NINTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IX 389 
FEDERAL MEAT INSPECTION. 
DB. G. A. JOHNSON. 
Acccrcling to the English statistics, the people of the United States are 
fl-e lHlg^'St meat eaters of the world, with the possible exceptions of the 
/ ustralians. It is probable that we now consume an average of about 125 
1 mine's of meat annually for each person, young or old, of the United 
States proper. Taking into consideration the fact that such a vast amount 
of meat is being annually consumed for food together with the absolute 
laiowledge that a number of diseases are communicable form the lower 
ariiraals to man. should malce it patent to all that the health of our 
l)Pople demands that its meat supply should be clean and wholesome and 
free from diseases. 
Oi the other hand, it will be readily understood that any unnecessary 
derannds that v/ould materially interfere with the live stock industry, 
would be felt to a greater or lesser degree throughout our vast business 
system; because the live stock industry is not only one of the largest of 
the country, but it is also intimately connected with such industries as 
tbe packing houses, the stock yards, the railroads and agriculture. With 
this information before us, it must be evident to all, that to formulate 
and carry into effect any set of regulations relative to the inspection of 
the meat products of the country that will accord reasonable protection for 
the consumer on the one hand, and that will not, on the other hand, be 
burdensome to any of the allied industries, is a problem of vast magni- 
tude and importance. But we are now in a position to state that this has 
been accomplished in a large measure by the system of federal inspection 
now in vogue in this country. And, notwithstanding the fact that the 
primary object of this inspection w^as to protect our export trade, it has 
under the wise direction of Dr. D. E. Salmon, ex-chief of the Bureau of 
Animal Industry, been gradually enlarged and perfected so that now it 
includes a large proportion, but not all of the meat products used in this 
country. 
Owing to the fact that the federal government has no legal authority 
to make regulations that interfere with the matters of state within the 
state, it has no authority to inspect any meats except such as are offered 
for interstate or export trade. Consequently, no slaughter house is sup- 
posed to have federal inspection that does not do an interstate or export 
business, but many, in fact most of the packing houses, do more or less 
local trade, as well as interstate and export business. At first, the pack- 
ers thought that by taking advantage of the law, they could get all the 
benefits of the inspection for their interstate and export trade, and at the 
same time, escape the loss of the condemned carcasses by stating that all 
such carcasses were intended for local trade; but it was found imprac- 
tical, If not impossible, for the inspectors in the large packing houses to 
keep the carcasses that were slaughtered for local trade separate from 
those slaughtered for the interstate and export trade. So in order to 
obviate the difficulty and also to relieve the state of the burden of look- 
ing after the diseased carcasses that might be rejected from interstate 
