REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 253 



ered. and at slaughterhouses, etc., and provided that there might 

 also be made, ^vhen deemed by the Secretary of Agriculture advisable, 

 a post-mortem examination. The restrictions which had theretofore 

 been placed by foreign countries on the importation of meat-food 

 products from the United States were in a measure removed. 



Notwithstanding the benefits which accrued from the enforcement 

 of this act to American producers of meats, the statute still failed to 

 meet the continued and growing abuses in the production and packing 

 of meats and meat-food products. In the spring of 1906 rumors 

 gained credence that the packing houses of the country were not 

 conducted in a sanitary manner and that the inspection under the acts 

 of 1891 and 1895 was not conducted efficiently. The Secretary of 

 Agriculture appointed a committee to investigate conditions at one 

 of the large packing centers, and the President of the United States 

 appointed a committee for the same purpose. "\A'lien the report of 

 the latter committee was received by the President, he transmitted it 

 to Congress on June 4, 1906, accompanied by a message in which he 

 stated that a law was needed to enable the inspectors of the General 

 Government to inspect and supervise from the hoof to the can the 

 preparation of meat-food products. The President recommended to 

 Congi^ess the pa&sage of an act to provide for a Federal inspection of 

 meats and meat-food products at all stages of preparation. The re- 

 port of the committee appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture was 

 also transmitted to Congress by the President. This report embodied 

 the recommendation that interstate commerce in meat and meat-food 

 products of cattle, sheep, swine, and goats be prohibited, unless they 

 should be marked in accordance with the regulations of the Secretary 

 of Agi'iculture to show that they had been inspected. 



In comjiliance with these recommendations, Congress enacted the 

 meat-inspection law of June 30, 1906, and under it the department 

 has not only been enabled in a large measure to prevent interstate 

 commerce in diseased and unsound meats and meat-food products, 

 but it has also been able to enforce sanitary measures in the packing- 

 houses. 



There have been reported to the Attorney General 311 cases of vio- 

 lations of the meat-inspection law, of which 168 have resulted in 

 convictions and the imposition of fines amounting to $11,117, as 

 well as a number of jail sentences. 



INSECTICIDE AND FUNGICTOE ACT. 



The insecticide and fungicide act of April 26, 1910, was passed 

 by Congress in furtherance of the recommendation of the Secretar}' 

 of Agriculture as a result of investigations which had been made by 

 the department into the character and quality of material on the 

 market and widely sold under representations of efficacy in the de- 



