392 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 
work is notified of the condition of the animal at the time it was weighed 
and this information is used by him in making his decision as to the 
wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of the carcass. 
When slaughtering is going on at a house where federal inspection is 
maintained, the inspectors are there to inspect the animals as they are 
dressed. The inspection of cattle is made by the inspector passing along 
with the gutter, the man who removes the internal organs, intestines, 
liver, lungs, heart, etc., and as these viscera drops to the floor, the inspec- 
tor has an opportunity to examine them. As the inspectors are all edu- 
cated in this line of work, by practice, they soon become so proficient 
that they can tell at a glance if the carcass is in a normal condition or 
not, and usually they can tell as soon as all of the parts can be seen 
whether the carcass will be wholesome for meat or not. But, in cases 
where it cannot be determined at once whether the flesh is fit for human 
food, the carcass is tagged with a numbered paper tag and sent to the 
detention room where it is held until the exact condition has been deter- 
mined. All parts of the carcass, as head, tail, fat, etc., must be tanked 
or held until the animal is finally disposed of and in case the carcass is 
condemned these parts go with it. 
The carcasses of all cattle that are considered unwholesome for food 
are tagged with condemnation tags and tanked at once or are held in the 
detaining room, which is under a government lock, the key of which is 
held by the inspector until such time as it is convenient to the house and 
inspector to tank them. All condemned carcasses are tanked and ren- 
dered with fertilizers, etc. This is done under the supervision of an em- 
ploye of the bureau, who sees the carcass cut up and put into the tank 
and then he seals up the tank so that it cannot be opened without break- 
ing the seal. After the carcasses are cooked suflaciently to destroy them 
for food, the same or another employe of the bureau breaks the seal. All 
beef quarters that are passed for food, are marked with a label bearing a 
serial number and the words "U. S. Inspected." 
In the larger packing houses, the Logs that are to be slaughtered are 
driven into a small pen — catch pen — where they are caught by fastening 
one end of a short chain around one hind leg, and the other end is hooked 
to a large revolving wheel (hoist) which raises the hog on an inclined 
rail and as the animal slides down this rail, the sticker, with a long, 
sharp-ponted knife, severs the large blood vessels just inside the chest. 
As the carcass passes along the rail, a large part of the blood escapes from 
the body, then the carcass is dropped from the end of this rail into a 
long scalding vat, through which it is worked, so that when it reaches 
the further end, it is sufficiently scalded and is lifted from the vat by 
machinery to a table where, by means of a special hook inserted between 
the lower jaws, it is attached to an endless chain which draws it up 
through a machine known as a scraper, which removes a large portion of 
the hair. 
From the scraper the carcass is dropped to the scraping or heading 
bench, which has a moving top that carries the carcass along the rail. On 
this bench more of the hair is removed, the head is nearly severed from 
the body, and the gambrel is put in place. By this time, the carcass has 
reached the end of the bench and the gambrel is put upon a roller hook. 
