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Information about the regulation, unsanitary conditions, and how the workers felt working in the meat packing industry.

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Meat packing - Mises Wiki, the global repository of classical-liberal thought

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Meat packing is the industry involved in slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distributing livestock. A review of the history of meatpacking is of interest because the mainstream account of meatpacking sanitation at the turn of the century (or, rather, the lack thereof) appears to refute the theory of free market regulation.

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Explains the build up and future impact to the meat inspection act in 1906. Could be a turning point for character's life.

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MEAT INSPECTION ACT

Why was the Federal Meat Inspection Act passed?

THE JUNGLE

The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 came about largely due to the conditions in the meat packing industry that were detailed in great depth in Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel, "The Jungle." The novel was intended, by the author, to be a detailed account of the harsh working conditions surrounding manufacturing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The meat packing industry had become a sprawling economic business with the sharp increase in population in the United States. As such, the need for food; especially meat, became increasingly important.

Sinclair was paid a $500 advance to enter into the work force of a Chicago meat packing plant to uncover the plight of the American worker. In doing so he also uncovered the details of meat manufacturing in the United States. Excerpts of his novel include, in horrifying detail, the complete lack of any sanitary conditions. Sinclair's details of the conditions in the meat packing industry contained the common the overwhelming presence of rats in the production lines. Rancid meat would be shipped in from Europe to be included in the meat products produced by the plants. Meat was allowed to remain in piles in dark rooms where water would like onto the meat and "thousands of rats would race about on it. It was too dark in these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats." Rats and any other contaminants found in the processing plants were included in the meat and there were allegations in the book that workers would fall into the giant vats and be ground up with the meat and sold to the public.

Response to "The Jungle"

The public response to "The Jungle" was swift and harsh. Due to the public outcry President Theodore Roosevelt authorized the Labor Commissioner and a social worker to Chicago to make surprise visits to the meat packing facilities

NEILL-REYNOLDS REPORT

President Roosevelt read "The Jungle" himself and was disturbed by what he read. Unlike the historical significance attributed to the novel, the book was largely a discussion of social and economic disparity in the United States and Sinclair's main objective was a call to the public for a transfer to communist ideals. As such, the President was impressed by Sinclair's allegations and sought to seek the facts of the meat packing industry through his own resources.

Roosevelt sent the Labor Commissioner, Charles Neill, and James Reynolds, a social worker to inspect the meat packing plants. Their report largely confirmed all of the allegations insinuated by Sinclair's novel. Roosevelt initially intended to take the report to Congress but after contemplation he realized that the publication of the report would result in a devastating blow to the domestic economy.

THE BEVERIDGE AMENDMENT

Instead, Roosevelt decided to coerce the meat packing industry to reform by using the threat of dissemination of the report. He forced the meat packing industry's supporters in Congress to pass, what was known as, the Beveridge Amendment. This act would effectively require the meat packing industry to submit to constant inspections and investigations by the Agricultural Department which would be paid for by the meat packing industry. In addition the act would require stamps on meat products that were sent to market for public consumption. The Act passed the Senate but was received with strong opposition from members of the House of Representatives who had strong ties to the meat packing industry. In response Roosevelt decided to publicize the Neil-Reynolds report to the press.

PUBLICATION OF THE NEIL-REYNOLDS REPORT

As was expected by the publication of the Neil-Reynolds report, the effects were disastrous for the meat packing industry. Upon the reports publication, foreign nations refused to allow the importation of American beef. In response, the meat packing industry went to great lengths in order to create a more sanitary working environment. Roosevelt found that the evidence was enough to call for immediate and radical enlargement of the powers of the government in inspection all meats which enter into interstate and foreign commerce. By June of 1906 both public and political support for legislation controlling the production and distribution of meat products resulted in the passage of the Food and Drug Act as well as the Meat Inspection Act.

Amendments to the Meat Inspection Act of 1906

Since the creation of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and the creation of the Food and Drug administration there have been many amendments made to correspond with improvements in the meat industry and the changing appetites of the American people.

As originally written, the Meat Inspection Act did not apply to poultry. In 1906, when the Act was passed there was not a heavy demand for poultry products in the United States. Thos who did eat poultry got their produce from local farms. As such, the Meat Inspection Act, as initially enacted applied only to cattle, sheep, goats, equines, and swine.

It was not until the 1920's when an outbreak of avian flu occurred in New York City that the federal government took a valid interest in the inspection of poultry in the United States. The influenza outbreak resulted in local inspection ordinances and when the United States entered World War II the military required that all poultry products used for military personnel conform to the military's sanitation standards. As a result the poultry industry altered its methods and in 1957 the Poultry Products Inspection Act was enacted to require any poultry products that moved in interstate commerce to be continuously inspected both prior to slaughter, after slaughter, before processing and at the point of entry into the United States; if it was imported.

