so that it 

 is difficult and expensive to maintain proper supervifflon and to en- 

 force proper sanitation. To meet such conditions there should be a 

 central public abattoir where all the slaughtering of the community 

 should be concentrated, and no slaughtering should be permitted else- 

 where except at properly equipped places under proper insi^ection. 

 Such a central abattoir may be under either municipal or private 

 ownership, but in either case it should be under official supervision. 

 The. city of Paris, Tex., has erected a municipal abattoir which is in 

 successful operation, and other cities are considering similar action. 

 The Bureau of Animal Industry is endeavoring to assist in such local 

 enterprises by furnishing such information and advice as it can give 

 with regard to the designing, construction, equipment, and operation 

 of public abattoirs, and it is expected that later the Bureau will be 

 prepared to furnish municipal authorities with plans and specifica- 

 tions when desired. 



PROPOSED DEPABTMENT OR BUREAU OF PUBLIC HEALTH. 



However commendable may be the movement to provide better 

 government facilities for safeguarding and promoting human health, 

 the specific measures which are being urged upon Congress, if carried 

 into effect, would unquestionably be very detrimental to the work 

 which is now being carried on by the Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 and also to the agricultural interests and in some respects to the 

 public welfare. 



Several bills are pending in Congress for the establishment of a 

 department or bureau of public health. By one bill it is proposed to 

 establish a new executive department and to transfer to that depart- 

 ment not only the Bureau of Animal Industry and certain other 

 branches of the Department of Agriculture, but all matters within the 



