The Forrest City times., 1906-06-08

! constructed with little regard to either light or ventilation. The workrooms. as a rule, are very poorly lighted A few rooms at the top of the build ings are well lighted because they can not escape the light, but most of the rooms are so dark as to make artifi- cial light necessary at all times. Many inside rooms wh gre food is pI pared are without windows, deprived of sum- light and without direct communica- ton with the outside air They may be best described as vaults in which the air rarely changes. Other rooms which open to the outer air are so large. the windows so clouded by dirt. and the walls and ceilings so dark and dingy that natural light only pene- trates 20 or 90 feet from the windows. thus making artificial light in portions of even these outside rooms necessary. These dark and dingy rooms are nat urally not kept suitably clean
 entilation.-Systematic ventilation of the workrooms is not found in any of the establishments we visited In a few instances electric fans mitigate the stifiing air, but usually the workers toll without relief in a humid atmos- phere, heavy with odors of rotten wood. deeayed meats, stinking offal and entrails
 Equipment work tables upon which the meat is handled, the floor cars on which it Is carried about, and the tubs and other reeeptacles into which it is thrown are generally of wood. In all the places visited but a single porcelain-iined receptacle was seen. Tables covered with sheet iron iron carts and iron tubs are being in- troduced into the better establish ments, but no establishment visited has as yet abandoned the extensive use of wooden tables and wooden re- ceptacles. These wooden receptacles are frequently found water-soaked only half cleansed, and with meat scraps and grease accumulations ad herring to their sides, and collecting dirt This is largely true of meat racks and meat conveyOrs of every sort, which were in nearly all cases made qnately cleansed, and grease and meat scraps were found adhering to them even after they had been washed and returned to service.
 Interference to CIennIin.s
 Sanitary Conyeniences. - Nothing shows more strikingly the general in- difference to matters of cleanliness and sanitation than do the toilet rooms for both men and women The prevailing type is made by cutting off a section of the workroom by a thin partition rising to within a few feet Of the ceiling. These toilet rooms usually yentilate into the workroom. though few are found with a window opening into the outer air Many are located in the inside corners of the workrooms and thus have no outside opening whatever These rooms are sometimes used as eloakrooms by the employees. Lunchrooms constructed in the same manner, by boarding off a section of the workroom, often ad. join the toilet room. the odors of which add to the generally unsanitary state Of the atmosphere
 Abomin2ble as the aboye-named conditions are. the one that affects most directly and seriously the clean. linoss of the food products is the ire quent absence of any lavatory pro visions. Washing sinks are either not furnished at all, or are small and dirty. Neither are towels or soap provided Men and women return di- rectiy from these places to plunge their unwashed hands into the meat to be converted into such food prod ucts as sausages, dried beef and other compounds. The fumes swell the sum of nauseating odors arising from the dirty blood soaked. rotting wooden floors. fruitful culture beds for the disease germs of men and animals.
 New Buildings.-It is stated that many of the unsanitary conditions are due to the fact that these buildings are old and have been built by piece meal, and that in the newer build ings, being erected from time to time. the defects of the earlier structures are being remedied This contention is not borne out by the facts. One Of the large plants erected within re- cent years has most of the defects of the older buildings It is true that th-ee large model buildings have been 1 'A' Nts4 put ollt lS du OlICe building, while the other two contain only cool ing. storage and sales rooms. No model building for the preparation of food products has been built in the stock yards of Chicago
 Treatment Of Meats and Food Prod
 ucts.
 OncleanlineSs in Handling Prod ucts-An absence Of cleanliness was also found everywhere in the hand ling of meat being prepared for the various neatfood products After killing. carcasses are well washed and up to the time they reach the cooling room are handled in a fairly sanitary and cleanly manner The parts that leave the cooling room for treatment In bulk are also handled with regard to ea7liness. but the parts that are sent from the cooling room 10 those departments of the packing houses in which yarious