The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-02-27

bringing against, Lne TDeeI CruSt WHOLE
sale charges Of corruption, graft and
criminality in countless forms -piling
up these charges in merciless cumula-
ton until added accusations seem i'm
possible a volume entitled s1The Jun
gle' has been written by Upton Sin
clair and published by Doubleday, Page
& Co., publishing house of a stand
ing SO high as to argue for the truth
OF these astounding charges. The
Jungle is Chicago, and more especially
is it Packingtown. The book is
ers, put forth in the dress Of fiction in
that it traces thru the Businesses of
Packingtowf the life history of fam
lily of Lithuanians and their struggle for
existence as toilers in the packing
plants. Nor does it halt with accusa-
tiens of criminality in the conduct of
the packing business; for it entangles
this family in the meshes Of labor op..
preston, of blacklisting, of graft, OF
childenslavement, and even Of toll
taking upon the souls Of womank1nd
out in the depths of Chicago's vicious
slums. That it hangs upon this ter
rible story the conclusion of socialism
as a cure and remedy for all the
horrors is neither here nor there-the
arraignment Of the packers remains.
The portion in which the public at
large is most deeply concerned-and
this is passing by the horrible byways
that lead to haunts Of vice and lust
which deals with the alleged methods
of the packers. Here is one Indictment
of the beef trust:
sailed as a pirate ship; it had hoisted
the black flag and declared war upon
civilization. Bribery and corruption
were it's everyday methods. In: Chi
cago the city government was simply
one of its branch Offices; it stole bill
lions of gallons of city water openly;
it dictated to the courts the sentences
Of disorderly strikers; it forbade the
against it. In the national capital it
had power to prevent inspection of its
product and to falsify government re-
ports; it violates the rebate laws, and
when an investigation was threatened
it burned it's books and sent its Grim
inal agents out of the country. In the
commercial world it was a Juggernaut
car; it wiped out thousands Of bust
nesses every year; it drove men to mad
ness and suicide. It had forced the
price Of cattle SO low as to destroy the
stock-raising industry, an occupation
had ruined thousands of butchers who
had refused to handle its products. 1t
divided the country into districts and
fixed the price of meat in all of them;
and it owned all the, refrigerator cars
and levied an enormous tribute upon
all poultry and eggs and fruit and vege-
tables. With the millions of dollars a
week that poured in upon it, it was
reaching. out for the control Of other
800 H. frn lin
gas and electric light franchises-it al
ready owned the leather and grain bust
ness of the country
| These are the mere congratulations
in the book. But the author is spe-
cifie in his Indictment of the packers,
as they handle the meats upon which
the country feeds. For instance, here
is. recited what the Lithuanians came
| upon and saw for themselves, in this
story of the alleged practices apf the
packers: - .ss :~v 49, II fl;v =.
the room where the men prepared the
beef for canning, and the beef had
. lain in watts full Of chemicals, and men
with great forks speared it out and
dumped it into trucks, to be taken to
the cooking room. When they had
speared out all they could reach, they
emptied the vat on the floor, and then
with shovels scraped up the balance
and dumped it into the truck. The
floor was filthy, yet they set Antanas,
with his, mop, stopping the pickle into
! a hole that connected with the sink,
where it was caught and used over
again forever; and if that were not
enough, there was trap in the pipe,
and ends of refuse were caught, and
every few days it was the old man s
/ their contents into one Of the trucks
with the rest of the meath
cit was late, almost dark, the gov
| eminent inspectors had gone, and there
! was only dozen or two men on the
/ floor. Some of the cattle that day had
got hurt. There were some with
broken legs, and some with gored sides;
there were some that had died, from
what cause no one could say; and
they were all disposed Of, here in dark
ness and silence. 'Downers,' the men
called them, and the packinghouse had
a special elevator upon which they
were raised to the killing beds, where
the gang proceeded to handle them,
/ with the air of business-like nonchal-
ance which said palmer than any words
! that it was matter of everyday rou-
| tine. In the end he saw the carcasses
I going into the chillingroom, with the
rest of the meat, being carefully scat
tered here and there so that they could
4 not be identified. --....
/ 'sThe Jungle deals, too, with what
it calls the condemned meat industry
1t is in this paragraph:
/ "The people Of Chicago saw the
i government inspectors in Packingtown
and they all took that to mean that
/ they were protected from diseased
meat; they did not understand that
these 1853 inspectors had been APP
4 pointed at the request Of the, packers
/ and that they were paid by the United
States government to certify that al
the diseased meat was kept in the
state. They had no authority beyonG
that; for the inspection. of the meat
to be sold in the city and state, the
!. whole force in Packingtown consisted
of three henchmen of the local politica
machine. And shortly afterward on,
! of these, physician, made the discov
cry that the carcasses of the steers
which had been condemned as tuber
cular by the government inspectors. am
which are deadly poisons, were lief
upon an open platform and carted ava.
to be sold in the city, and SO he in
with an injection of kerosene-and wa
| ordered to resign the same week! s,
indignant were the packers that the,
went further and compelled the mayo
to abolish the whole bureau of inspec
ton; so that since then there has no
been even pretense Of any interfer
Il enca>. with the GRAFT There was sail