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Does the Government Protect Us from Disease?

The Meat-Packing Myth

09/19/2019

[Editor’s Note: The Hill reports today on how the Trump administration has approved new rules to cut back the budget on federal met inspection. The Hill’s article highlights how the old myths behind the genesis of federal meat inspection are still very much alive and well. In The Progressive Era, Murray Rothbard examined how it was the inspectors themselves who wanted inspection for reasons that had nothing to do with improving the quality of food.]

One of the earliest acts of Progressive regulation of the economy was the Meat Inspection Act, which passed in June 1906.  The orthodox myth holds that the action was directed against the “beef trust” of the large meat packers, and that the federal government was driven to this anti-business measure by popular outcry generated by the muckraking novel, The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, which exposed unsanitary conditions in the Chicago meat-packing plants.1

Unfortunately for the myth, the drive for federal meat inspection actually began more than two decades earlier and was launched mainly by the big meat packers themselves. The spur was the urge to penetrate the European market for meat, something which the large meat packers thought could be done if the government would certify the quality of meat and thereby make American meat more highly rated abroad. Not coincidentally, as in all Colbertist mercantilist legislation over the centuries, a governmentally-coerced upgrading of quality would serve to cartelize — to lower production, restrict competition, and raise prices to the consumers. It, furthermore, socializes the cost of inspection to satisfy consumers, by placing the burden upon the taxpayers instead of on the producers themselves.2

More specifically, the meat packers were concerned to with combating the restrictionist legislation of European countries, which, in the late 1870s and early 1880s, began to prohibit the import of American meat. The excuse was to safeguard the European consumer against purportedly diseased meat; the probable major reason was to act as a protectionist device for European meat production.

Partly at the behest of the major meat packers, Chicago and other cities imposed and then strengthened a system of meat inspection, and the Secretary of the Treasury, on his own and without Congressional authorization, set up an inspection organization to certify exported cattle as free of pleuropneumonia in 1881. Finally, after Germany prohibited the importation of American pork, ostensibly because of the problem of disease, Congress, responding to the pressure of the large meatpackers, reacted in May 1884 by establishing a Bureau of Animal Industry within the Department of Agriculture “to prevent the exportation of diseased cattle” and to try to eliminate contagious diseases among domesticated animals.

But this was not enough, and the Department of Agriculture kept agitating for additional federal regulation to improve meat exports. Then, in response to the hog cholera epidemic in the United States in 1889, Congress, again pressured by the big meat packers, passed a law in the summer of 1890 compelling the inspection of all meat intended for export. But the European governments, claiming to be unsatisfied because live animals at the time of slaughter remained uninspected, continued their prohibitions of American meat. As a result, Congress, in March 1891, passed the first important compulsory federal meat inspection law in American history. The Act provided that all live animals must be inspected, and it managed to cover most animals passing through interstate commerce. Every meat packer involved in any way whatever in export had to be inspected in detail by the Department of Agriculture, and violations were punishable by imprisonment as well as fine.

This rigid inspection law satisfied European medicine, and European countries swiftly removed their prohibition on American pork. But the European meat packers were upset in proportion as their physicians were satisfied. Quickly, the European packers began discovering ever higher “standards” of health — at least as applied to imported meat — and European governments responded by reimposing import restrictions. The American meat industry felt it had no other choice but escalating its own compulsory inspection — as the minuet of ever higher and hypocritical standards continued. The Department of Agriculture inspected more and more meat and maintained dozens of inspection stations. In 1895, the department was able to get Congress to strengthen meat inspection enforcement. By 1904, the Bureau of Animal Industry was inspecting 73% of the entire U.S. beef kill.3

The big problem for the large packers was their smaller competitors, who were able to avoid government inspection. This meant that their smaller rivals were outside the attempted cartelization and benefited by the advantage of being able to ship uninspected meat. To succeed, the cartel had to be extended to, and imposed upon, the small packers.

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From Mises.org, here.

