Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1906-03-17
at Aims at the Lives, the Health and
the Pockets Of Chicago
Citizens.
Frightful Food Thrown Into This
City While the Government In
spectors Sit Supinely BY.

Horrible conditions and Illegal
abuses. said to exist with impunity at
.ihe Chicago stockyards are the theme
OF u daring novel called "The Jungle"
published by Doubleday. Page y Co.
The author. Upton Sinclair, lived for Il
time among the workingmen in Pack
.ingJown, and his book is meant to he
II searching and comprehensive indict-
uncut of the way things are done there.
, The publishers say that before they
accepted the manuscript they had the
charges investigated by competent
lawyer. who confirmed the truth of the
authors startling statements.
The hero of the novel is Il Lithua.
..Ian Immigrant named Jurgs. who
comes To this country with his family
10 lind liberty and justice, and who
finds only slavery, injustice and death
sn the stockyards slums. According to
Mr.. Sinclair. the corporation that en-
fp!oyed Jurgis was nothing but one ri.
.yaniic lie from top to bottom" In the
course of his story he charges that the
RECKLESS abuses of the packers are pro.
tected by the city government through
graft.
The packers had secret mains" he
says, through which they stole bill
Lions of gallons Of the city's water. The
papers We're full of the scandal--once
shere had even been an investigation
aud an actual uncovering of the pipes.
but nobody had been punished. ana
she thing went right on
The most serious charges are those
as to the packing of diseased animals
aud spoiled meat. Jurgis Is employed
in various slaughter-houses and comes
in contact with unsavory secrets,
(which the author reveals In many
pages of revolving details.
And then there was the condemned
meat industry" he says, with its end
less horrors. The people of Chicago
saw the government inspectors In Pack
jngtown. and they all took that 10
mean that they were protected from
diseased meat; they did not under
stand that these 1853 inspectors had
been appointed ut the request Of the
packers. and that they were paid by
the United States government to GER
rtify that all the diseased meat was
kept In the State. They had no author
.ity beyond that, for the Inspection OF
meat to be sold In the city and State
ana the whole force In Packlngtowi
consisted of three henchmen Of the 10
scal political machine.
And shortly afterward one of these
u physician, made the discovery tina
fhe carcasses of steers which had beer
condemned by the government inspect
ors, and which therefore contained pto
manes, which are deadly poisons
were left upon an open platform ant
carried away to be sold in the city, ant
so he insisted that these carcasses b.
created with an injection of kerosene
And was ordered to resign the same
week.
80 indignant were the packers tina
rthey went farther and compelled tn,
Mayor to abolish the whole bureau o
Inspection; so that since then there ha
been not even Il pretense of any inter
ference with the graft. There wa
said To be $1,000 a week hush none.
for the tubercular steers alone, and a
much again from the hogs which ha'
died OF cholera on the trains, whicl
you might see any day being loade'
into box cars and hauled away TO
rolace called Globe, In Indiana, wher
they made a fancy grade Of lard
There were cattle which had beef
led on whisky malt the refuse Of til
brewerles, and had become what III
men called 'stecrly'-whch means coy
cred with bolls. 1t was nasty joI
killing these, for when you plunge'
yonr knife into them they would burs
and splash foul.smelllng stun into you
face. II was stuff such as this tina
made the 'embalmed beef that hat
KILLED several times as many Unite,
states soldiers as all the bullets Of tn
Spanards; only the army beef, besides
was not fresh canned, it was old slut
that had been lying for years in I'll
cellars"
Among the curious things that JurGl
noticed on the first day Of his employ
fIlN!l III h'"'
was the sharp trick Of the floor bose
whenever there CHANGED TO come
SUNK calf" The author goes on I
describe how cows in condition unfi
.Tor food are regularly slaughtere'
with the rest.
1T was the law that cows OF tina
sort came along with the others. an
whoever noticed II would tell the boss
and the boss would start up CONVEX
'satiOn with the government inspector
and the two would stroll away. So II
A trice the carcass OF the COW woul'
be cleaned ont, and the entralls woul'
have vanished 1t was Jurgis task L
slide them into the trap, calves and all
and on the floor below they took on
these skunk calves and butchered then
for meat, and used even the skins
them"
One day Jurgs had to take the plao
of a man who had hurt his leg, AM
after the inspector and nearly all tn
wOrkmen had gone, select gang wa
set to preparing the dead cattle tina
dad been gored or died Of disease Of