The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-09-08
Eleventh page
BY
Upton Sinclair.


Investigation, and an actual uncover
ing of the pipes; but nobody had beer
punished, and Tile thing went right on
And then there was the condemned
meat industry, with It's endless nor
rors. The people of Chicago saw the
Government inspectors In Packing
town, and they all took that to mean
that they were protected from diseas
ed meat; they did not understand
that these hundred and sixty-three In
spectors had been appointed at the re
quest OF the packers, and that they
were paid by the United States Gov
eminent to certify that all the dis
eased meat was kept In the State
They had no authority beyond that;
for the inspection Of meat to be sold
In the city and State the whole force
In Packingtown consisted OF three
hencnmen Of the local political ma
chine!
And shortly afterward one OF these,
physician, made the discovery that
the carcasses of steers which had been
condemned as tubercular by the Gov.
eminent inspectors, and which there
fore contained ptomaines, which are
deadly poisons, were left upon an open
platform and carted away to be sold
In the city; and so he insisted that
these carcasses be treated with an In
lection of kerosene-and was ordered
to resign the same week! So indig-
nant were the packers that they went
further and compelled the Mayor to
abolish the whole Bureau OF Inspec-
,tion; so that since then there has not
been even pretence of any interior
ence with the graft. There was said
to be two hundred dollars a week hush
money from the tubercular steers
alone, and as much again from the
hogs which had died OF cholera on the
trains, and which you might see any
day being loaded into box cars and
hauled away to place called Globe,
In Indiana, where they made a fancy
grade OF lard.
Jurgis heard OF these things little by
little, In the gossip of those who were
obliged to perpetrate them. It seemed
as II every time You met person from
q new department you heard of new
swindles and new crimes. There was,
for instance. q Lithuanian who was a
cattle butcher for the plant where Ma
rita had worked, which killed meat
for canning only and to near this
man describe the animals which came
to his place would have been worth
while for a Dante or a lola. It seem
ed that they must have agencies all
over the country, to hunt up old and
crippled and diseased cattle TO be can.
ned. There were cattle which had
been fed upon "whiskey malt" the re-
fuse OF the breweries, and had become
what the men called "steerly"--which
means covered with boils. It was a
nasty Job killing these, for when you
plunged your knife into them they
would burst and splash foul smelling
stun into your face; and when mans
sleeves were smeared with blood, and
his hands stepped In II, how was he
ever to wipe his face, or to clear his
eyes 80 that he could see? It was such
as this that made the ''embalmed
beef" that killed several times as
many United States soldiers as all the
bullets OF the Spaniards; only the
army beef, besides, was not fresh can
ned, 1t was old stun that had been
lying for years In the cellars. f
Ii Then, one Sunday evening. Jurgis
sat ,puffing his pipe by the kitchen
stove, and talking with an old fellow
whom Jonas had introduced, and who
worked In the canning rooms at Dur
mans; and so Jurgis learned few
things about the great and only, Dur.
nam canned goods, which had become
q national institution. They adyertis.
ca "potted chicken"r--and Il, was like
the boarding house soup OF the comic
papers. though which chicken had
walked with rubbers on. Perhaps thew
nad q secret process for making chick.
ems Chemicallv.-whn Lnn,r,. - -