The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-08-04
Eleventh Page
By
Upton Sinclair

where II stayed for twenty-four hours,
and where q stranger might lose him.
self In forest of freezing hogs.
Carcasses slip By Government Inspec-
ton.
Before the carcass was admitted
here, however, Il had to pass q Gov
eminent inspector, who sat In the
doorway and felt of the glands In the
neck for tuberculosis. This Govern
ment inspector did not have the man
ner of man who was worked to
death: he was apparently not haunted
by fear that the hog might get by
him before he mad finished his testing.
If you were q sociable person, he was
quite willing to enter into conversa-
ton with you, and to explain to you
the deadly nature Of the ptomaines
which are found In tubercular pork:
and while he was talking with you
you could hardly be so ungrateful as
to notice that a dozen carcasses were
passing him untouched. This inspec.
tor wore blue uniform, with brass
buttons, and he gave an atmosphere
Of authority to the scene. and, as It
were, put the stamp of ofiicial approx.
al upon the things which were done
in Durham's.
Jurgls went down the line with the
rest of the visitors, staring open
mouthed. lost In wonder. He had
dressed hogs himself In the forest CT
Lithuania; but he had never ex-
pected to live to see one hog dressed
by several hundred men. It was like
wonderful poem to him, and he took
It all In guilelessly--e to the con-
spicuous signs demanding immacu-
late cleanliness of the employees. Jur-
gls was vexed when the cynical Jo-
kubas translated these signs with
sacrifice comments, Offering to take
them to the secret rooms where the
spoiled meats went to be doctored.
The party descended to the next
floor, where the various waste mate
rails were treated. Here came the en-
trails, to be scraped and washed clean
for sausagecasings; men and women
worked here In the midst of a sicken.
ing stencil, which caused the visitors
to hasten by, gasping. To another
room came all the scraps to be tank.
ed" which meant boiling and pump.
Ing of the grease to make soap and
lard; below they took out the refuse,
and this too was a region In which
the visitors did not linger. In still
other places men were engaged In
cutting up the carcasses that had been
through the chilling rooms. First
there were the "splitters," the most
expert wOrkmen In the plant, who
earned as high as fifty cents an hour
and did not thing all day except
chop hogs down the middle. Then
there were "cleaver men," great giants
with muscles Of iron; each had two
men to attend him-to slide the half
carcass In front of him on the table.
and hold 1t while he chopped 1t. and
then turn each piece 80 that he might
chop II once more. His cleaver had q
blade about two feet long, and he
never made but one cut: he made It
80 neatly, too, that mis- implement did
not smite through and dull Itself
there was just enough force for per-
feet cut, and no more. So through
various yawning holes there slipped
to the floor below--to one room hams,
to another forequarters. to another
sides Of pork. One might 90 down to
this floor and see the piclxling rooms,
where the hams were put into watts,
and the great smoke-rooms, with their
alright iron doors. In other rooms
they prepared salt pork-there were
whole cellars full Of It, built up In
great towers to the ceiling. In yet
other rooms they were putting up
meat In boxes and barrels, and wrap
ping hams and bacon In oiled paper,
sealing and labelling and sewing
them. From the doors of these rooms
went men with loaded trucks. to the