136 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ADDRESS. 



DR. A. D. MELVIN, CHIEF OP BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY, 

 WASHINGTON, D. C. 



3Ir. President: I have been taken rather an unfair advantage of 

 in being asked to address you gentleman. I came here to listen 

 what you folks had to say at your meeting and to ascertain whether 

 there was anything in the live stock industry which the department 

 could do for you to further your interests. 



In the first instance, I wish to present to you the compliments of 

 the Secretary, and assure you that he has the deepest and liveliest 

 interest in the welfare of this Association. This is the first time I 

 have had the opportunity of meeting with you, although in the 

 several years that I have been connected with Secretary Wilson, he 

 has frequently referred to this Association as one of the strongest 

 in the live-stock industry in the United States. 



Mr. Wallace suggested to me that I touch upon the subject of 

 the inspection, more particularly, the meat inspection as conducted 

 by the Bureau of Animal Industry, and I shall therefore devote 

 some attention to this subject, in what I may have to say to you. 

 • There has been a great deal of interest in this question in the last 

 couple of years, on account of the great notoriety that was given our 

 slaughter houses and their methods, through the press, and in other 

 ways, and nearly all of you, I presume, are familiar with the hor- 

 rible conditions that were painted in the most lurid colors. Per- 

 sonally, I am able to say, that this coloring was very much exag- 

 gerated. I have been closely connected with the inspection for 

 many years, and so far as the law has given authority to go, the 

 inspection was well conducted, and in the houses where inspection 

 existed, the meats were inspected in good shape. 



We now have authority to require modem sanitary conditions, 

 and re-inspection of the meats during the different stages of pro- 

 cessing, regulating the preservatives which shall be used in curing 

 meats and the labelling of the products. Many of these labels were 

 really misleading as to the contents. That has all been corrected, 

 and the work was a tremendous one. 



Heretofore the work of inspection was not obligatory on the part 

 of the packer, except with reference to exportation of beef. Only 



