The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-05
FILTHY PRACTICES OF CHICAGO PACKERS

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bells. They were then subjected TO suf-
fIClent heat TO 'liVen Up the COntentS-tO
use the phrase Of the room superintend-
ent- After this, fresh labels, with the
government name on them, were to be
placed upon the cans, and they were to
pc sent out bearing all the evidence of
OF these instances, by the admission of
the superintendent, the stock thus being
relabeIed was over two years old IN
the other case the superintendent evaded
a statement of how old the goods were
Treatment of Employees.
The lack Of consideration for the
neaIth and comfort of the lsbOrers in the
chicago stOckyards seems to be a direct
consequence OF the system of admins
trat1On that prevails The various depart
ments are under the direct control of
superintendent who claim to use full
authority IL dealing with the employees
and who seem to ignore all considerations
except those of the account book Under
this system proper care Of the products
and Of the health and comfort OF the
employees IS impossible, and the consumer
suffers in consequence. The insanitary
conditions in which the labOrerS work and
the teVerlsh pace which they are forced
10 maintain inevitably affect their health.
Physicians state that tuberculosis is dis
propOrtiOnateiy prevalent in the stock
yards. and the victims Of this disease ex-
pectorate on the spongy wooden floors
OF the dark work rooms, from which
scraps Of meat are later shoveled up to
be converted into food products.
Ordinary Deeencies Ignored.
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. the
prlVles Of men and women frequently ad-
join and the entrances are sometimes
hon GOT Tvr-n In
other cases there are TO pTiVieS for WO-
men IN the rooms in which they work.
and to reach the nearest il is necessary
TO go up or down 4 couple of flights Of
stairs In one noticeable instance the
privy for the women working in several
ADJOINING rooms was II q room IN which
men chiefly were employed, and every
EITl going TO use this had to pass 10y the
working places of dozens OF men opera
tives- As noted in the privies for men
and women alike there are no partitions.
Put simply long row OF open seats
Rest rooms. where tired women workers
might 90 for Il short rest. were found a
rare exceptions. and fn some establish
ments women are even placed in charge
Of privIeS chiefly for the purpose, II was
stated, that the girls did not absent
themselves too long from their work IN
der the excuse Of visiting them Ia some
instances what was called a rest room
was simply one end Of the pTivy parti-
toned off by a siX-fOOt partition from
the remaining Enclosure A few girls
were found using this. not only as rest
room. but as the only available place in
which to sit to eat their luncheon.
CaIIous Disregard.
Much of the work in connection with
the handling OF meat has TO be carried
even here a CallOus disregard was every
where seen for the comfort Of those who
worked in these rooms Girls and women
were found in rooms registering tenn
perature of $ degrees without any ven
tilatiUn whatever. depending entirely on
artificial light The floors were wet and
sOggy and in some cases covered with
water so that the girls had to stand in
sawduSt as q protection for their feet. In
2 few cases even dTippings from refTig
orator rooms a bOve them trlckled from
the ceilings upon the heads of the work
ers and upon the food products being
have furnished drier floors and protected
them against the tTiCklingS from the cell
inEs- II was asserted by the superintend-
ent Of these rooms that this low tempera-
tuTe was essential to the proper keep
ing of the meat, but precisely similar
work was done in other establishments
In many cases girls Of Is, L and IS years
stand ten hours a day at work. much of
which could be carried on while sitting
down.
Sinking ard Nauseating.
IN several esta blishments well man
aged restaurants were provided for the
clerical force and in one instance a
smoking room was provided for them:
but TO provision was found anywhere
for place 10 eat for the male labOreTS.
In pleasant weather they eat their lunch
con sitting outdoors along the edge of the
sidewalk or any place where they can
find standing room In winter. however,
and in inClemeut weather their lunches
have to be eaten in rooms that in many
cases are sinking and naUseating. Eat
ing rooms are being provided in a num-
Der of places for women workers in the
various departments; and In most Of the
large establishments coffee is served
them at q penny 4 cup Beyond this
mcaEer consideration for their COnVen-
ience at meal times, scarcely any evidence
is found that any one gave thought to
their comfort
The neglect on the part Of their en-
plOyerS to recognize OF provide for the
requirements of cleanliness and deCenCy
of the emplOye must have an influence
that cannot be exaggerated in lowering
the morals and discOUrdCing cleanliness
on the part Of the workers employed in
the packing houses The whole situation
as we saw II in these huge establish
ments tends necessarily and inevitably to
the moral degradation Of thousands Of
workers who are forced to spend their
working hours under conditions that are
entirely unnecessary and objectionable.
and which are a constant menace not
only to their own health, but to the
health Of those who use the food products
manufactured by them
Government Inspection.
We observed clearly the importance of
inspection after slaughter on the killing
beds the more minute eXamina ton Of an
finals tagged or the killing floors and the
microscopic examination for trichinOsis.
Inspection before slaughter appears to
have little value IN most cases. That I'M
due advantage of this inspection is taken
by outside parties is charged. and oppor-
tUnities for such are abundant. but no
specific evidence was presented to me-
That this UnimpOrtant and superficial cx-
animation should be compulsory under the