The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-09-22
Union FIRST: EXPOSED f: |P' /: ):
::PAIk|NG10Wh HORRORS
Conditions There Are Now
More Generally: Known
Through sinolair's Book.
Organized ,1,abor''s Economic
Policy Makes for the So.
:: .cia1 .Uplift Of: All. -.

:: .cia1 Uplift Of: All. -. ::
! -: ~>,..;',. ~
Mr.. Upton Sinclair in His powerful
story of life in the Chicago stocktAfds
has revealed a condition az commercial
venality. and dishonesty. 80 shocking In
its disclosure as to: TEMPORARILY stun
the public mind. The@inordinate!g greed
Of the baron meat packets has led them
to commit crimes Of such revolving ha-
ture that honest minds hnd it hard to
believe. -: - '.-.:' t.,'-.
Surely human depravity never de-
Seconded to lower depths than it did
when the health. and the very lives OF
human beings were jeopardiseds by the
sale and. consumption OF .carcasses; Of
animals who, died Of disease, we're de-
eased when slaughtered or were pre-
paired for sale amid such filth as to
render them UNIT for food. -
The infant nourished at. the mothers
breast, the invalid vainly seeking
strength from horrible decoctions la
Ing rotten sausage for his, midday
beled beef BROTH. the workman eat
meal, feeble old age. the weak and
helpless are. all victims Of as internal
and atrocfous a conspiracy OF capital
istic gluttony as ever defiled the pages
Of history or made a free people. bow
their heads in shame and horror
crimes acquiesed in and. consumated
by those chosen guardians, to whom
the Deity Is alleged to have given the
stewardship OF the material interests
OF. the nation. 49,,
During the last strike in the, Chica go
etr o~To %Ao
labor was performed were laid bare to
proved that the waSe-worke rs en-
ployed there were virtual slaves, their
earnings barely sufficient to keep body
and soul together, and the system of
speeding up carried to such extent
that after a few years service they
were worn out. cruelty cast aside like
broken bits Of machinery to make room
for other victims to immediate them
selves on this altar In insatiate
rapacity.
During the progress Of. the strike the
great body OF the unthinking public,
who either do not belong to labor TN
ions, barely tolerate their existence. or
are ignorantly hostile to their aspira
tions, deeply deplored the vast incon-
venience that the suspension. OF this
industry caused, and this same public.
with the blind fetish faith in the mag
nanimity Of the captains Of industry.
sought to place the blame for disorder
and Inconvenience on the butcher work.
tnen's union. Mere animal satisfaction
appeared so strong in content and
well-to-do people. who felt that they
were in no danger from the packers
greed that they were quite willing to
believe the trade unions involved were
totblame for the whole business.
However, since patient scrutiny and
the white light of investigation have
been let into those foul cellars where
the unfortunate human animals en-
duted hell on earth. flooding the
putrid carcasses OF the packers prey
with chemical presentations that they
| might be palmed OF on an unsuspicious
| public for fresh, wholesome food, the
| contentment Of SNUG responsibility
has been violently upset and labor con-
ditions in the >stock-yards. as well as
| cleanliness Of processes and subjects,
| are receiving an attention that is ex-
ceed.ngly gratifying to those who
| earnestly desire the advancement OF
| the common welfare.
The fact that one is eating beef from
the carcass Of a. lumpy-jawed cow, pork
from a victim Of hog cholera or tuber-
cl1osis, sausage. the constituency OF
which was once the putrescent slime
from the floor Of a killing room, fowl
that with decaying 'entrails has hung
in cold storage for two years, extract
OF beef that IL a. combination Of every
thing uhpalatab1e, unwholesome, and
unhealthful, Unborn veal or that witch
was but a few hours old when siauEh.
tered, has all had the effect on the
public mind Of. causing, it to wonder
II 1t was not too hasty In giving full
faith to the integrity, probity and ben
eficence of the beef packers.
! When such contemptuous. disregard
Of common decehcy, such wilfull in
difference to the public health exists,
It is idle to expect consideration for
the interests or welfare O the common
workman: the packers are In business
to make money, and when Intelligent
American laborets refused, to accept
wages that would compel; them to live
like stock yard hogs, the highways and
by-ways Of southern Europe, were
secured. for workers sufficiently un-
fortunate to take their places The
irish and the German were replaced
BY the Bohemian and the Pole. These
people were In time ousted = by tie
Lithuanian and the slovak,, and since
the great strike the illiterate southern
negro has heidi high carnival. ;.
President Eliot OF Harvard College
says the strike Breaker or the "'scab'
Is modern hero so Of course the
ignorant black man from the sunny
southern cotton fields m ist be 80 cias-
sided, although to- thu = ordinary OF.
server he seems to POSSESS but few :o1
those attributes we nave learned &c
revere and love in those, who. in hu.
manity's; cause have SACRIFICED life