Since the inception of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 the law has been expanded to include other kinds of meat products. In 1967 Congress passed the Wholesome Meat Act and the Wholesome Poultry Act which set a minimums sanitation standard for State inspections of meat packing and poultry plants.

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Meat Inspection Act - Federal | Laws.com

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MEAT INSPECTION ACT Why was the Federal Meat Inspection Act passed? THE JUNGLE The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 came about largely due to the conditions in the meat packing industry that were detailed in great depth in Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel, "The Jungle."

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Website: The Jungle and the Progressive Era

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Website: The Jungle and the Progressive Era

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A detailed account of the impact and changes the book, "The Jungle", has made to society during the early 20th century. May help to explain what changes the character faces during his/her time

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User account | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi6tpC6uPvOAhXLMI8KHXhMDdIQjxwIAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Flilmisshistory.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fmeatpacking-industry-during-early-1900s.html&psig=AFQjCNGbLLksgrc-9P49461sqLYYxpg98w&ust=1473275323654367

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An example of how a meat company was founded. A quick overview of what it was like to be an entrepreneur during the industrialization.

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Gustavus Swift: Gustavus Swift, founder of the meatpacking firm Swift & Company and promoter of the railway refrigerator car for shipping meat. Swift felt that meatpacking would be more profitable if a method could be devised for shipping fresh meat, instead of sending live cattle to be slaughtered on arrival.

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Information about the problems, inventions, entrepreneurship, and general development of the meat industry in the US.

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A Bio. of America: Industrial Supremacy - Transcript

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Explore educational and professional development resources for teachers and classrooms on Annenberg Media's learner.org. Companion to the Annenberg Media series A BIOGRAPHY OF AMERICA, Program 14 Industrial Supremacy. This site covers the 26 episodes of the American history telecourse, produced by WGBH Interactive.

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Gives Definition of the meat packing industry, and the general history in the US relating to the meat industry. Includes important numbers! (dates, wages, etc)

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The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is not included. This greater part of the entire meat industry is primarily focused on producing meat for human consumption, but it also yields a variety of by-products including hides, feathers, dried blood, and, through the process of rendering, fat such as tallow and protein meals such as meat & bone meal.

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Gives the plot, social impact, author, publication date, etc about the book, "The Jungle". The book describes the environment of the meat packing industry. The book was also had a big impact at the time.

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The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878-1968). Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. His primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States.

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Video: History of Chicago and Meat Packing Industry

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Video: History of Chicago and Meat Packing Industry

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Shows the development of the meat industry in the US, and how Chicago became a starting point of the business. Also mentions the entrepreneurs who started the major meat business.

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I Am Angus: History of Chicago and the Meatpacking Industry

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In this "I Am Angus" segment, the history of Chicago and the rise of the U.S. meatpacking industry is discussed. For more information, visit www.angus.org.

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Website: Details of Meatpacking + Society

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Website: Details of Meatpacking + Society

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Describes the details and impact about the book, "Stockyard". The book is mainly about the starting of the Chicago meat 'stockyards'

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It's impossible to pinpoint the exact moment Americans embraced industrialized food. But the first Christmas after the Civil War is a key date to note. That's when Chicago's infamous Union Stock Yard opened to the public, in 1865.

"Its promoters clearly thought there could be no more appropriate way to observe a festive Christian holiday in the midst of America's capitalist hothouse than to open the greatest livestock market the world would ever see," writes Dominic A. Pacyga in his new book, Slaughterhouse: Chicago's Union Stock Yard and the World It Made.

"See" is the key word here. Because the new modern industry was quite a spectacle to behold, says Pacyga, and it was by watching it that Americans began to change their relationship to meat. We caught up with Pacyga by phone to talk about how Chicago instigated that transformation.Here's part of our conversation, edited for brevity and clarity.
Why were the Union stockyards so important?
The Union stockyards were so important because this mass industry really changed the way Americans, well, the way the world thinks about food. Also, it was sort of the beginning of mass industrialization, at least in Chicago. The use of assembly line techniques - or, really, "disassembly" line techniques - began very early in Cincinnati, but they were used here in Chicago very effectively.

Courtesy of Dominic A. Pacyga/University of Chicago Press

In the book, you mention that when the stockyards opened, they were quite a tourist attraction.
And remained a tourist attraction well into the 20th century. By the turn of the 19th century, about 500,000 [people] a year were coming to visit the stockyards and the packinghouses. We should keep the two apart. The stockyard was a livestock market: 450 acres covered with pens and railroad chutes and office buildings.

But the packinghouses adjacent to it were another several hundred acres of meat packing plants. And people would come and take a tour of both. They'd go through the stockyards, usually entering through the stone gate just west of Halsted Street, and then eventually end up in the packinghouses themselves.

