THE STATE AS FARMER 85 



a fool's paradise, for this vast volume of meat 

 is subject to the scrutiny of an army of 

 inspectors who find some gruesome facts. 

 When a valley is farmed by a State, and that 

 State considers health the prime object to 

 be secured, the inspector's work is done 

 for him before he begins. There is no 

 antagonism, no clash of interests. The first 

 care of the manager is to eliminate disease of 

 every kind, and his second is to apply to his 

 painful office all the decencies that are avail- 

 able. In this very important matter of 

 disease there are two agencies at work. The 

 ordinary veterinary inspections are of very 

 special care and thoroughness, because here 

 the anxiety is not to pass an ailing animal, 

 but to eliminate it from the rest. Conse- 

 quently the state of all the carcasses at 

 the factory are of interest as indicating the 

 health of the district, and the slaughtering 

 can scarcely avoid becoming in effect post- 

 mortem examination. 



The organisation of the pig industry in 

 any district is now an elaborately simple 

 process. We can place a valley in the hands 

 of an expert such as Mr. Loudoun Douglas, 



