River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-06-07

to be made of this was wholly option
al with the superintendent or repre-
sentatives of the packers, as the gov
eminent does not concern itself with
the disposition of meats after they
have passed inspection on the killing
floor. 1t might all be treated with
chemicals, mixed with other meats,
turned out in any form of meat
product desired, and yet the packages
or receptacles in which it was to De
shipped out to the public would be
marked with a label that their con-
tents had been government inspect
ed" Is it not alleged here that such
use was to be made of this stuff. The
case is pointed out as one showing the
glazing opportunity for the misuse of
label bearing the name and the i'm
piled guaranty of the United States
government.
Another instance of abuse in the
use of the labels came to our notice.
In two different establishments great
stocks of old canned goods were be-
ing put through washing process to
remove the old labels. They were
then subjected to sufficient heat to
''liven up" the contents-to use the
phrase of the room superintendent
After this, fresh labels, with the gov
eminent name on them, were to be
placed upon the cans, and they were
to be sent out bearing all the evidence
of being freshly put up product. In
of fhncn inC
sion of the superintendent, the stock
thus being relabeled was over two
years DID, In the other case the
superintendent evaded a statement of
how old the goods were
Treatment of Employees.
The lack of consideration for the
health and comfort of the laborers in
the Chicago stock yards seems to be
direct consequence of the system
of administration that prevails The
various departments are under the di-
rect control of superintendent who
claim to use full authority in dealing
with the employees and who seem to
ignore all considerations except those
of the account book. Under this sys-
tenn proper care of the products and
of the health and comfort of the en-
ployes is impossible, and the consum-
er suffers in consequence. The in
sanitary conditions in which the labor
ers work and the feverish pace which
they are forced to maintain inevitably
affect their health. Physicians state
that tuberculosis is disproportionately
prevalent in the stock yards, and the
victims of this disease expectorate on
the spongy wooden floors of the dark
workrooms, from which falling scraps
of meat are later shoVeled up to be
converted into food products.
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 privies of men and women fire.
quently adjoin, and the entrances are
sometimes no more than a foot or
two apart. In other cases there are
no privies for women in the rooms in
which they work, and to reach the
nearest it is necessary to go up or
down couple of flights of stairs. In
one noticeable instance the privy for
the women working in several adjoin-
ing rooms was in a room in which
men chiefly were 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 feet
from the working place of one of the
men operatives. AS previously noted,
in the privies for men and women
alike there are no partitions, but sim
ply long row of open seats. Rest
rooms, where tired women workers
might go for short rest, were found
as rare exceptions, and in some estab-
lishments women are even placed in
charge of privies chiefly for the pur-
pose, it was stated, to see that the
girls did not absent themselves too
long from their work under the ex-
cuse of visiting them. In some in
stances what was called a rest room
was simply one end of the privy par
titioned off by six-foot partition
from the remaining Enclosure. A few
girls were found using this, not only
as rest room, but as the only avail
able place in which to sit to eat their
luncheon.
Much of the work in connection
with the handling of meat has to be
carried on in rooms of low tempera-
ture, but even here callous disre-
gard was everywhere seen for the
comfort of those who worked in these
rooms. Girls and women were found
in rooms registering a temperature of
38 degrees F. without any ventilation
whatever, 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 of sawdust as a protec-
ton for their feet. In a few cases
even drippings from the refrigerator
rooms above trickled through the cell
ing upon the heads of the workers and
upon the food products being prepared.
A very slight expense would have fur
nished drier floors and protected them
against the tricklings from the cell
ing 1t was asserted by the superin-
tendent of these rooms that this low
temperature was essential to the
proper keeping of the meat; but pre-
cisely similar work was found in other
establishments carried ON in rooms
kept at a fair temperature. In many
cases girls of 16, IL and Is years
1.