Rocky Ford enterprise., 1906-06-15

q request from the house committee
on agriculture, President Roosevelt
Friday forwarded to Representative
wadsworth. the chairman Of that com.
mittee. the report made TO him by
committee OF the department OF asri-
culture regarding conditions in the
Chicago meat packing houses. Accom-
panying the report WIS a letter from
The president In which he points out
that there Is no conflict In substance
between the Neiil-Rcynolds report and
that OF the agricultural department
~IYerts.
Following Is tho text of the letter
Of the president to Chairman Wads-
worth:
My Dear Mr.. Wadsworth: In ne.
cordnncc with your request ! send you
herewith the two reports OF inspes-
tion by the committee appointed by the
department OF agriculture on April o
and 18th. This committe had already
l been appointed when notified the
secretary that desired that such n
commission should be eppolnted In
order to make the investigation. Sub
scquent complaints to nc and the con.
sidcratIon of complaints already made
showed that the charges were not
only against the packing houses but
also to certain extent reflected up
on the action OF tho government in
spCctors and ! came to the conclu-
sion that II was best to have m In
ycstigation by outside individuals who
could not be charged with being In
l..sa l,. sh..
Accordingly before the completion OF
the investigation by the department
of agriculture directed Mr.. Scill and
Mr.. Reynolds TO make an investisa-
ton. the first report of which has
been laid before congress. Much
testimony has been offered to us which
has not been considered In this report.
for Mr.. Nciil and Reynolds In this re-
port confnc themselves to stating In
more or less summary way the facts
as to which they had been cyc-wit-
ncsscs: and what they have said can
not be successfully controvcrtcd.
Some OF the ground travcrScd by
Mcssrs. Ncill and Reynolds IL not
touched upon In the report OF the CON-
~mittec OF the agricultural department.
As to tho ground covered In common
by the reports OF the two invcsiignt-
Ing committees there Is no conflict in
substance MS to the important matters.
although there is marked difference
in emphasis, this being partially duo
to the greater length and detail OF
/. the report of the committee OF the de-
partment OF agriculture. In my judg-
r,,ent the emphasis OF the report Of
Siessrs. Neili and Reynolds is abund-
emily justified by the facts.
To show the immediate and extra
Z ordinary change for the better which
, the mere fact of their investigation
IL already bringing about In the con-
ditIon OF the packing houses In Chi
cago. It is only necessary to instance
the following portions of n letter re-
ceived from most competent and
Trustworthy witness In Chicago whose
name will give the committee II It
SO desires:
"on Monday I began tour OF all
the great packing houses, going first
to Libby's. then Swifts.
Tuesday all the morning discussed
changes that ought TO be made and
caught glimpse Of the awakening Mt
Armour's. In the afternoon visited
the plant with the superintendent.
Wednesday I rested and contem-
plated the awakening OF packing
,Sown.' It is miraculous. Thursday
did Nelson Morris, with the superin-
tendent, Nelson Morris has done
much to make things better. By the
time the next inspector arrives they
will have still more new lavatories.
toilet rooms. dressing rooms. etc.
Cuspidors everywhere. and signs pro-
} hibiting splitting. In most, the awak.
ening seemed to come by force from
without.
eat Armour's, at my suggestion, /
made no pretense Of making an In
vestigation, but frankly announced
my desire to see things for myself
and to get fresh impression of con-
ditions as I had not seen the plants
since before the strike. On every
hand there was indications of an al-
most humorous haste to clean up, re-
pave and even to plan for future
changes. New toilet rooms, new
dressing rooms, new towels, etc. etc.
Swift's and Armours were both SO
cleaned up that I was compelled to
cheer them on their way by express
ing my pleasure at the changes. The
sausage girls were moved upstairs
where they could get sun 'and light,
they too have dressing rooms, etc.
I asked for showers and lockers for
the casing workers at Armour's and
got promise that they would put
Them in. The canning and stuffing
An Ironmountnin Collision.
st. Louis, June "a collision be-
tween passenger trains occurred on
loi. AInxa atrO