Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1906-03-24
L 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
the Chicago stockyards. are the theme
Of daring novel called The jungle"
published by Doubleday. Page \ Co.
Thc author. Upton Sinclair. lived for
time among the workingmen In Pack.
ingtown. and his book is meant to be
a searching and comprehensive indict-
ment Of the way things are done there.
The publishers say that before they
accepted the manuscript they had the
charges investigated by a competent
lawyer. who confirmed the truth of the
authors startling statements.
The hero Of the novel Is Lithua.
nian immigrant named Jurgis, who
comes to this country with his family
20 ind liberty and justice, and who
finds only slavery, injustice and death
IN the stockyards slums. According to
Mr.. Sinclair. the corporation that EN-
ployed Jurgis twas nothing but one 81.
gantic 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
sayA through which they stole bill.
ijms Of gallons Of the city's water. The
papers were full OF the scandal--once
there had even been an investigation
and an actual uncovering OF the pipes.
but nobody had been punished, and
the thing went right on
The most serious charges are those
a. to the packing Of diseased animals
and 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
cav the government inspectors In Pack
ingtown. and they all took that to
mean that they were protected from
diseased meat; they did not under
stand that these 163 inspectors had
been appointed at the request Of the
packers, and that they were paid by
the United States government to GER
thy that oil the diseased meat wal
kept In the State. They had no author
Ity beyond that, for the inspection Of
meat to be sold In the city and State
and the whole force In Packingtowr
consisted OF three henchmen Of the 10
.,ol pclitical machine
"And shortly afterward one Of these
q physician, made the discovery tina
the carcasses Of steers which had beef
condemned by the government inspect
ors, and which therefore contained pto
maires. which are deadly p0isons
were left upon an open platform AM
carted away to be sold In the city, ant
20 he insisted that these carcasses b.
treated with an injection Of kerosene
and was ordered to resign the SAM
week.
go indignant were the packers tina
they went farther and compelled tn
Mayor to abolish the whole bureau o
inspection; so that since then there ha
been not even a 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 q
much again from the hogs which hat
died OF cholera on the trains, whic
you might see any day being loade'
into box cars and hauled away TO
place called Globe. In Indiana, wher
they made a fancy grade OF lard.
"There were cattle which had bee
fed on whisky malt, the refuse OF tn
breweries. and had become what III
men called 'steerly'-whlch means GOV
cred with boils. II was nasty Jo
killing these, for when you plunge,
your knife into them they would burs
and splash foul-smelllng stun into you
face. 1t was stun such as this tina
made the 'embalmed beef that Ia,
killed several times as many Unite
states soldiers as all the bullets OF tn
6paniards; only the army beef, besides
was not fresh canned, II was old stui
that had been lying for years in TN
cellars"
Among tho curious things that Jurgi
noticed on the first day OF his employ
ment In "Durham's" slauehter-h ous
vas 1.-THE sharp trick OF the floor bosse.
whenever there CHANGED 10 come
'slunk' calf" The author goes on 4
describe how cows In a condition uni
for food are regularly slaughtere'
with the rest.
1T was the law that cows OF tina
sort came along with the others. a.
whoever noticed il would tell the i6~s
and the boss would start UP a CONVEX
satiOn with the government inspector
and the two would stroll away. so II
q trice the carcass OF the COW woul'
he cleaned ont, and the cntralls woul,
have vanished; IL was Jurgis' task u
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 Of
them"
One day Jurgis had TO take the pAs
Of a man who had hurt his leg. and
after the inspector and nearly all the
wOrkmen had gone, select gang was
get to preparing the dead cattle that
had been gored or died OF disease On