252 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



FOOD AND DRUGS ACT. 



The food and drugs act. of June 30, 1906, was the result of re- 

 peated efforts of the department to secure the enactment by Congress 

 of a hiw to suppress widespread adulteration and misbranding of 

 foods and drugs passing in commerce between the several States and 

 Territories and imported into the United States from foreign coun- 

 tries. Prior to the enactment of this law the department, after most 

 exhaustive investigation, had determined the standards of purity 

 which general opinion had established for the more important food 

 products. Departures from these standards were the rule rather than 

 the exception, and deceit in the manufacture and sale of foods and 

 drugs had grown to such an extent that many manufacturers regarded 

 any interference with their business as an invasion of vested rights. 



Immediatel}'^ upon the passage of the act the department organized 

 the requisite force for its vigorous administration and has prose- 

 cuted its work under the act without abatement ever since. The con- 

 stitutionality of the act has been sustained by a number of the Federal 

 courts, and numerous decisions of the Federal courts have construed 

 its provisions. During the operation of the law 3,456 cases have been 

 reported to the Attorney General involving prosecutions against in- 

 dividuals and private corporations, resulting in 1,226 convictions and 

 the imposition of fines amounting to $47,982; 1,296 seizures of foods 

 and drugs have been made, resulting in 867 decrees of forfeiture and 

 condemnation. The department has published 1,626 notices of judg- 

 ment as required by the act. 



MEAT-INSPECTION LAW. 



The meat-inspection law of June 30, 1906, was the culmination of 

 efforts of the department for years prior to secure the enactment of 

 a law which would authorize rigid inspection of meat and meat-food 

 products intended for interstate and foreign commerce. A make- 

 shift statute was passed and approved August 30, 1890, but the 

 statute did not provide for post-mortem inspection at the time of 

 slaughter ; furthermore, it was confined to salted pork and bacon in- 

 tended for exportation to foreign countries the Governments of which 

 should require inspection thereof. The measure failed of its pur- 

 pose, however, for in the next annual report of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture he urged the enactment of a law which would provide for 

 national inspection of cattle at the time of slaughter. In compli- 

 ance with the Secretary's recommendation, the act of March 3, 1891, 

 was passed. 



This act made it mandatory upon the Secretary to cause an ante- 

 mortem inspection to be made of all cattle, sheep, and hogs which 

 were the subject of interstate commerce and which were to be slaught- 



