NEWS AND ITEMS. 
7 ? 
it has been proposed to appoint, under the coming legislation of 
the Reichstag on the same subject, a German corps of inspectors, 
who shall go to such places as Chicago and Kansas City, and 
there examine all meats destined for Germany, issuing certifi¬ 
cates that will be accepted as conclusive in that country. It is 
urged that this would be only an extension of our system of 
having American Consuls legalize in Germany exportations to 
the United States. But whatever Germany may do, there is a 
good deal of official inspection here already, and it includes all the 
beef and the greater part of the pork sent to Europe, although 
not all that which enters into interstate commerce. The last 
fiscal year’s area of inspection took in thirty-five cities, and in¬ 
cluded 135 abattoirs, besides many stockyards. The inspections 
covered 9,228,237 cattle, 10,028,287 sheep, 468,199 calves, and 
31,610,675 hogs, making a total 51,335,398 animals. Of these 
104 cattle, 741 sheep, 67 calves and 9679 hogs, a total of 10,591, 
were condemned at abattoirs, and 27,491 cattle, 9594 sheep, 
2439 calves and 66,061 hogs, a total of 105,585, were rejected 
in stockyards. There were 9,025,291 more animals inspected 
that year than the previous one, and 15,417,919 more than the 
year before that. The number of animals condemned at abat¬ 
toirs was 3275 fewer than the previous year, but the number 
rejected in stockyards was 27,247 greater. Of the total inspec¬ 
tions for the year 31,213,966 were set down as for “official abat¬ 
toirs ” in the cities where regular inspections are made and 20,- 
121,432 for abattoirs in other cities and for miscellaneous buy¬ 
ers. Here are further statistics of the year’s work : “ The meat- 
inspection tag or brand was placed on 14,815,753 quarters and 
968,014 pieces of beef, 5,448,477 carcasses of sheep, 217,010 car¬ 
casses of calves, 680,876 carcasses of hogs, and 394,563 sacks of 
pork. The meat-inspection stamp was affixed to 4,433,569 
packages of beef products, 5163 packages of mutton, and 10,- 
145,048 packages of hog products, of which 374,131 contained 
microscopically examined pork. The number of cars sealed 
containing inspected meat for shipment to packing houses and 
other places was 18,631. There were issued 35,267 certificates 
for meat products wdiich had received the ordinary inspection. 
These covered exports, comprising 1,256,716 quarters, 67,120 
pieces, and 735,814 packages of beef, weighing 339,650,091 
pounds ; 5163 packages of mutton, weighing 324,996 pounds ; 
39,212 hog carcasses, and 653,564 packages of pork, weighing 
244,956,482 pounds. The cost of this work was $409,138.09, 
which makes an average of 0.8 cent for each of the 51,335,389 
