The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1909-08-19
KINGDOM OF KILLING
RULED BY ARMOUR
NINE MILLION CARCASSES
A YEAR.
Mostly Animals Meet Death Stupidity
and Without Resistance What
Becomes of Their Lives?

"ie sIahulnS armies OF workingmen,
not armies CT fighting idlers. Rookie
1elier's millions and Armour's mill
hons are millions invested and REIN
vested in labor, in building. in adding
10 the actual visible wealth of this
country That wealth belongs to the
country and to the people of the
country. 1t Is subject to this dispo-
sition by taxation or otherwise. II is
fortunate for the people that these
Kings unlike the old kings, do not
waste human labor with courts
retinues of servants and organized
dissipation, do not waste human life
In wars, but use their energies simplv
along the lines Of organizing industry
and increasing tangible wealth. II
might be worse with people az
suptne as our own.
1t is fact, Of course. that Armour
Goes not really own this great world
"ioe butcher business. The stock
yards own him. He was born with
the big load upon his back. He tells
you quite simply: Il inherited this
business; cid not create it. l have
tried to do as we'll as could with If
II Just happened that had a smart
lGther and rich father"
IN so vast an industry, bigger than
all the men that manage it. suppas-
'ions seem rather foolish coming from
OUTSIDE. But there are some things
II would seem, that Armour and the
other Dig packers could do easily. at
once, and without unreasonable sacr;-
fce. They might make the prices of
peel to consumers uniform and rea-
| sonable.
NO women or children should. un-
oer any conditions, be permitted to
| witness the killing of the animals
IL is a dreadful thing to see long
INES OF little boys and women and
iittla girls walking through the
slaughter fouses, watching the stick
ing or PIGS, the stunning of steers
| anu all the horror of blood. The ef-
'ecI Is brUtai!zing on the children
| ana Tor the mother of an unborn
enid 10 witness so horrible q snec-
tacle is shameful crime.
Some legislator in Illinois sbou,d
! s.1Tt the movement to prevent this
iEe packers themselves would do II
| put they say: IF we close nm our
sianshter houses, or keep any nart
ot the public ont, we shall be accused
OF having things to hide"
IL Is great kingdom of death over
when Armour rules. There are huge
puiloinSs for killing, surrounded with
pens IN which the sheep, hogs and
cattle are confined, waiting for tho
latal hour. In one place hogs in tbou-
sasls Ias are cr,ven into pens. Below.
iiiuaeh under a platform. there is a
cracking Of whips mingled with
squealing aud gruntlng. You look
oo"h and see man, black from head
20 loot with mud, rushing about
among the half-crazed swine He
mas huge blacksnake whip in bis
hahd, with which he drives them IN
tne narrow entrance that leads to
'heir death. In the last pen there is
great revolving wheel. Each HOG
is seized and hooked by one hind leo
Ihe turning wheel lifts him in ,ba
ar; lie Is passed on to a wheel that
s!ides along rail. and then comes
one knife thrust and death.
Inc killing OF the sheep, fortunate
iE' is hidden; it is too pathetic for tho
sight even of modern civilization
Inc killing Of the cattle is less noisy
and shocking than that of the swine
me Dig, heavy, fattened steers walk
SLOWLY lnto pens. Heavy hammers
stun them, and as a rule, thew bleed
10 death without regaining conscious
ness. 'u'-
The Blood Could BE Heard.
But there is certainly room for i'm
proVement In the killing. And If tho
Improvement can be made it should
pe maoe-if necessary, under compul-
sion. Out Of every ten steers slaneb-
tered one or more invariably reonjre
more than one blow for the kiliira
lhis means suffering. and 1t is un-
necessary. The spending of a very
niue extra money, two or three cents
carcass perhaps. and probably less
"ouid pay Tor the fitting on each head
OF an apparatus that would make the
oeath blow absolutely certain.
STUDY OF the animals as they go to
.heir death would disturb the calm
Deilef OF the individual who thinks
tnat an animal has no soul. no real
life. no thought. It is trua that a
great majority of the animals die orr.
pidly and without resistance. Among
the swine whose shrill squealings
answer the cracking whip and the
upward turn of the fatal wheel, there
appears to be, fortunately, little or no
conception of what death and danger
mean. 1t is not always so. One dav
the harmony OF the killing bed was
vastly disturbed by one small, black
pig: huge creatures. double the black
pigs size, were WALKING tbror,. 80