H. F. PALMER. 
26*5 
year see more deaths from drinking tuberculous milk than if 
to-day England and our own country should be engaged in a 
deadly warfare. 
No arguments are needed at this time and before such a 
gathering to show that inspection is necessary and will save 
many lives each year, but the main questions with which we 
are concerned are, u Who shall inspect ? How shall we in¬ 
spect ? ” 
The people of the United States use more meat per capita 
than any other country save Australia, this being a section 
where meat is cheap and abundant. Inasmuch as this consti¬ 
tutes one of our principal articles of diet, it should be inspected. 
In 1881 our pork was prohibited entrance into Germany, France 
and the principal European countries, because it was thought 
to be infected with trichinae. In 1881 congress directed the 
secretary of agriculture to inspect, previous to slaughter, all 
cattle, sheep and swine, the carcasses of which were intended 
for interstate or foreign trade. To-day all the beef sent to 
Europe, and a greater part of all pork and meat products is in¬ 
spected. To-day we send pure, wholesome meat to feed for¬ 
eigners, while we are eating the uninspected, germ-laden pro¬ 
ducts. 
The bureau of animal industry is doing a grand work along 
the inspection line, but as yet a lack of sufficient means cuts 
short some contemplated work. This bureau has been in ex¬ 
istence some fourteen years, and we can partially realize the 
scope of its work by glancing at its last yearly report. 
Meat inspection was in operation in 135 abattoirs located in 
thirty-five cities. Our fifty-one million animals were inspected, 
of which the inspectors rejected many thousand carcasses. 
They sent out enough tuberculin to test 50,000 head of cattle, 
and gave half a million doses of vaccine, reducing mortality on 
this disease from fifteen to one per cent. They have given to 
the hog-raising section of our country a great boom in the serum 
treatment of hog cholera whereby 80 per cent, of affected ani¬ 
mals can be saved. Helped the cattle industry by working up 
