Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-06-08
REVOLVING DISCLOSURES
DIRT AND DISEASE RAMPANT IN
CHICAGO PACKING HOUSES.
Report OF Special Inves,igatos-Un.
cleanly Methods in Preparing Meat
Products Drastic Measures Urged
Packers Deny Charges.

Packers Deny Charges.
President Roosevelt sent TO boil
houses of congress Monday the reports
of Commissioners james B. Reynolds
and Charles Z. Ncill appointed by hin
I TO investigate aud report on conditions
/ in the stock yards of Chicago. In m
accompanying message, the president
saws that an investigation into thl'
Imntter by the bureau Of animal indus
Itry of the department Of agriculture
i showed him such defects in the laW
land such wholly unexpected condition.
i that he thought best 10 have further I'm.
IVcstigation by men not connected with
1.-THE bureau. The first investigation
showed the impossibility Of satisfac.
tory work hy the bureau under the
/ law: the second. the way in which the
the work actually was done, The pres.
ident said of the report;
I submit IL 10 you nov because % shows
thc urgent need Of immediate action by the
congress in the direction ~ providing 9
drastic and thoroughsong inspection by the
federal government Of all stock yards ard
packing houses and OF their products, 50 far
as the latter enter into interstate or foreign
commerce. The conditions shown by even
this short inspection to exist In the Chi.
cago stock yards are revolving. Il Is i'm.
peraiively necessary IN the interest Of
health and Of decency that they should be
radically changed 4 law Is need.
ed which will enable the Inspectors Of the
general government 20 inspect and supervise
from the hoof to the can the preparation Of
the meat food product. The evil seems TO
be much less In the sale Of dressed carcasses
than in the sale Of canned and other pre-.
pared products and very mueh less as re.
CARDS products sent abroad than as regards
those used az home
In my Judgment the expense Of the In.
specton should be paid by q fee levied on
each animal slaughtered. II this Is not done,
the whole purpose Of the law can az any
time be defeated through an insufficient ap-
preparation; and whenever there was no par.
iicular public interest In the subject II
would be not only easy but natural thus to
make the appropriation insufficient. =
In no case, under such law, will the cost
Of inspection exceed eight cents a head
The investigation is still unin.
ished. 1t is not yet possible to report on
the alleged abuses in the use Of deleterious
chemical compounds IN connection with can.
ming and preserving meat products. nor on
the alleged doctoring in this fashion Of
tainted meat and of products returned TO the
packers as having grown unstable or un-
usable from age or from other reasons. Grave
allegations are made in reference to abuses
Of this nature.
II no legislation is passed, then
the excellent results ACCOMPLISHED by the
work of this special coniiaee viii endure
only so long as the memory Of the commit
tees work is fresh, and q recrudescenee Of
the abuses is absolutely certain.
urge the immediate enactment into law
of provisions which will enable the depart
ment Of agriculture adequately to inspect
the meat and meatfood products entering
into interstate commerce and 10 supervise
the methods Of preparing the same, and to
prescribe the sanitary conditions under
which the work shall be performed. !
therefore commend to your favorable con,
sideration and urge the enactment of sub
stantally the provisions known as Senate
amendment No 90 TO the act making appro.
priations for the department Of agriculture
for the fiscal year ending June 80, 1901 as
passed by the senate, this amendment be-
ing commonly known as the Beveridge
amendment.
The report of the commissioners
contains only facts verified by personal
examination. Some of these would not
be fit to print but for the questions of
public health involved, The yards are
said to be dirty and ill-smelling and
strewn with dead bodies of animals.
The interior of the buildings is gen.
erallv of wood, the floors soaked and
slimv There is little natural light or
ventilation. The tables, carts and tubs
are generally of wood, soaked and half
cleansed. As to sanitary conveniences,
the report says;
Nothing shows more strikngly the gen
eral Indifference TO matters of cleanliness
and sanitation than do the prves for both
men and women. The prevailing type IS
made by cutting off a section of the work
room by a thin wooden partition rising to
within a few feet of the ceiling. These
priyies usually ventilate into the workroom,
though few are found with window
opening into the outer air. Many are To-
Gated in the inside corners of the work
rooms. and thus have no outside opening
whatever. They are furnished with row
of seats, generally without even side parti-
tions. These rooms are sometimes used as
cloakrooms by the employees. Lunch rooms
constructed in the same manner by boarding
off section of the workroom often adjoin
the priyies, the odors of which add to the
generally insanitary state of the atmos-
phere.
Abominable as the above named condi-
tions are, the one that affects most direct
ly and seriously the cleanliness of the food
products is the frequent absence OF any
lavatory provisions in the privies. Wash
ing sinks are either not furnished at all or
are small and dirty. Neither are towels,
soap, or toilet paper provided. Men ana
women return directly from these places to
plunge their unwashed hands into the meat
to be converted into such food products as
sausages, dried beef, and other compounds.
Some of the privies are situated at long
distance from the workrooms, and men re-
leve themselves on the killing floors or in
q corner of the workrooms. Hence, IN some
cases. the fumes of the urine swell the sum
of nauseatng odors arising from the dirty
blood-soaked, rotting wooden floors, fruitful
culture beds for the disease germs of men
and animals.
OF the treatment of meats and pre-
pared food products the report says:
Meat scraps were also found being show
eled into receptacles from dirty floors
where they were left until again shoveled
into barrels or into machines for chopping.
These floors, it must be noted, were in most
cases damp and soggy. in dark, ill-ventilat-
ed rooms, and the employees in utter igno-
rance of cleanliness or danger to health ex-
perforated at will upon them. In word,
we saw meat shoveled from filthy wooden
floors, piled on tables rarely washed, pushed
from room to room in rotten box carts, in
all of which processes it was in the way OF
gathering dirt, splinters, floor filth, and the
expectoration of tubereulous and other dls-
eased workers. Where comment was made
to floor superntendents about these mat
ters. it was always the reply that this meat
would afterwards be cooked and that this
sterilization would prevent any danger from
its use. Even this, it may be pointed out