MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP OF SLAUGHTER HOUSES. 
181 
year. A great deal of this meat is prepared in Chicago and the 
other meat-packing centres of the West. But a large proportion 
of it is prepared in and about Philadelphia. Of the cattle that 
are slaughtered here, some are steers bred and fed in the West, 
others are Western bred and Pennsylvania fed and others are 
young cattle reared in this and neighboring States, while still 
others are dairy cows that have been fattened for the butcher or 
they are worn out, thin and ofttimes diseased cows that have 
become unprofitable for dairy purposes and are not suitable for 
feeding. In addition, the immediate vicinity supplies a con¬ 
siderable number of bulls and many veal calves. 
Part of this meat of local origin is killed in the slaughter¬ 
houses of Philadelphia and part of it in the small suburban 
slaughter-houses or on the farms. The local slaughter-houses 
vary in capacity, from the little one in the yard back of the re¬ 
tail shop, where but one or two cattle can be handled a day, to 
the large one in West Philadelphia with a capacity of several 
hundred. They vary as much in regard to sanitary arrange¬ 
ments, facilities for providing wholesome meat and in cleanli¬ 
ness as they do in size. Some of the meat that is dressed out¬ 
side of but near to Philadelphia is prepared in improvised 
slaughter-houses, a corner of the wagon shed or even of the 
barn yard. Many of the cattle killed in and about Philadelphia 
come from districts where tuberculosis is very prevalent. In¬ 
stances have come to light where the owners of tuberculous 
cattle have sold them to the butcher after it was plainly evi¬ 
dent that they were diseased and, clearly, to avoid losing them 
by death. There are dealers who make a business of going 
about in dairy sections of this and other States to gather up all 
of the old, diseased and worn out cows that are able to walk. 
Such cattle are called u Bolognas ” and most of them are proba¬ 
bly used in making the sausage that goes by that name. 
Some of the smaller slaughter-houses in Philadelphia are of 
the most filthy and abominable character and should be re¬ 
garded as nuisances in the neighborhoods in which they exist. 
Their walls, floors and fixtures are smeared and besmattered 
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