The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-06-04
The Chieago
Stoc ards
I conrinued from Page Three1;

ing put5tnfOuSn a Washing pioSHS-o0 -
remove the old labels. They were then
subjected to sufficient heat to hvep
up" the contentS-to use the phrase
of the room superintendent. After
this, fresh labels. with the Govern
meat name on them, were to be plac-
ed upon the cans, and they were TO
be sent out bearing all the evidence
of being freshly put up product In
one of these instances. by the adcnis-
sion Of the superintendent. the stock
thus being relabeled was over two
years old. In the other case the su-
perintendent evaded statement OF
how old the goods We're
v.-Treatment Of Employees
The lack Of consideration for the
health and comfort Of the laborers IN
the Chicago stock yards seems to be
a direct consequence Of the system OF
that prevails. The va
rious departments are under the d.
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 SEs-
TEN proper care of the products ana
of the health and comfort OF the en-
ployees is impossible. and the consum-
er suffers in consequence. The lnSan-
icary conditions in which the laborers
work and the feverish pace they are
forced to maintain inevitably, AFFECT
their health. Physicians state mat
tuberculosis is disproportonately pre-
valent n the stock yards. and the VIC
tins of this disease eXpectorate on tie
sponSy 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 practic-
ally all cases the doors OF the toilet
rooms open directly into the working
rooms, the privies Of men and women
are sometimes no more than 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 a couple Of flights of stairs. In
one noticeable instance the privy for
the women working in several adj
joining rooms was in a room in which
men chiefly were employed, and every
girl going to use this had to pass by
the workingpl aces Of dozens Of male
operatives and enter the privy the
door of which was not six feet from
the working places Of dozens Of male
the privies for men and women alike
there are no partitions, but simply a
long row Of open seats. Rest rooms
where tired women workers go for
short rest, Were found as rare eNcep-
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 6
foot partition from the remaining in
ing this, not only as rest room. but
as the only available place in which
to sit and eat their luncheon.
Much of the work in connection
with the handling of meat has to be
carried on in rooms of a low tempera-
ture. but even here callous disre-
gard was everywhere seen for the
- 49,
rooms Girls and women We're found
in rooms Registering a temperature of
IS degrees F. without any ventilation
whatever. depending entirely upon ar
tifcia1 light The floors We're wet and
sogSy. and in some cases covered With
water. so that the girls had to stand
in boxes of Sawdust oS 4 protection for
their feet In few cases even drip
pings from the refrigerator rooms
above trick1ed through the ceiling up
on the heads of the workers and upon
the food products being prepared. A I;
very slight expense would have fur |
niShed drier floors and protected them !
against the tricklinSs from the cell
ing. 1t was asserted by the Superin- !
tendent of these rooms that this low !
was essential to the prop
er keeping OF the meat; but precisely
similar work was found in other eS-
carried on in rooms kept
at a fair temperature In many cases
girls of 16. Il. and is years stand ten
hours a day at work. much Of which
could be carried on while sitting