116 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



which the figures were gathered, and the different systems used 

 in obtaining the figures. However, light is obtained on the same 

 subject from the reports of meat animals slaughtered under fed- 

 eral inspection at packing plants throughout the country. The 

 following table shows the number of establishments and the total 

 number of animals inspected at slaughter under federal inspection 

 annually from the beginning of inspection in the fiscal year 1907, 

 up to and including the fiscal year ended June 30, 1916: 



NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS AND TOTAL NUMBER 



OF ANIMALS INSPECTED AT SLAUGHTER UNDER 



FEDERAL INSPECTION ANNUALLY, 1907-1916. 



There were 7,621,717 cattle slaughtered for inspection in the 

 year 1907 ; in the year 1910 this number had increased to 7,962,189, 

 from which point there has been a tendency to decrease, until 

 the year 1915. The number slaughtered in the year 1916 was 

 7,404,288, which is 200,000 less than in the year 1907. The 

 slaughter of calves is not significant. The slaughter of swine. 



