552 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



entirely ruined, for selling purposes, inasmuch as this process not 

 only has a tendency to cause the meat to become dry and hard, but it 

 bears plain evidence of having been subjected to an inspection, which 

 is not a very flattering testimonial as to its worth or desirability as 

 food. On tne other hand, German sausage is subjected to no such 

 examination since the meat is inspected as hereinbefore stated, there- 

 by escaping the rigid and damaging process followed in the German 

 inspection of the American sausage. 



When, in 1891, the edict against sausage and pork products 

 from America was canceled, no inspection of sausage or pickled pork 

 was required until July 1, 1898. Since then both products are sub- 

 jected to inspection. This will result in the absolute exclusion of sau- 

 sage and pickled pork or boneless hams from the German market. 

 In the case of boneless hams weighing from 2 to 3 pounds each, the 

 cost of inspection amounts to 15 pfennigs per kilogram, or 15 marks 

 ($3.57) per 100 kilograms of 220 English pounds. Add to this the 

 duty of 20 marks and we will have a total cost of 35 marks, or $8.33 

 on 220 pounds of meat, which virutally means the prohibition of such 

 products. 



Other expedients also appear to be resorted to by self-consti- 

 tuted authorities in order to discourage and prevent tne large con- 

 gumption of American meats. There is now pending before the court 

 at Elberfeld, a town near Cologne, a suit relating to a case of meat 

 from America which was packed in borax. It seems that the munici- 

 pality of Cologne issued, through the daily papers, a notice or warn- 

 ing to dealers that such meat should not be handled or sold by them, 

 alleging its use to be detrimental to the health of the consumer. Any 

 citizen is permitted under this order to file a complaint regarding this 

 kind of meat. As a consequence, when the biirgermeister (mayor) 

 issues his edict or warning, the dealers in meats are afraid to handle 

 or sell the prohibited products ; and this is done in spite of the fact 

 that the Emperor alone has the power to prescribe the manner of 

 packing or preparing human food. 



The biirgermeister of Solingen has exercised the same power as 

 claimed by the biirgermeister of Cologne, by indorsing and repeating 

 this edict or warning in his district against the use of boraxed meats, 

 and this action has resulted in bringing the case to the attention of 

 the court of Elberfeld. The society for the protection of German 

 trade and industry in foreign meats and fat products is contesting 

 this question and expects to be able to prove by distinguished German, 

 professors that the use of borax for packing meats is not injurious to 

 human life. 



I am likewise informed that uninspected American hog prod- 

 ucts have been introduced into Germany from Belgium in boxes in 

 which other regularly inspected meats had been received from Amer- 

 ica, bearing the label of microscopic inspection. 



The following is a case in point : Originally, in the microscopic 

 inspections in the United States, the certificates thereof were the same 

 as those given for usual ante-mortem and post-mortem inspections, 

 with the addition of a red stamp placed on the certificate, stating that 



