Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-05

!
further danger through the use Of
| chemicals.
No Government Inspection
During all these processes there is
/ no government inspection, although
! these productions when sent out bear
q label stating they have been passed
| upon by the government inspectors
The report arraigns the sanitary
! provisions i'm the buildings as abomi-
| nable and says the men and women
| plunge their unwashed hands into the
meat to be converted into food
| products
The report says the burden of pro-
| tecting the cleanliness and the whole
someness OF the products and the
| health of the workers and improving
the conditions must fall upon the ma
| tional government
Department superintendents "seem to
| Ignore all considerations except the
account books" and proper care of the
products and of the health and COM
! fort of the employees is impossible and
the consumer consequently suffers.
TuberCulOss victims expectorate on
the spongy wooden floors of the dark
work rooms. from which fallen scraps
| of meat are later shoveled up to be
later converted into food products.
Ignore Ordinary Decencles
Even the ordinary decencies of life
are completely ignored" says the re-
port in discussing the arrangements for
men and women employees. The re-
port says:
Nothing shows more strikingly the
general indifference to matters Of
cleanliness and sanitation than do the
closets for both men and women. The
prevailing type is made by cutting off
section of the workroom by thin
wooden partition rising to within a
few feet of the ceiling. These closets
usually Ventiate into the work room,
though few are found with WIN
dow opening into the outer air.
Many are located in the inside cor
ners of the workrooms, and thus have
no outside opening whatever. They
are furnished with row of seats,
generally without even side partitions.
These rooms sometimes are used as
cloak rooms by the employees. Lunch
rooms are constructed i'm the same
manner, by boarding off a section of
the work room, often adjoining the
closets. the odors of which add to the
generally unsanitary state of the at
mosphere.
No LaVatory Provisions Made
"Abominable as the above named
conditions are, the one that affects
most directly and seriously the cleanli-
ness of the food products is the fire.
quent absence of any lavatory provis-
ions in the closets.
Washing sinks are either not fur
nished at all or are small and dirty.
Neither are towels, soap or toilet paper
provided. Men and women return di-
rectly from these places to plunge their
unwashed hands into the meat to be
converted into such food products as
sausages dried beef and other COM
pounds.
Hence in some cases. the fumes that
would naturally arise from these condl-
tions, swell the sum of nauseating odors
arising from the dirty, blood-soaked
rotting wooden rooms, fruitful culture
beds for the disease germs of men and
animals.
"The whole situation as we saw it. in
these huge establishments tends neces-
sarily and inevitably to the moral deg
radiation of thousands of workers, who
are forced to spend their working hours
under conditions that are entirely un-
necessary and objectionable and which
are constant menace not only to their
own health, but to the health of those
who use the food products prepared by
them.'
Compulsory Examination
The report urges compulsory exam
ination after slaughter, inclusive of
goats, now exempt from inspection,
intended for foreign or interstate COM
nerce, in the list subject to the in
spection of the bureau of animal in
dustry and that they should be equal
ly controlled by the secretary of agri-
culture; increase of inspectors for
night inspection and special work; leg
islation prohibiting declarations of
government inspections or food products
unless subject to government inspec-
tion at every stage of preparation;
interstate transportation of
any meat or meat food products not
inspected and labeled; urges consider
alton of the specific labelling of all
sold as fresh meat which upon
examination after slaughtering show
signs of disease but are still deemed
suitable for food; and recommends
study of inspection standards of other