What An Israeli Yishuv Is Like – A Real-Life Account

Eretz Chemdah: An Inside View – Finding Our Place in Eretz Yisroel

Various Perspectives and Experiences of English speakers Living in Eretz Yisroel

Finding Our Place in Eretz Yisroel

In 1996, while we were in our late thirties, we moved from Baltimore to Eretz Yisroel with our six children aged sixteen down to one and a half.

Although many rabbonim do not recommend moving to Eretz Yisroel with children from ages eight through high school, we came with the blessing of our rav in Baltimore, Rav Mendel Feldman, ZT”L.

We spent our first year in an absorption center in Mevaseret Zion (just outside Yerushalayim), with no idea of where we would eventually settle. This temporary setup (which no longer exists there) enabled us to: live rent-free for the first half year; attend ulpan, with a free daycare on the premises; and send our children to schools in nearby Telz-Stone and Yerushalayim. Additionally, it gave us the opportunity to see many communities around the country, which was thanks to trips organized by the absorption center and by Tehilla (an organization that conducted pilot trips, organized field trips in search of communities, and provided emotional support to new religious immigrants in the days before Nefesh B’Nefesh). Moreover, we had the opportunity to meet many other new immigrants with whom we could exchange information about job and community searches and give and receive emotional support.
We discovered Ma’aleh Amos by taking rides with other absorption center residents who were looking at various communities. Many aspects of Ma’aleh Amos appealed to us.

The small size classes in the Bais Yaakov and Talmud Torah elementary schools were five to ten students on average. This was wonderful compared to the class sizes in Yerushalayim of up to forty students. Also, the fact that school was about a two-minute walk from home was appealing.

The relatively inexpensive cost of housing was also appealing. We first rented a four-bedroom home, and then eventually built our current home in the empty lot next-door, as part of a project that included eight homes, for a fraction of rental and sale prices in Yerushalayim.

We also appreciated the small and intimate community with only about fifty families at the time. The rav, HaRav Z’ev Wolf Charlop, Shlit”a, who is English-speaking, is an approachable talmid chochom who understood the issues faced by American immigrants. (Having an accessible rav was always of primary importance to us). Many of the families here were also immigrants from the U.S. or from the former U.S.S.R. Since we were all without family, we became each other’s family and support system. Even the Israeli families did not have family nearby, so they became part of this support system as well.

Ma’aleh Amos is an easy commute to Yerushalayim. It is about a half-hour drive to Gilo at the southern end of Yerushalayim, or about a one-hour bus ride to the city’s main entrance. When we moved here, my husband worked in a high-tech park in Yerushalayim, which made for a very reasonable commute for him.

Ma’aleh Amos is in a quiet area where the Judean Hills and the Judean Desert meet. It has a remarkable view of the Yam Hamelach and the mountains of Jordan. We see a lot of sky here. The amazing view, the quiet, and the feeling of being in nature and not in a congested city was very appealing to us. During a simple walk in the yishuv (small settlement), we can see sheep on the nearby hills, sometimes a family of camels, and many other interesting animals and plants. The quiet, calm, and small-town atmosphere is very conducive to ruchniyus growth through participation in yishuv life and having time to learn, whether in shiurim, with a chavrusa, or on your own. We don’t have all the conveniences of the city, but on the other hand, we do not have to deal with a hectic and urban pace of life. As I tell other people, the only time people rush here is to catch the bus—because the next one won’t be leaving for several hours.

We also liked the fact that there were enough English-speaking families for us to feel comfortable. At the same time, we did not want to live in an American “bubble,” but rather in a yishuv that operates in Hebrew, so that we and our children would pick up Hebrew quickly and befriend people of various nationalities.

Boruch HaShem, we felt comfortable here from the very first day—our children were already playing with neighbors their age while the movers were still unloading the moving truck!

Just a brief postscript on our employment: Aryeh is a CPA who currently works for Roth & Co., a frum NY-based accounting firm that recently opened up an auditing office in Yerushalayim. (They’re looking for more accountants.) I am a freelance translator, working from home.

