1034 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



An important provision is that for a sanitary inspection of the 

 packing establishments themselves, authorizing the Department to 

 scribe the rules and regulations of sanitation under which they 

 shall be maintained, and to withhold the inspection label from the 

 products of establishments which do not meet these requirements. 

 The inspection label is a requisite to shipment of meat or meat prod- 

 ucts from one State to another, or to a foreign country, so that trans- 

 ition companies are made subject to the law: and the inspection 

 also extends to live cattle, sheep, swine, and goats intended for export. 

 Penalties for violating the provisions of the law are fixed at a fine not 

 exceeding $1< ) 5 000 or imprisonment for not more than two years, or 

 both. Heavy penalties are also provided for bribery of inspection 

 officials, or the acceptance of a bribe. Farmers and retail butchers 

 are exempted from the requirements of inspection. 



Another important line of inspection work inaugurated by the last 

 Congress i- that in connection with the execution of the National pure 

 food law. This law prohibits interstate commerce in foods which 

 have been adulterated or misbranded, or which are unwholesome or 

 contain preservatives or other additions making them injurious to 

 health: and it also prohibits the manufacture or sale of such products 

 in any Territory, the District of Columbia, or our insular possessions. 

 It covers food>. condiments, beverages of all sorts, drugs, and niedi- 

 cines. Heavy penalties of tine or imprisonment, or loth, are imposed 

 for violations of the law, and condemned goods in process of transpor- 

 tation from one State to another, or to a foreign country, may be 

 confiscated. 



The Department of Agriculture is charged with the administration 

 of the law. with the collaboration of the Treasury Department and 

 the Department of Commerce and Labor. The burden of maintaining 

 the inspection of food products under this law and of determining 

 what constitutes adulteration, will fall upon the Bureau of Chemistry 

 of this Department. No funds have yet been appropriated by Con- 

 — for carrying the law into effect, but considerable time will be 

 required for drawing up regulations and making the nece-sary pre- 

 liminary arrangements. Congress will be asked to make an immedi- 

 ately available appropriation when it convenes in December next. It 

 i^ the expectation of the friends of the measure that it will very mate- 

 rially strengthen and supplement the efforts of the several Slate- in 

 -tamping out the various forms of sophistication which have become 

 so prevalent. 



An important branch of inspection work for which only a beginning 



is provided by the appropriation act i- the grain inspection. There 



was considerable agitation of this subject at the recent session of 



3S, the contention being that provision should be made for an 



inspection by the Department of Agriculture of grain for export to 



