22 



DEPARTMENTAL ftEPOBTS. 



require inspection and exact a fee for the same. So menacing is this 

 situation to the great cattle industry of the Southwest and West that 

 efforts are being made by the National Live Stock Association to bring 

 the matter before the Supreme Court of the United States, in order 

 that a decision may be rendered as to the constitutionality of these 

 State restrictions upon interstate commerce when Congress has already 

 legislated upon the subject and provided an adequate inspection serv- 

 ice. I would recommend that the Department of Agriculture take 

 such action as it properly may to interest the Department of Justice 

 and to secure its assistance in presenting the case. 



INSPECTION DIVISION. 

 MEAT INSPECTION. 



The number of abattoirs and packing houses wiiere cattle, sheep, 

 calves, and hogs and their products were inspected during the year 

 was 156. The number noted in the preceding report was 148. The 

 number of localities where the work was conducted increased from 

 45 to 51. Horses were inspected at one other abattoir.- 



The following table shows the increase year after year in the number 

 of abattoirs where inspection has been maintained and the number of 

 cities where the work is done : 



Number of abattoirs and cities where inspection was maintained, 



to 1901. 



The following table shows the numbers and kinds of animals 

 inspected before slaughter, and the number of these that were rejected 

 for some cause apparently unfitting them for food purposes, the final 

 condemnation or passing of the carcass depending upon the result of 

 the post-mortem inspection : 



Ante-mortem inspections for the fiscal year 1901. 



There was an increase over last year in the number of all classes 

 of animals inspected, with the exception of a decided decrease in 

 the number of horses, there being but a third as many of these as 



