Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1906-06-08
PackIn9tnwn's Foul Deeds.

Representatives of the packers have
complained to the president that 1.-THE
m arket for American meats Il being
eatly affected by the AGITATION ths
has been started about the unhealt ny
condition of the stock yards through h.
out the country 1t ia said that Up
ton Sinclair's book, The Jungle is
to blame for this ae itat ion. The pack
ers' representatives. declare that - g
stock ralsers will snffer mole han the
| PACKERS from the deprt ssion in trade
c ms. qutnt upon the agitation by the
muckrakers
One way for the pack ers to relieve
the situation is to prosecute for lib
UPTON Sinclair and Il several other
IN ,n who, after invest igatiOn, made
serious statements concerning condi-
tions in Packingtown.
These disclosures have rightly ag-
tated the ms umers of meat. 1t trey
are false the men responsible for them
should be punished. If they are true
the men who deal out diseased meat
should be required to spend the rest Of
their lives behind the bars
1t is an old trick of monopoists to
undertake to make it appear that the
stock raisers or the farmers or the
working men will suffer If the mono.
polist is required to conform to the law.
And in all too many cases with respect
to conditions affecting the pocket
books of the people these pleas have
been effective. But men may with
more or less patience submit to robbery
with more or less patience they may
yield to imposition, but they balk very
promptly when 1t comes to poisoned
food. 1t is not at all surprising that
the meat consumption in America has
suffered marked decline since the pub
LEGATION of Mr.. Sinclair's hook. The
wonder is that every man who has read
that work or who has read any of the
reports made by other Investigators of
conditions in PackingtOwn, has not
become a vegetarian. The stories told
of the crimes committed by greedy
packers in the preparation of meat for
the American people are almost I'M
printable. If these stories are true
that the members of the beef trust, il
their mad chase for the dollar. are
guilty of crimes compared with which
their confessed violations of anti trust
laws sink into insignificance.
Washington dispatches say that
President Roosevelt has sent a com
mission to investigate, and that he
purposes to do something fol the pro
lection of the people. 1t is to be hoped
that the president has investigated, anG
that be will move in a determined way
for the purpose OF bringing aboni
have had so many promises of this
kind and so many boasts as to what the
president will do, that we have about
given up all hope that his high sound
ing words will ever be backed by e1fec
tive deeds.
So far as concerns the alarm display
ed by the packers with respect to thu
condition of the meat market, no one
, need lose any sleep. II would be bet
ter for that market to be entirely de
stroyed, better for the farmers to qui
+; raising cattle, and for the packers tt
quit packing meat, than for the men
women and children of this land to b'
fed upon poisoned food.
The question now confronting ns il
, not whether the meat markets are t.
be preserved. but whether the lives o
the people are TO be protected.-Th
CommOner.