138 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



enough to have his overcoat stolen again, and it was again put in 

 his expense account ; there was no overcoat in that bill, and it was 

 allowed, but it was in there just the same. That is the way these con- 

 demned animals are being charged up against you. You pay for 

 them, only you do not realize it so much as if it were a direct 

 charge. 



The method of ante-mortem inspection is considerably different 

 in different localities. In Kansas City, the inspectors are sta- 

 tioned in the stock yards, and whenever an animal is suspected of 

 being in a condition to render it unfit for food, it is tagged, but the 

 animal proceeds with the balance of the herd of cattle or swine to 

 the slaughtering house which has made the purchase, and is slaught- 

 ered there, and the remittance is accordingly, whether it is passed 

 or condemned. Practically the same system obtains in St. Joe and 

 Omaha, although at these two places, they have an inspector ap- 

 pointed by, I think the Exchange and the packers jointly, who also 

 tag the cattle and hogs. At these two places the government inspect- 

 ors make out a report, giving the number of tagged and the 

 reason for condemnation of the animal, and that is posted in the 

 Exchange where every one can see whether the animal was in fact 

 condemned or not. At Chicago, the system is very different. We 

 have our inspectors in the yards, who inspect and tag, but through 

 an agreement with the Exchange — I suppose you are familiar with 

 this — these animals are then slaughtered at one particular place, 

 and they are there inspected both by the Federal Government and 

 the State Inspectors, and the remittance is made by the representa- 

 tive of the Exchange to the respective commission firms. 



A great deal of complaint has reached the department from va- 

 rious sources with reference to this system in vogue in Chicago, and 

 that was one of" the reasons which brought me out here, to determine 

 the feeling of the shippers with reference to the system in pi;actice 

 at that point. So far as I am aware, there is no complaint in either 

 of the large packing centers with reference to the disposal of their 

 ante-mortem condemned animals. 



In the matter of meat inspection the government has gone as far 

 as it can in that direction. It has no authority to extend the inspec- 

 tion beyond that which is subject to interstate commerce. When an 

 inspection is inaugurated in an establishment, all the animals pre- 

 pared in that place are subject to the same inspection, whether for 

 inter-state sale or export. But the government cannot go into a 

 town like Des Mbines and establish inspection, that is, doing a 

 sitrictly business within the state; and it is this inspection which 



