The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-06-19
THE FACTS ABOUT
THE PACKING HOUSES
Continued from Page Two).
form of sausages, which are prepared
TO be eaten without being cooked
AN INSTANCE OF SAUSAGE
AfAryrNrgv

AN lNSIANCE OF SAUSAGE
MAKING.
"a particularly glazing instance of
uncleanliness was found in room
where the best grade Of sausage was
being prepared for export. 1t was
made from carefully selected meats
and was being prepared to be eaten un-
cooked In this case the employe cart
ed the chopped-up meat across a room
in a barrow, the handles of which were
filthy with grease. The meat was
then thrown out upon tables and the
employe climbed upon the table. hand
led the meat with his unwashed hands,
knelt with his dirty apron and trousers
i'm contact with the meat he was
spreading out, and, after he had finish
ed his operation, again took hold Of the
dirty handles of the wheelbarrow, went
back for another load and repeated
this process indefinitely. Inquiry de-
veloped the fact that there was no wa
ter in this room and the only method
the man adopted for cleaning his hands
was to rub them against his dirty apron
or on his still flthier trousers
"As an extreme example of the en-
tire disregard on the part Of employees
of amy notion of cleanliness in hand
ling dressed meat we saw a hog that
had just been killed cleaned washed and
started on its way to the cooling room
fall from the sliding rail to dirty
wooden floor and slide part way into a
HEALTH OF EMPLOYEES NOT CON
SIDERED
~. TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES
The lack of consideration for the
health and comfort of the laborers in
the Chicago stockyards seems to be IL
direct consequence of the system of adj
ministration that prevails. The vari-
Gus departments are under the direct
control of superintendent, who claim
to use full authority in dealing with
the employees and w,O seem to ignore
all considerations except those of the
account book. Under this system prop
er 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 fe-
verish pace which they are forced to
maintain inevitably affect their health.
Physicians state that tuberculosis is
disproportionately prevalent in the
stockyards. and the victims of this dis
ease expectorate on the spongy wooden
floors of the dark worlirooms, from
which falling scraps of meat are later
shoveled up to be converted into food
products.
ORDINARY DECENCIES ARE IG-
NORED.
Even the ordinary decencies Of life
are completely ignored. In practically
all cases the odory of the toilet rooms
open directly into the working rooms,
the privies of men and women fire.
ouently adioin, and the entrances are
sometimes no more than a foot or two
apart In other cases there are no pri-
vies for women in the rooms in which
they work and to reach the nearest
1t is necessary to go up or down two
flights of stairs. In one noticeable in
stance the privy for the women work
ing i'm several adjoining rooms was IN a
room which men chiefly We're employed,
and every girl going to use this had to
pass by the working places of dozens
of male operatives and enter the privy,
the door Of which was not six free from
the working place of one Of the men
operatives. As previously noted, I'm the
rrvies for men and women alike, there
are no partitions. but simply a long
row of open seats
"Restrooms. where tired women
workers might go for short rest, were
found as rare exceptions. and I'm some
establishments women are even placed
i'm charge Of privies chiefly for the pur-
pose. 1t was stated, to see that the girls
did not absent themselves too long from
their work under the excuse of visiting
them. In some instances what was
called a rest room was simply one END
of the privy partitioned off by six
foot partition from the remaining in
closure. A few girls were found using
/ this. not only as "A restroom, but as
the only available place In which to
sit to eat their luncheon.
GIRLS WORK STANDING IN WA
TER.
Much Of the work in connection with
the handling of meat has to be carried
on in the rooms of a low temmperature,
hut even here caHous disregard was
everywhere seen for the comfort OF
those who worked in these rooms. Girls
and women were found i'm rooms regis
tering a temperature of 3S degrees Fab
renheit without any ventilation what
ever. depending entirely upon artificial
light. The floors were wet and soggy
and in some cases covered with water,
so that the girls had to stand in boxes
os sawdust as a protection for their
feet. In a few cases even drippings
from the refrigerator rooms above
tricEIed through the ceiling upon the
heads of the workers and upon the food
products being prepared. A very slight
expense would have furnished drier
floors and protected them against the
trlckIings from the ceiling, 1t was as
serted by the superintendent Of these
rooms that this low temperature was
essential to the proper keeping of the
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