Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1906-04-07
Il Aims at the Lives, the Health and
the Pockets Of Chicago
Citizens.
Frightful Food Thrown Into This
CITY While the Government In.
spectors Sit Supinely BY.


and the packing. house had special
elevator upon which they were raised
to the killing beds. where the gang
proceeded to handle them with an air
Of business.like nonchalaDce which
said palmer than words that It was n
matter of everyday routine 1t took a
couple Of hours to get them out Of the
way. and In the end Jurgls saw them
60 into the chilling.rooms with the rest
Of the meat. being carefully scattered
here and there 30 that they could not
be identified
Mr.. Sinclair's description Of the meat
that Is put into cans Is sufficiently un-
appetizing but his account Of how
sausages are made Is still more 10.
There was never the least attention
paid to what was cut up for sausage"
he says; "there would come all the way
back from Europe old sausage that had
been rejected and that was moldy and
white-it would be dosed with borax
and glycerin, and dumped into the hop.
pers, and made over again for home
consumption. There would be meat
that had tumbled out on the floor. In
the dirt and sawdust. where the work.
cry had tramped and spit uncountcd
billions Of consumption germs.
"There would be meat stored In
great piles In rooms. and the water
from lealsy roofs would drip over II,
and thousands Of rats would race about
II. 1t was too dark In these storage
places to see well, but man could run
his hand over these piles Of meat and
sweep of handouts Of the dried excrc.
mcnt Of rats. These rats were n nui.
sance. and the packers would put pol.
soncd bread out for them; they would
die. and then rats, bread and meat
would go into the hoppers together.
This In no fairy story and no Joke; the
meat would be shoveled into carts, and
the man who did the shovelIng would
not trouble to lift out q rat even when
he saw one-there were things that
went into the sausage In comparison
with which poisoned rat was It'd.
bit"
The authors descriptions Of these nj.
legged denominations are merely Incl.
dental to his portrayal Of equally ter.
riblc social conditions In the stock
yards. Jurgis finds himself In jungle
Of wild BOASTS, all seeking to rend and
rob him. and the emotional interest Of
the story has to do with the terrible
losing fight Of this honest Lithuanian
family. The packing industry kills one
member after another. ruins and kills
Jurgis' young wife under heart.rcnding
conditions, kills his little hoy, and
sends Jurgis himself forth into the
world tramp and then criminal.
The whole story II a chamber Of hor.
rors.
The latter part describes social nj.
GERS not usually mentioned In a novel.
The most sensational chapter Ia that
describing the unspeakable state Of
affairs said TO have been permitted and
promoted by the packers during the
big strike.
"They lodged men and women on
the same floor" says the author. "and
with the night there began saturnalia
OF neutrality-suspicious. such rs never
before had been witnessed In America.
And as the women were the dregs from
the brOthels of Chicago, and the men
were for the most part ignorant coun'
try negroes, the nameless disease OF
vice were soon rife, and this where
food was being handled, which was sent
out to every corner Of the civilized
world"
! The novel closes with the conversion
1 OF the hero to socialism, In which hs
IL supposed to see a cure for the evils
OF the "beef trust."-Chlcsgo Record
Herald. February 20. 1906.
~
Extracts from Upton sinclair's nov
Of, THE Jungle" Chicago Recori
Herald, Feb. 90, 1906:
Then there was the condemned mea
industry, with its endless horrors. TIT
people Of Chicago saw the government
inspectors In Packingtown, and they
all took that to mean that they were
protected from diseased meat; they
did not understand that these 1913 In
spectors had been appointed at the re
quest Of the packers, and that they
were paid by the United States gov
eminent to certify that all the dis
eased meat was kept In the State.
There were some cattle with broker
legs, and some with gored sides, ant
some that had died, from what cause
no one could say; and they were all 4
be disposed OF here In darkness ant
silence. "DOwners" the men callet
them, and the packing-house had {
special elevator upon which they were
raised to the killing beds where thu
gang proceeded to handle them, viii
an air Of buslnesslike nonchalanct
which said palmer than words that Il
was matter of everyday routine.
There was never the least attention
paid 10 what was cut up for sausage
Thousands OF rats would race over the
meat. These rats were nuisance,
and the packers would put poisoned
bread out for them: they wouh ~