Finding Work

Just as HaShem supplied Bnei Yisroel with all their needs in the desert, He has taken care of our parnassah needs here—in the middle of nowhere!

Several people from our area work in schools and day-care centers either in the local mosdos, in nearby yishuvim, or in Gush Etzion, Beitar, or Yerushalayim. They are teachers, rebbeim or assistants in the Bais Yaakovs, Talmud Torahs or preschools.

A few are employed by the yishuv in various positions, mostly part-time, in the capacity of handyman/gardener, secretary, klita (absorption) coordinator, youth directors, librarian, post office administrator, community coordinator, cultural and activity coordinators, security director, and cleaning the schools, offices and mikvaos.

Some work from home as architects and interior designers, by running businesses from their home, or in other types of work for companies with American hours.

Two residents are bus drivers. One resident owns and operates the makolet (grocery store) with the help of some part-time cashiers who fill in when he is not available.

Several new residents work in Yerushalayim, Beitar or in various Gush Etzion communities as medical or other secretaries, in stores, government offices, or in security positions.

Some women operate their own day care or preschool programs in their homes or in public buildings here, or work in day-care centers here or in nearby yishuvim. Several sofrim work locally, and one resident has a batim business for tefillin.

Some are independently employed, including a construction contractor and a painter.

Two male residents are nurses in Yerushalayim. Some people work part-time as chugim leaders for exercise or crafts classes, here or in other communities. There’s really something for everyone.

– Aryeh and Shoshana Weinberg, Ma’aleh Amos

This article is part of Matzav.com’s Eretz Chemdah series featuring English speakers, living in, settling, and building up Eretz Yisroel. For more info please contact info@naavakodesh.org or visit naavakodesh.org/eretz-chemdah

Reprinted with permission from Naava Kodesh.

Yes, Russian-Hoax Humor During ELLUL!

Putin Declares Victory In Israel Elections

“Today marks a victory for democracy as cover for my machinations.”

Moscow, September 18 – A long night of vote-counting, speeches, and tension culminated this morning in an announcement by Russia’s president thanking Israeli citizens for voting into office the candidates and parties of his choosing.

Vladimir Putin congratulated Israelis Wednesday morning on voting the way he had manipulated them via social media trolling, bankrolling elements to sow division, and fomenting uncertainty on the Jewish state’s northern border to undermine any sense of security.

“I would like to take this special moment to show my appreciation for the victory the Israeli electorate has handed me,” pronounced the autocrat-in-all-but-name and former KGB operative. “We can now move forward with the fractured polity, political stalemate, hyperpartisanship, and mutual mistrust that best suits the policy I have been pursuing for Russian interests in the Middle East and beyond. Today marks a victory for democracy as cover for my machinations.”

“Together, or it will appear that way at least, we can work to build a region and world as I have envisioned,” continued Putin. “This mandate to continue undermining democratic institutions and sentiments in the West and elsewhere forms an important building block in Russia’s long-term strategy for hegemony. I would say we couldn’t have done it without you, but that is not strictly true; what we could not have done without you, the voters, is give the result the veneer of democratic legitimacy. So thank you for that.”

Last night’s electoral triumph marks the second time this year that Putin has achieved the desired outcome in Israeli elections. In April, the divided electorate chose enough parties with mutually exclusive core demands that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu proved unable to form a majority coalition in the 120-seat Knesset. The political stagnation and loss of faith in Israel’s democratic system – as demonstrated by low voter turnout and increased apathy in polls before the election – serve as a key element of the Russian leader’s global strategy to distract the US and its democratic allies with internal strife while Putin pursues an imperialist agenda without American, European, or NATO interference that would otherwise make his designs unattainable.

Putin declined to reveal whether his near-term strategy calls for more inability to form a coalition, necessitating yet another round of elections in Israel early in 2020, or whether such a move would backfire as dissatisfaction with the status quo deadlock drives enough Israelis to vote for an outcome out of line with Russian interests.

From PreOccupied Territory, here.