Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-06-06

IS wholly unJu6tlnaDie. IL decetve
 and is plainly designed to deceive tn
 average purchaser who naturally in
 fers from the label that the govern
 ment guarantees the contents of thu
 can to be what 1t purports to be.
 In another establishment piles O
 sausages and dry, moldy canned
 meats, admittedly several years old
 were found, which the superintendent
 stated to us would be tanked and con
 verted into grease. The disposition t
 be made of this was wholly optiona
 with the superintendents or represent
 atives of the packers, as the govern
 ment does not concern itself with tht
 disposition of meats after they have
 passed inspection on the killing floor
 It 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 be shipped out to the public would be marked with label
 that their contents had been govern
 ment inspected" It is not alleged here that such use was to be made of this stuff. The case is pointed out as one showing the glaring opportunity for the misuse of label bearing the name and the implied guarantee of the Unit ed States government.
 Anothet instance of abuse in the use of the labels came to our notice. In 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 on them, were to be placed upon the cans, and they were to be sent out bearing all the evidence of being a freshly put up product. In one of these instances, by the admission of the superintendent, the stock thus being re- labeled was over two years old. In the other case the superintendent evlded a statement of how old the goods were.
 y.-Treatment of Employees.
 The lack of consideration for the health and comfort of the laborers in the Chicago stockyards seems to be 8 direct consequence of the system of administration that prevails The vari- ous departments are under the direct control of superintendents 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 prop CT care of the products and of the health and comfort of the employees is impossible, and the consumer suffers in consequence. The insanitary condi- tions 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 workrooms, from which falling scraps of meat are shoveled up to be converted into food.
 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 priviess of men and women ire quentiy adjoin, and the entrances 'are no more than-a foot or two apart. In other cases there are no privies for women fin the rooms fin which they work and to reach the near est it is necessary to go up or down a couple of flights of stairs. In one mo- ticeable instance the privy for the wo- men working in several adjoining rooms was in room in which men chiefly were employed, and every girl going to use this had to pass by the places of dozens of male oper- atives and enter the privy, the door of which was not six feet from the work Ing place of one of the men operatives. AS previously noted. in the privies for men and women alike there are no par titions, but simply long row of open seats. Rest rooms, where tired women might go for short rest, were found as rare exceptions, and fin some 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 excuse of visiting them. In some instances what was called rest room was simply one snd of the privy partitioned off by six foot partition from the remaining nclosure. A few girls were found using this not only as a rest room. but IS the only available place in which to Iit to eat their luncheon.
 Much of the work in connection with the handling of meat has to be carried ,n in rooms of a low temperature. but even here a callous disregard was ev- anywhere seen for the comfort of Girls and women were found in rooms registering a temperature of 3s de- yrees F. without any ventilation what ,ver. depending entirely upon artificlal fight. The floors were wet and soggy md in some cases covered with water. 'o that the girls had to stand in boxes # sawdust as a protection for their 'eet In a few cases even drippings rom the refrigerator rooms above rickled through the ceiling upon the ,eads of the workers and upon the 'cod products being prepared A vesy light expense would have furnished irier floors and protected them against hn tri..l Iir,,-- frnrr, fhn caiiinr IL ,ras