Mr. Sherman to Mr. White.
Washington, November 20, 1897.
Sir: With your No. 107, of September 25 last, you inclosed a compilation furnished by the foreign office of cases of trichinae found by German inspectors in American pork during the first half of the year 1897.
The Secretary of Agriculture, to whom I communicated the same, desires me to express to you his appreciation of your report, and to assure you that every effort will be made to trace the origin of the meat by his Department, which will take any additional steps that may be necessary to prevent such occurrences in the future. However, this Government does not hold that it can give an absolute guaranty that inspected pork is free from trichinae. The microscopic character of the parasite, together with its possible distribution to all parts of the carcass, makes it a very difficult if not impossible matter to discover infection in all cases in which it exists. As the German Government required the microscopic inspection of the pork consumed by its population, this Government has endeavored to meet that requirement by making a microscopic inspection of the pork shipped from this country to Germany. It can not, however, undertake to do by this inspection what the Germans themselves have proved to be impossible by the results of the very perfect and painstaking inspection maintained in that country. The occasional discovery by German inspectors of trichinae in a piece of American pork is neither an evidence of careless inspection in this country nor an indication that our inspected pork is more dangerous than the German inspected pork.
The Secretary of Agriculture has made a very careful search through the medical literature of Germany in order to determine to what extent the microscopic inspection of that country protects the people against trichinosis. There have been found recorded in German literature 4,596 cases of trichinosis in Germany, and 262 deaths occurring during the fifteen years from 1881 to 1895; and of these, 1,815 cases and 115 deaths resulted from German inspected pork. Nor can it be said that these cases largely occurred during the early years of the inspection service before methods had been perfected, for it is found that they occur throughout the entire period. And even during the years 1896 and 1897 there are recorded in Prussia alone 160 cases and 8 deaths from trichinosis, of which 102 cases and 2 deaths resulted from inspected German pork; and in all of Germany there were during the two years last mentioned 174 cases and 8 deaths from trichinosis, of which 103 cases and 2 deaths were due to inspected German pork. It is plain, therefore, that a large proportion of the cases of trichinosis which occur in Germany are the result of eating pork which German inspectors have declared to be free from trichinae, but which evidently contained that parasite, as otherwise the disease would not have developed.
This Government has undertaken in good faith the microscopic inspection of pork exported to Germany, and endeavors to conduct this in as perfect a manner as circumstances permit; but the pork from this country should not be treated in a markedly unfriendly manner and held to be more dangerous than the pork of other countries or that produced in Germany, when the records show that in the fifteen years from 1881 to 1895, inclusive, there were 1,140 cases of trichinosis in Prussia caused by inspected pork, being 49 per cent of all the cases occurring in that country during that period and that there were 96 [Page 191] deaths from this disease during that period, caused by inspected pork, being 60.3 per cent of all the deaths from trichinosis in that country. The harmlessness of the American pork sold in Germany is shown by the fact that, during the past seventeen years, notwithstanding the outcry against and the suspicion of such pork, the evidence shows that but an extremely small number of trichinosis in man and not a single death can be reasonably attributed to it. This search of the German medical literature demonstrates that so far as the danger from trichinosis is concerned, American pork is not to be compared with the inspected German pork.
You will bring the foregoing to the attention of the minister for foreign affairs, at the same time insisting that—
- 1.
- American pork as sent to Germany is practically harmless and certainly far less dangerous than inspected German pork, as is shown by the medical records of Germany.
- 2.
- The discovery of trichinae in a few pieces of our pork when reexamined abroad can not be accepted as evidence of inefficient inspection. The numerous cases of trichinosis in man which have occurred in Germany from eating pork inspected there shows the impossibility of discovering all trichinous meat by the first inspection.
- 3.
- As American pork is carefully inspected here before shipment, it is unjust to our shippers to require them to pay the expense of a second inspection after it arrives in Germany. This expense, together with the damage from unpacking, exposure, and hastily repacking, is a great obstacle to this important branch of our commerce with the German nation.
Respectfully, yours,