The Grit-advocate., 1906-06-08

In recent issue OF the Saturday
Evening Post MIR. J. Ogden Armour
makes the assertion that the govern
mcnt inspection Of the beef trust
| slaughter-houses is an impregnable
wall protecting the public from i'm
pure meat, and that not an atom Of
diseased meat finds its way into the
products of the Armours. Mr.. Up
ton Sinclair. author of The Jungle
{ terrific statement of packing house
cohditions) }, studiel the meat Industry
fer two years. including much time
spent in the Chicago stockyards as
workman; he is the best equipped
| outside authority on stockyard condl-
tions. In Everybody's Magazine for
May Mr.. Sinclair makes startling
and convincing answer to Mr. Ar
nours assertion. Commencing with
the statement that J. Ogden Armour
IS the absolute and not the nominal
head of the great packing house in
| dustry which bears his name Mr.. Sin
clair says: Il know that in the state
,nonts quoted. Mr.. Armour willfuIly
and deliberately states what he abso-
lutely and positively knows to be
fa!sehoods."
That he might be properly equipped
to describe conditions in packing
town" M. Sinclair worked for a
period as a laborer in the plant of Ar
mour & Co. and he tells of sights OF
Nth and horror such as he hopes
n n q CT
coincidence of the truth OF the claim
that meat unfit for human food is put
on the market comes from man for
years superintendent at Armour
Co.'S Chicago plant. Thomas f. Doian,
Of Boston. MIR. Sinclair il his article
says:
AT the time of the enbalmed- beef
scandal at the conclusion Of the Span
ish war, when the whole country was
convulsed with fury over the revela-
tions made by soldiers and officers
tincluding Gen. Miles and President
Poosevelt concerning the quality Of
meat which Armour & Co. had fur
niShei TO the troops, and concerning
the death-ratc which it had caused,
the enorn.ity Of TIE 'condemned-meat
indus try became suddenly clear to
che man who had formerly Buper
Tised it. Mr. Thomas +. Dolar, then
residing In Boston. had. UP to & ,nort
time previous. b en- Il superintendent
at Armour g. Co.'S, and one Of Mr..
Philip d. Armour's most capable and
trusted men. When he read c: tha
dcath-rate in the army. he made en-
affidavit concerning the things which
were done in the establishment Of Ar
nour & Co.. and this affidavit he took
to the New York .IoHrnal. whi'h pub.
iished it en- March 1. 1899. Here are
some extracts from it
There were many ways OF getting
Ground the inspec,ors-so many. in
fact, that not more than two or three
cattle out of l 900 were condemned.
know exactly what I am writing
of in this connection. as my particular
instructions from Mr.. w. f. Pierce,
superintendent Of the beef houses for
Armour e Co.. were very explicit and
definite.
whenever a beef got past the yard
and came into the slaughterhousc or
the 'killng-bcd. | was authorized by
Mr.. Pierce to take his head off. thus
removing the evidences of lumpy Jaw
and after casting the smitten portion
into the tank where refuse goes, to
send the rest of the carcass on its
way to market.
no, Jc
Of flesh a'ilcted with gansrene cut
from the carcass of beef, in order
that the rest of the animal might be
utilized in trade.
"One Of the most important regllla-
tons of the bureau of animal indus
placed on the market Out of a
slaughter of 1000 cows. or a days
killing. perhaps one.half are with
calves. My instructions from Mr.
Pierce were to dispose of the calves
by hiding them until night. or until
the inspectors left off duty. The lit
tie carcasses were then brought from
all over the packing house and skinned
by boys, who received two cents for
Icilo' ihS IL p'll' ne pF!lS "tIE
sold for so cents each to the kid glove
manufacturers. This occurs every
night at Mr.. Armour's concern at Chi
cago, or after each killing OF cows.
81 now propose to state here exact
ly what myself have' witnessed in
Philip d. Armours packing house with
cattle that have been condemned ty
the government inspectors.
"A workman, one Nicholas Newson
during my time, informs the inspec
tor that the tanks are prepared for the
reception of the condemned cattle and
that his presence is required to see
the beef cast into the steam-tank. Mr..
Inspector proceeds at once to the place
indicated. and the condemned cattle,
having been brought up to the tank