CHICAGO MEAT PACKING DISCLOSURES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVI, Issue 23, 9 June 1906, Page 24

CHICAGO MEAT PACKING DISCLOSURES.

A 3 ■:CGATIONS WHICH LED UP TO INVESTIGATION. It was early in the present year that the London. “i-an-rt." the Lading medical journal in the world, printed four articles upon the insanitary condition of the Cliieago stock yards, written by a '"Special >anitary Commissioner.” These arts s attracted wide attention, and pl.t it—t a r • -t revolting state of affairs. Th< » Mr. Upton Sinclair made a study of the yards for the purposes of writing a novel, wiriest has just recently been pubUshd. The a’legations were too dreadful to be allowed to pass, and an agitatic- resulted in the setting up of a Comitt:-.-.,. n to investigate. The cables inforin us of the pubSieat»sn of the Cbmn:i" ion’s report and the horror earned by r.L • revelatmi —- The principal allegathsti- of t .. -in-vlator are ziven below: I—-“At Chicago the cattle step out on th . h which thev soil and conteariaate. ... At Anderiieht. near F . ■ - the - for cattle awaiting ».a; _i..er are built with the same eare a-* h war»i> >T ii — The i-rst or most obvious defect o: the stockyards is the absence of s. • s. Here living anima Iar in exaetlv the same manner ma is ordinary raw inaterial. The Chie:st* kyar-l- o-n-i-t a numbk'r of L.s instead of slauahterli*>ases. Slaughtering, it n-ed hardly be said, s’ .-u'. 1 be done on the ground, but the gr.rm-I should be rendered water-tight ly a :al non-lippery, convex, and elalcrate’y drained paving. The surrorimfipg structure should be built exel .-iveiy of iron, glass, or enamell-sl br.ek. Of course, there should be no upper floor, and there should be ventilatieai above and on both sides. That is how slaughterhouses in the technical ate---’ of the term are built."

111. —"The exportation of pork products from Cui*ago to Germany, Austria, France, and Denmark is prohibited unless aeeompuaied by a certificate issueu. not by any local authority, but by the Governn.- nt of the United "-tat s itself. The entire American nation thus pledges its h**n**ur that no product that has not been carefully examined under the mierosrop? shall be exported from Chicago to tb r-e countries. As for Atneri*;.n eitire i- or ior British itirens it does not matter. Th.y may swwllow tri-:Ginae whole-ale; no <ne -seats to think it worth while to attempt to protect them. Yet it was formerly shown that of the hogs taken to market three yer cent were infeeted with trichinae.” IV. —“ln t e-e lark places the meat fall- on the fl*w»r and evsnes contact uith the dirt from the boo'.* of the worker- and the bacilli from the sputum of a p*>pulati<'U amoivg pulmonary tuberculosis is more prevalent than among any other section of the inhabitant* of Close al band there are elo?et*. and they are in *--?ne places only a few feet from the food. These ektsets are at times out oi order.deficient, defective, or entirely deve : d of liushing. There used to no provision whatsoever for the worker*’ meal* an i they had to •'at amid th-* tilth in whieh th»-y worked. Even to-day and after many protests ami ajniation*. there are no proper lavatories for lhe workers to wash themselves eonvenjently and to change their clothe* before they is sent frvm Chicago to all parts of the world.” V. —‘The dirtiest work twhere the entrail* are taken out ■ is lone in the closest. the darkest, ami the dirt t*--*t place, instead of iMrlnj* carried c«n in the *?-pen air. or *uch *sight shelter as would not prevent the free access of air and siiEi-tiine. It would be «{uite impossible to dLsinfe.- such premises. There are innumerable rafters. *harp angles, n.xec*. aibi corners v-here Mood, the splashing of offa;. and the sputum of tuberculous workers can aceumulaEe for weeks, m Eih*. and year*.~ I—" Natural disinfection cannot take place t*?caii*e day?ij>ht ami lhe direct rays of the sun cannot reach the greater part of the interior of the buildings where the work is done, the meat is handled, and the tuberculous attendants expectorate. Thai rhe -urroundiiigs are foul, that in any ease there is somethin wrong in the of the w. rk or of th..is *howa by the ’ -> smallest scratch or cut will resuk in poisoning ii the wonnd i< ece a: treated with a antiseptic.” VII.—~I~ »- obvious that th- d<-strue-t»;r* ,:\=- tasc<* m which the ccmdenuied tubercuiou- ’ entrails, and are destroyed should be placed in a farotf and isolated corner. Any c-ondemned earease should at one? be removed well away from all the buildings where food is prepared. Nothing of the sort is done. . . . The lid of the destructor is removed within a few feet of meat that is to be eaten. The promis«?tuty of the two occupyci<. exjmination and de-iruetion of di*<-a*<d earcas-- and the preparing, the- vutting up. or the washing of can:'.*-.-* trial are not diseased, is EB’'**r de*gu.*iiE!sg it nd reprehwk*ible.” Mr. Upturn Sinclair, wso-e book has played sne.i a prominent t-art in the ex-po-tres. -say*: ‘“The inspection of meat was se lax t .at -everal Governments of Eur» je Lave been ied to pa— laws re-strk-ting th<- importation of American meat- As the result of tLi*. the packers now provkie f»»r a thorough mienjr?-e<«pie examination of all meat intended for shipment to Europe. In the course of in>B'■•?eciou it _* found thaz one and onehalf per cen: • i th.-* p. rk killed contains trichinae. i* no utn-ro*-opic exanuratkMt of p»wk inten..Bed for *aie in Great Brita a «-r site United Statesr—whkh mean* -imply that we cat our own one and on*-half per c?nt of triehinae. in addition to tk.*- ».»ne and one-half per cent • f the share of Europe Another deadly dis*a.'S‘ . f L.i-. tttb.?reuilo*i-: tuberculous p* rk i* full ».f ptomaines, a deadly poison. AH of the inspecting for this di-ea-ie in one of the large*t c-»*ncems i* entrusted to two Government and the m«>«t casual observer mav satisfy himself about these inspectors, a* I did. by watering them let twenty or thirty beg r«u*s by without even a glance. . . A ’ r 1 he-t meat g»>?s to Eur« »pe. Th it which is found utterly spoiled ami impoe.*ibtc of sale i* either ground up. into sausage or canned. The filthiness which I have found in the canning and sausage deparlme&ts cvuld scarcely be set down in print. Taere h never the kaat

Hob paid to wkat is eat up for saasage. There evures hack froo; Eur*>pe old sausage that has bren rejected aaJ that is muuldy and naite. It is dosed with borax an-J glycerine and Jumped into the hop; -rs and made up agaia for home CVU suD>ption. T!«e sausage meat is stored in great piies. and water fr»su leaky roofs dri|>» over it, and tbousanus of rats rare about on it. One can ruu his hand over these piles of meat and -weep off handfuls cf the filth of rats.”