Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-06-05

/
| and yet the packages or receptacles
in which it was to be shipped out to
| the public would be marked with a
label that their contents had been
| government inspected" 1t is not al
legged here that such use was to be
| made of this stuff. The case is point
| ed out as one showing the glaring OPP
portunity for the misuse of q label
bearing the name and the implied
guaranty of the United States govern
| ment.
Another Instance of abuse in the use
or the labels came to our notice. liz
| two different establishments great
stocks of old canned goods were being
put through washing process to re-
move 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 government
name upon them, We're to be placed
upon the cans, and they were to be
i sent out bearing all the evidence of
being a freshly put up product In
one or these instances. by the admis-
sion or the superintendent, the stock
thus being relabeled was over two
years old. In the other case the SUI
perintendent evaded Il statement of
how old the goods were.
Treatment of Employees.
The lack of consideration for the
health and comfort of the Iaborers in
the Chicago stock yards seems to be
direct consequence of the system of
administration that prevails. The va
riouS departments are under the direct
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 system
proper care of the products and of the
health and comfort of the employees is
impossible, and the consumer suffers
in consequence. The sanitary conditions
in which the laborers work and the
feverish pace which they are forced
to maintain inevitably affect their
health. Physicians state that tubercu-
losis is disproportionately prevalent in
the stockyardS and the victims of this
disease expectorate on the spongy
wooden floors OF the dark work rooms.
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 privics of men and women fire.
quently adjoin. and the entrances are
sometimes no more than foot or two
on Mt
privieS for women in the rooms in
which they work. and to reach the
nearest it is necessary to go up or
down Il couple of flights of stairs In
one noticeable instance the privy for
the women working in several adjoin-
ing rooms was in Il room in which men
chiefly We're employed. and every girl
going to use this had to pass by the
working places of dozens of male op-
eratives and enter the privy. the door
OF which was not six feet from the
working place of one of the men OPP
eratives. AS previously noted. in the
privieS for men and women alike there
are no partitions, but simply n long
row of open seats. Rest rooms. where
tired women workers might go for a
short rest, were found as rare excep-
tons and in some establishments
women are even placed in charge of
privies chiefly for the purpose. it 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 rest room was simply one end
of the privy partitioned off by six
g,
closure. A few girls were found using
this not only as Il rest room, but as
the only available place in which to
sit to eat their luncheon.
Disregard Tor Comfort
Much OF the work in connection with
the handling of meat has to he carried
on i'll rooms of Il low temperature. but
even here Il callouS disregard was
everywhere seen for the comfort of
those who worked in these rooms
Girls ana women were found in rooms
registering Il temperature of IS degrees
+. 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 |
feet. In few cases even drippings |
from the refrigerator rooms above |
frickled through the ceiling upon the |
heads of the workers and upon the |
food products being prepared. A very |
slight expense would have furnished |
lrier floors and protected them against |
he tricklings from the ceiling. 1t was !,
asserted by the superintendent of these
looms that this low temperature was
essential to the proper keeping of the
neat; but precisely similar work was
'ound in other establishments carried
III in rooms kept at a fair tempera
ure. In many cases girls of 16, IL
ind Is years stand ten hours a day at
FORK, much of which could be carried
IN while sitting down.
In several establishments well-man-
lged restaurants were provided for the
,lerical force, and in one instance
moking room was provided for them:
ut no provision was found anywhere