Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1900

Mr. White to Mr. Hay.

Embassy of the United States of America,
Berlin, February 17, 1899.

No. 744.]

Sir: I have the honor to append hereto a copy of my telegram¹ of to-day’s date in regard to the German bill for the inspection of meat, which it is expected will be introduced in the Reichstag on Monday next, the 20th instant.

An advance copy of the bill in question, partially in manuscript, was furnished the embassy to-day in response to a request made by Mr. Jackson of Baron von Richthofen after he had heard that the bill had been acted upon by the Bundesrath yesterday. Dr. Stiles, it is understood, intends sending a copy of this bill direct to the Department of Agriculture at once, and I hope in a day or two to be able to forward printed copies, together with the Government’s argument in favor of the bill. Its text will probably not appear in the German papers for several days.

The striking feature of the bill is that it practically takes the whole matter of meat inspection out of the hands of the local authorities and gives power to the Bundesrath, where “no strong Agrarian element is present” (dispatch No. 683, of December 30, 1898), to prescribe the character of the inspection itself, the detailed regulations for carrying it into effect, and the regulations in regard to prohibiting the importation of certain classes of meat products. It is to be anticipated that there will be a considerable struggle in the Reichstag before the measure becomes a law, if it ever does, the Agrarians being prepared to make a strong argument upon the fact that in accordance with its terms domestic meat is to be subjected to two inspections, while foreign meat must be inspected only once. Should the bill become a law it is hardly possible that it could be put into effect much before January 1, 1900.

One point that is specially worthy of attention is that in regard to the powers of the Bundesrath to omit or modify the inspection when it is shown that the treatment which foreign meat has received is such as to practically “cure” it and render it safe from a sanitary point of view.

I have, etc.,

And. D. White.

1. Printed ante.