"As late as the 1950s, grade school children in Chicago were taken to see the hog slaughter. It was the presentation of the modern. And the fact is that the presentation of the modern was both intriguing and frightening. It was a spectacle."

At the very beginning, the tours were given by street kids, but eventually the packinghouses had organized tours with uniformed tour guides. You'd walk into a rather nice waiting room and were taken by the guides. There were galleries above the kill floors, so you could watch the whole process.
What exactly did people see when they toured the stockyards?
They saw just about everything. Hogs were driven to the roofs of the building, where they were allowed to cool down. And then they were brought onto the kill floor, about 12 or 13 at a time, where a shackler would shackle the hind leg. And then the hog would be lifted into the air by the Hurford wheel, and they'd go to the sticker, who basically cut the hog's throat. Then it would pass onto an army of 150 men and women who would dress the hog. And then you were taken off to see the soap works, the hide rooms, through the whole thing.

Actually, it's kind of hard for contemporary people to think about: Why would you take children to see this? But as late as the 1950s, grade school children in Chicago were taken to see the hog slaughter. It was the presentation of the modern. And the fact is that the presentation of the modern was both intriguing and frightening. It was a spectacle. It drew hundreds of thousands of people a year.
How did that "spectacle" or the "presentation of the modern" change the way people thought about their food?
In 1890 it took about eight to 10 hours for a skilled butcher and his assistant to slaughter and dress a steer on a farm. In Chicago, it took 35 minutes. Big packing houses were killing 1,500, 2,500 steers a day. They were killing 6,000 to 7,000, maybe even 8,000 hogs a day. And the same amount of sheep. It was this grand spectacle of something that was very common. I mean, if you grew up on a farm, you knew how to do these things. You knew where meat came from. Suddenly it's removed from everyday life. It's removed from the human experience.
Do you think that, because people were able to watch this spectacle, it actually helped bring about this change that separated us from where meat comes from?
Sure. It made it less personal. Those of us who live in cities don't have a personal relationship with the meat we eat. There's this separation. And it must have been absolutely fascinating to people in the 19th century to see this mass [of livestock] coming together. The Chicago Tribune called it "organized chaos." From 1893 to 1933 there were never fewer than 13 million head of livestock at the stockyards annually. Twice, they peaked at over 18 million. Just a massive amount of animals. One author called it "man, meat and miracle." It was actually the miracle of mass industrialization.
Anne Bramley is the author of Eat Feed Autumn Winter and the host of the Eat Feed podcast. Twitter: @annebramley

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How Chicago's Slaughterhouse Spectacles Paved The Way For Big Meat

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It's impossible to pinpoint the exact moment Americans embraced industrialized food. But the first Christmas after the Civil War is a key date to note. That's when Chicago's infamous Union Stock Yard opened to the public, in 1865.

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http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/12/03/458314767/how-chicago-s-slaughterhouse-spectacles-paved-the-way-for-big-meat

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle

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Encyclopedia: General Information on Meat Packing

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Encyclopedia: General Information on Meat Packing

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Explains aspects of meatpacking in America, such as packaging houses, types of meat produced, technical and transportation improvements, and "The Jungle".

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meatpacking facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about meatpacking

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Get information, facts, and pictures about meatpacking at Encyclopedia.com. Make research projects and school reports about meatpacking easy with credible articles from our FREE, online encyclopedia and dictionary.

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Describes in detail about the development of the meat industry which started in Chicago and spread over the US. Mentions crucial events, companies, transport/movement

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At the end of the twentieth century, the meatpacking industry was widely dispersed but still under government regulation. Changing consumption patterns posed new challenges, as poultry and fish began to replace beef and pork in American diets.

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Encyclopedia: Conditions In Meat Packing Plants

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Encyclopedia: Conditions In Meat Packing Plants

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This is an excerpt from Sinclair Upton's book, "The Jungle". It provides much more details directly from the book, regarding working conditions in meat packaging industries

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Conditions in Meatpacking Plants (1906, by Upton Sinclair) - Dictionary definition of Conditions in Meatpacking Plants (1906, by Upton Sinclair) | Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary

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Definition of Conditions in Meatpacking Plants (1906, by Upton Sinclair) - Our online dictionary has Conditions in Meatpacking Plants (1906, by Upton Sinclair) information from Dictionary of American History dictionary. Encyclopedia.com: English, psychology and medical dictionaries

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Website: Development of Industry + List of Companies

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Website: Development of Industry + List of Companies

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Describes events and factors of production related to the regulation in companies.

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PDF: Timeline of Meat Packing in America

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PDF: Timeline of Meat Packing in America

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A timeline that shows important events, inventions, and companies in the meat packing industry during 18th~20th century.