The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1906-06-09
UPTON SINCLAIR STRIKES BACK
Author of "The Jungle" Faces Prince of Packers With Awful
Array OF Facts Calculated to Destroy the
Infamous Industry.

In a recent issue of the Saturday
Evening Post Mr.. ]. Ogden Armour
makes the assertion that the govern.
ment inspection of the beef trust
slaughter-houses Is an impregnable
wall protecting the public from i'm.
pure meat, and that not an atom OF
diseased meat finds it's way into the
products of the Armours. Mr.. Up
ton Sinclair, author of "The Jungle
{ a terrific statement of packing house
conditiOns), studied the meat industry
for two years, including much time
spent in the Chicago stockyards as a
workman; he Is the best equipped
outside authority ON stockyard condi-
lions. In Everybody's Magazine for
May Mr.. Sinclair makes a startling
and convincing answer to Mr.. Ar
mour's assertion. Commencing with
the statement that J. Ogden Armour
Is the absolute and not the nominal
head Of the great packing house in
dustry which bears his name Mr.. Sin
clair says: 81 know that in the state
ments quoted, Mr.. Armour willfully
and deliberately states what he abso-
lutely and positively knows to be
~falSehoods."
That he might be properly equipped
to describe conditions N Packing
town" Mr.. Sinclair worked for a
period as a laborer in the plant Of Ar
mour & Co., and he tells of sights Of
Nth and horror such as he hopes
never to see again, but the strongest
coincidence of the truth of the claim
that meat unfit for human food is put
on the market comes from a man for
years superintendent at Armour &
Co.'S Chicago plant, Thomas F. Dolan,
of Boston. Mr.. Sinclair in his article
says:
cat the time of the embalmed-beef
scandal at the conclusion Of the Span
ish war, when the whole country was
convulsed with fury over the revela-
tons made by soldiers and officers
%(including Gen. Miles and President
Roosevelt) concerning the quality of
meat which Armour & CO. had fur
nished to the troops, and concerning
the death-rate which it had caused,
the enormity Of the 'condemned-meat
industry became suddenly clear to
one man who had formerly super
vised it. Mr.. Thomas F. Dolan, then
residing in Boston, had, up to a short
time previous, been a superintendent
at Armour & Co.'s, and one Of Mr..
Philip d. Armour's most capable and
trusted men. When he read OF the
death-rate in the army, he made an
affidavit concerning the things which
were done in the establishment Of Ar
mour & Co., and this affidavit he took
to the New York Journal, which plo-
lished it on March 4, 1889. Here are
some extracts from it:
There were many ways of getting
around the inspectors-so many, In
fact, that not more than two or three
cattle out of 1000 were condemned.
of in this connection, as my particular
instructions from Mr.. w. E. Pierce,
superintendent Of the beef houses for
Armour & Co., were very explicit and
definite.
whenever a beef got past the yard
inspectors with a case of lumpy jaw
and came into the slaughterhouse or
the 'killng-bed,' l was authorized by
Mr.. Pierce to take his head off, thus
removing the evidences of lumpy jaw,
and after casting the smitten portion
into the tank where refuse goes, to
send the rest of the carcass on its
way to market.
81 have seen as much as 40 pounds
of flesh afflicted with gangrene cut
from the carcass of a beef, in order
that the rest of the animal might be
utilized in trade.
zone Of the most important regula-
lions of the bureau of animal indus
try Is that no cows In calf are to be
placed on the market. Out Of a
slaughter of 1000 cows, or a days
perhaps one-half are with
My instructions from MI.
Pierce were to dispose Of the calves
ululuS Iucu uulil Ai6uI, VI uA$AA
the inspectors left off duty. The lit
tie carcasses were then brought from
all over the packing-house and skinned
by boys, who received two cents for
removing each pelt. The pelts were
sold for so cents each to the kid-glove
manufacturers. This occurs every
night at Mr.. Armour's concern at Chi
or after each killing of cows.
81 now propose to state here exact
" what 1 myself have witnessed In
Philip D. Armour's packing-house with
cattle that have been condemned by
the government inspectors.
"a workman, one Nicholas Newson
my time, informs the inspec-
tor that the tanks are prepared for the
reception of the condemned cattle and
that his presence is required to see
beef cast into the steanl-tank. MI.
Inspector proceeds at once to the place
indicated, and the condemned cattle,
having been brought up to the tank