The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-30
n PACKING HOUSES
Views of the Workers Given in
Their Language.
One Can Work Off Ten Pigs Feet
a Minute, She Says.

Kansas City, Kas., May 3o.-While
most of the butcher girls whose re-
moval from the packing houses the
AmaIgamated Meat Cutters and
Butcher Workmen's association is go
ing to ask this summer, say the work
they do is dirty, and that Michael
Donnelly, president of the union, is
right when he says it is not fit for a
woman, still they say they don't mind
the blood and dirt and don't believe it
is half as debasing as might be sup
posed. Several of the young women
employed in various departments
where a. knife is used talked to a re-
porter yesterday concerning their
work and described in detail the work
they were required to do.
lob" said one butcher girl" You
see, we make good money, but it's
dirty work and we earn all we get
The job amt no cinch, but 1 don
much mind it now. Two years ago.
when first began, I thought 1t tough,
but som etimes I make $50 a week,
and that's good money"
s'Do you wear rubber boots and a
rubber apron 2, was asked;
eyes, indeed" she replied. on
see, after the pig is scalded lots of lit
tie hair remains on the skin. Now, we
have to clean that off. That's scrap
ing pigs feet Three of US stand
around a big trough of water, kept
hot by a steam coil. In this is thrown
the Dfgs' feet. We reach IN, grab a
foot in our left hand and scrape off
the hair with a small knife held in
our right hand. Then we SINCE tbs
foot over a gas Jet. I can work off
ten of these feet a minute. That's
Roin' some. This amt no harder
than doin' somebody's washin'. When
night comes I'm done and I know
fn
Mr.. Donnelly is right 1t amt no
lob for girl That's a dead cfnch. =,
ooh, joy" said another butcher
girl" who trims meat in the sausage
room, 1--WE amt got a bad job. Of
course, we get blood on our hands
and all that, but we don't mind it. 1t
amt no worse than Workin' in a cigar
store and amt nothing to a laundry,
where the air amt fit to breathe. You
see, the girls in our gang trim. You
know when a ham butcher gets done
there's lots of odds and ends of meat.
We take this and trim the lean from
the lean sausage. Yes, they used to
use men for this work, but now they
hire girls. I would rather be in the
label gang. but we got t OWork Where
I got used to it. At first I hated it,
but I don't care now
A negro woman who picks chick
ems. leaned back and laughed long
and loud when asked about her work.
ooh. pshaw'' she said. Go away.
Don't bother me wild questions. I
don't mind pickin' chickens. All we
do is pull Off the feathers. It amt
no dirtier than cookin'. If you cook
a chicken you got to clean him. At
the packin' house they done freeze
him inside, head and all I don't let
the talk about firm me bother me.
can find work some place else. But
whoever heard of man pickin'
chickens %
And she laughed again.
A boss" of one of the gangs of
butcher girls" when asked about the
work, said: THE trouble amt here.
It's in Chicago. While the girls here
do some dirty work, it amt nothing
like Chicago. There they're a lot of
foreigners. In the sausage room after
the strike last fall they began to put
girls to work where the men had
worked. This is regular butcher work.