644 



PORK, PROHIBITION OF AMERICAN. 



in the United States, general throughout the 

 Austro-Hungarian Empire. By an imperial de- 

 cree, promulgated Jan. 25, 1880, Germany pro- 

 hibited the importation of chopped pork and 

 sausages. On Feb. 18, 1881, the French Gov- 

 ernment, on the ground of the detection of 

 trichinae in pork from the United States, issued 

 an order, on the advice of the Consultative 

 Committee of Public Health, forbidding im- 

 ports of salt pork from America. The Govern- 

 ments of Greece and Turkey were actuated by 

 the French report and prohibitory decree to 

 adopt a like measure. The Austro-Hungarian 

 authorities, which had the question under con- 

 sideration since 1879, issued on March 10, 1881, 

 the most stringent interdict yet adopted, pro- 

 hibiting the importation of pig flesh, lard, sau- 

 sages, and all pork products from the United 

 States. The Swiss and Belgian governments 

 were petitioned to enact prohibitory regula- 

 tions for hygienic reasons, but they refrained 

 from such action. An agitation was started in 

 England against American pork early in 1880, 

 caused by reports from British consuls with 

 regard to the prevalence of hog-cholera in the 

 United States, the slaughter of diseased ani- 

 mals, etc. The excitement led to no prohibi- 

 tory legislation, but imports of live hogs and 

 pork products were checked for a time. 



The action of foreign governments in pro- 

 hibiting American pork imports was based 

 originally on sanitary grounds. The impres- 

 sion that trichinosis was exceptionally preva- 

 lent in the United States was at first general. 

 The pork-producers in European countries, 

 from interested commercial motives, put forth 

 every effort to spread and confirm this belief. 

 Reports from consular officers and American 

 authorities regarding the prevalence of disease, 

 the lack of official inspection in the pork-pack- 

 ing establishments, the dishonesty of packers, 

 who were accused of killing diseased and 

 maimed hogs, and even of packing those which 

 died from natural causes, were assiduously cir- 

 culated. The influence of this powerful class 

 was exerted to induce the governments to adopt 

 or maintain prohibitory measures. The ques- 

 tion, therefore, soon assumed a protective 

 commercial aspect, and the later decrees were 

 framed in this sense, though not avowedly so. 

 Thus the Government of Germany, on Feb. 21, 

 1883, issued an edict prohibiting all descrip- 

 tions of swine-meat, including hams and bacon, 

 which were exempted from the interdict of 

 June 25, 1880. Canned hog products are like- 

 wise excluded, although in their preparation 

 they are subjected for several hours to a tem- 

 perature above the boiling-point. The re- 

 strictive measures interfere with the trade with 

 other countries which use the German railways, 

 since the transportation across German terri- 

 tory of pork in transit and in bond is also for- 

 bidden, although ample provisions exist for the 

 security of such traffic. The authorities of the 

 free ports of Hamburg and Bremen were un- 

 willing to adopt the restrictive measures, but, 



after the issue of the last decree, they yielded 

 to the pressure of the Imperial Government 

 and adopted the same measure of total exclu- 

 sion. By the action of the Board of Trade and 

 Navigation of the city of Hamburg, no Ameri- 

 can pork is allowed to be landed, except, un- 

 der strict supervision, for re-export, or as pro- 

 visions for vessels lying in the harbor. The 

 ordinance was enacted April 21, 1883. 



The question of trichinosis in American pork 

 was first raised in Germany in 1878, and a 

 medical commission was appointed to investi- 

 gate the subject and advise the Government 

 whether it was necessary to subject imports 

 of swine's meat to microscopical examination. 

 The importation of American pork at that time 

 was enormous. American hams were pur- 

 chased in large quantities and subjected to a 

 process of preparation, principally at Gtiters- 

 lohe, and then sold as Westphalian hams. The 

 medical experts reported that twenty instances 

 of trichinosis in American pork had been discov- 

 ered, twelve in hams, at Bremen. The board 

 advised microscopical inspection. The reason 

 why the German Government directed its at- 

 tention at that time to American pork was be- 

 cause it had recently perfected its system of 

 official inspection of pork, as well as meats of 

 other kinds, and other articles of food. The 

 danger from trichinosis in that country is great- 

 er, and deaths from the disease more frequent, 

 than elsewhere, because the habit of eating 

 smoked hams and sausages in an uncooked 

 state is common there. The absence of offi- 

 cial inspection in the United States was com- 

 plained of, and the sale of immense quantities 

 of imported meat, which was subjected to 

 no examination where it was slaughtered of 

 the kind deemed necessary in Germany, and 

 could not be easily or thoroughly examined 

 there, was anomalous, and excited fear and 

 misgiving. The growth and magnitude of the 

 trade in American pork products was a subject 

 of dread of a commercial character as well, 

 and already affected prejudicially the interests 

 of a class which has become more potent in 

 German politics of late years. One of the feat- 

 ures of Prince Bismarck's economical policy is 

 the advancement of the interests of the land- 

 owning class at the expense of the other classes 

 of the community. The great landed proprie- 

 tors of Pomerania and Silesia have distilleries 

 on their estates, and fatten hogs with the malt- 

 mash. At first there was no thought of de- 

 priving the people of the towns of so com- 

 mon, cheap, and important an article of food 

 as American pork; but the "sanitary" theory 

 was taken up eagerly by the interested class; 

 petitions came in from the agricultural socie- 

 ties by hundreds, and finally, as in other simi- 

 lar matters, the wishes of the agricultural class 

 prevailed. Thus the importation of live cattle 

 had been interdicted from Russia on the 

 ground of rinderpest, from Holland on that of 

 pneumonia and the epizootic, from Austria- 

 Hungary on account of cases of rinderpest in 



