The Tupelo journal., 1906-06-15

frank admission from the mar IN
charge that this was to be ground UP
and used in making ''potted ham,"
All OF these canned products bear
labels, of which the following Is q
sample:
"ABBATOR NO. -. The contents Vt
this package have been inspected &C
cording to the act of Congress OF
March S, 1891. Quality guaranteed"
Deception In Government Label. Z
The ~phraseology of these labels is
wholly unwarranted. The government
inspectors pass only upon the health
fulness of the animal at the time OF
killing. They know nothing of the
processes through which the meat has
passed since this inspection. They do
not know what else may have been
placed in the cans in addition to "in-
spected meat" AS a matter of fact,
they know nothing about the CON
tents Of the can upon which the pack
ers places these labels-do not even
know that it contains what it pur-
ports to contain. The legend Quality
Guaranteed" Immediately following
the statement a to government in
spection is wholly unjusti1able. 1t de-
ceives and is plainly designed to de-
ceive the average purchaser. who nat
urally infers from the label that the
government guarantees the contents
of the can to be what it purports to
be.
In another establishment piles Of
sausages and dry moldy canned meats,
admittedly several years old, we're
found, which the superintendent stat
ed to us would be tanked and convert
ed into grease The disposition to be
made of this was wholly optional with
the superintendent or representatives
of the packers, as the government does
not nee itself with the disposition
of meats after they have passed is.
spection on the killing floor. 1t might
be all treated with chemicals mixed
with other meats, turned out in any
form of meat product desired, and yet
the packages or receptacles in which
it was to be shipped out to the public
would be marked with a label that
their contents had been government
inspected" 1t is not alleged here that
such use was to be made of this stun.
The ease is pointed out as n show.
ing the glarins opportunity for the
misuse of a label bearing the name
and the implied guaranty Of the Unit
ed States government.
Another instance of abuse in the
use Of the labels came to our notice. In
two different establishments great
: stocks of old canned goods were being
put through a washing process to re.
move the old labels. They were then
subjected to sufficient heat to Given
up" the contents-to use the phrase OF
the room superintendent. After this,
fresh labels, with the government
name on them, were to be placed upon
the cans, and they were to be sent out
bearing all the evidence of being a
freshly put up product. In one Of these
instances, by the admission of the su-
perintendent, the stock thus being re-
labeled was over two years old. In the
other case the superintendent evaded
a statement of how old the goods
were.
How the Employees Are Treated.
1.-THE lack of consideration for the
health and comfort of the laborers in
the Chicago st%ockyards seems to be a
direct consequence of the system OF
administration that prevails. The va
rious departments are under the direct
control of superintendent who claim
to S full authority in dealing with
the employees and who seem to ignore
all considerations except those of the
account book. Under this system
health and comfort of the employees is
impossible, and the suffers
in consequence. The unsanitary con-
ditions in which the laborers work and
the feverish pace which they are
forced to maintain inevitably affect
their health. Physicians state that tu-
%berculosis is disproportionately prevail
ent in the stockyards, and the victims
of this disease expectorate on the
spongy wooden floors of the dark
workrooms, from which falling scraps
of meat are later shoveled up to be
converted into food products.
Even the ordinary decencies of life
are completely ignored. In practically
all cases the doors Of the toilet rooms
open directly into the working rooms.
Rest rooms, where tired women work
ers might go for a short rest, were
found as rare exceptions, and in some
establishments women are oven placed
in charge of toilet rooms chiefly for
the purpose, it was stated, to see that
the girls did not absent themselves too
long from their work under the ex-
cuse of visiting them. In some in.
stances what was called a rest room
was simply one end of the toilet rooms
p%artitioned off by a s~ix-foot partition
from the remaining Enclosure. A few
girls we're found using this, not only
as a rest room, but as the only avail
able place in which to eat their lunch
eCn.
A suggestion has been made by the
Utah board of education to ask the
Is, 000, 900 school children in the
United States to contribute 81 1000, 900
for the erection Of fifteen school
buildings in San Francisco. The ma.
tional commissioner of education has
been asked to set aside a national
school day, when each pupil will be
asked to contribute 5 or 10 cents for
: this purpose.