Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 200, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1910 — EATING CAT’S MEAT [ARTICLE]

EATING CAT’S MEAT

London Officers Say Sales Not for Human Consumption. Purveyors Uphold Them and Tradesmen Aver Purchasers Among Poorer Classes Are for Animals —Sold In Poor Sections. London.— Toward the end of the year 1907 the medical officer of health to the London county council reported that “there can, of course, be no doubt that much cat’s meat is still eaten by human beings in London. It is largely sold in extremely poor neighborhoods, and the women seen buying a fourpennyworth or a flvepennyworth are clearly not buying meat for cats.” Tariff reformers jumped at this statement, out of which they have made a great deal of capital, both in the house of commons and in their campaigns in the country, it is not refuted by a detailed report from Dr. D. L. Thomas, the medical officer of health for Stepney, who has had 24 years experience of the East end of London. He deals with the subject in his annual report this year. In the borough of Stepney there of whom was interviewed by Doctor Thomas, and “each one was emphatic in his statement that none of his customers bought horseflesh for human food. Even the very poorest had it wrapped in paper, and then they carry it home in a gingerly fashion, as if it

were something unclean and revolting.” “The usual amount," said Doctor, Thomas, “expended by each customer for cat’s meat In this borough Is a farthing to a halfpenny. Only ten purveyors had sold a pound of cat’s meat (which costa four or five cental- at a time, and then it was to neighboring tradesmen, who were known to keep dogs. Three purveyors only sold four-penny-worth at a time, and the buyers were well known to them, and kept big dogs.” If there were any foundation for the statement that poor people eat horseflesh, the sale of cat’s meat would have Increased with the Increase of unemployment and poverty, but It is not boa In every part of the borough there has been a decrease, but the decrease has been most in that part In which unemployment mostly prevails. It was stated In a newspaper that In Whitechapel, within a short distance of Aldgate station, there are several shops where horseflesh Is sold for human food. Doctor Thomas states that there are only three cat’s meat shops in the whole of the Whitechapel district, and there is less cat’s meat sold in this district than In any other part of the borough. At two shops near the docks Doctor Thomas was told that sometimes foreign sailors asked to be served with cat’s meat, stating that they know It Is horseflesh, and that they have been accustomed to eat it abroad. They are never served.