OUTATLAST.
Neill-Reynolds Report on
Meat horrors.
The President Sends with It a Mes
sage Urging the Passage of a
Drastic Inspection Law.
The Senate and House of Represen
tatives:
I transmit herewith the report of
Mr. James Bronson Reynolds and
Commissioner Charles I J . Neill, the
special committee whom I appointed
to investigate into the conditions in
the stock yards of Chicago and re
port thereon to nie. This report is cf
a preliminary nature. I submit it
to you now because it shows the ur
gent need of immediate action by the
congress in tho direction of providing
a drastic and thoroughgoing inspec
tion by the federal government of all
stock yards and packing houses and
of their products, so far as the latter
•enter into interstate <;r foreign com
merce. The conditions shown by
even this short inspection to exist in
the Chicago stock yards are revolting.
It is imperatively necessary in the
interest oi' health and of decency that
they should be radically changed.
Under the existing law it is wholly
impossible to secure satisfactory re
. suits.
When my attention was first direct
ed to this matter an investigation was
made under the bureau of animal in
dustry of the department cf agricul
ture. When the preliminary state
meats of this investigation were
brought to my attention they showed
such defects in the law and such
wholly unexpected conditions that I
deemed it best to have a further im
mediate investigation by men not
connected with the bureau, and ac
fordingly appointed Messrs. Reynolds
and Neill. it was impossible under
the existing law that satisfactory
work should be done by the bureau of
animal industry. I am now, however,
examining the way in which the work
actually was done.
Before I had received the report of
Messrs. Reynolds and Neill ! had
directed that labels placed upon any
package of meat food products should
state only that the carcass of the ani
raal from which the meat was taken
had been inspected at the time of
slaughter. If inspection of meat food
products at all stages of preparation
is not secured by the passage of the
legislation recommended I shall feel
compelled to order that inspection
•labels and certificates 011 canned pro
-duets shall not be used hereafter.
The report shows that the stock
yards and packing houses are not
kept even reasonably clean, and that
the method of handling and prepar
ing food products is uncleanly and
dangerous to health. Under existing
law the national government has 110
power to enforce inspection of the
many forms of prepared meat food
products that are daily going from
the packing houses into interstate
commerce. Owing to an inadequate
appropriation the department, of agri
culture is not even able to place in
spectors in all establishments desi:
ing them. The present law prohibits
the shipment of uninspected meat to
foreign countries, but there is no pro
vision forbidding the shipment of un
inspected meats in interstate com
merce, and thus the avenues of inter
state commerce are left open to traffic
in diseased or spoiled meats. If, as
has been alleged on seemingly Rood
authority further evils exist, such as
the improper use of chemicals aiei
dyes, the government lacks power to
remedy them. A law is needed which
will enable the inspectors of the gen
eral government to inspect and super
vise from the hoof to the can the pre
paration of the meat food product.
The evil seems to be much less in tin
sale of dressed carcasses than in tl:>
.sale of canned and other prepared
•products.
111 my judgment the expense of the
inspection should be paid by a fee
levied on each animal slaughtered. 1!'
this is not done, the wlinle purp se of
the law can at an; - time be defeat-xl
through an insufficient appropriation:
and whenever there was 110 particular
public interest in the sniiji et ii would
be not only easy but natural thus to
make the appropriation insufficient.
If it were not for this consideration I
,should favor the government paying
lor it.
I call special attention to the fact
that this report is preliminary, and
that the investigation is still un
finished. It is not yet possible tore
port on the alleged abuses in the use
of deleterious chemical compounds in
•connection with canning and preserv
ing meat products, nor on the alleged
doctoring in this fashion of tainted
meat and of products returned to the
packers as having grown unsalable or
unusable from age or from other rea
sons. Grave allegations are made in
reference to abuses of this nature.
Let ine repeat that, under the pres
ent law there is practically no method
of stopping these abuses if they
should be discovered to exist. Legis
lation is needed in order to prevent
the possibility of all abuses in the
future. If no legislation is passed,
then the excellent, results accom
plished by the work of this special
committee will endure only so long
as the memory of the committee's
work is fresh, and a recrudescence of
the abuses is absolutely certain.
I urge th" immediate enactment in
to law cf provisions which will en
able the department of agriculture
adequately to inspect the meat and
meat-food products entering into In
terstate commerce* and to supervise
the methods of preparing the same,
and to prescribe the sanitary condi
tions under which the work shall be
performed. 1 therefore commend to
your favorable consideration and urge
the enactment of substantially the
provisions known as senate amend
ment No. 29 to the act making ap
propriations for the department of
agriculture for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1907, as passed by the senate,
tills amendment being commonly
known as the Beveridge amendment.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
The President: 4
As directed by yon, we investigated
the conditions in the principal es
tablishments in Chicago engaged in
the slaughter of cattle, sheep, and
hogs and in the preparation of dressed j
meat and meat-food products. Two |
and a half weeks were spent in the j
investigation in Chicago, and during !
| this time we went through the prin- '
cipal packing houses in the stock
yards district, together with a few of
the smaller ones. A day was spent i
by Mr. Reynolds in New York City in !
the investigation of several of its
leading slaughterhouses. During our |
investigation statements of conditions j
and practices in the packing houses, j
together with affidavits and documen- '
tary evidence, were offered us from j
numerous sources. Most of these ■
were rejected as being far from prov- |
ing the facts alleged and as being be
yond the possibility of verification by j
us. We have made no statement as a j
fact in the report here presented that j
was not verified by otir personal ex- j
animation. Certain matters which 1
we were unable to verify while in
Chicago are still under investigation. I
Condition of the Yards.
Before entering ihe buildings we j
noted the condition of the yards !
themselves as shown In the pavement, j
pens, viaducts and platform. The I
pavement is mostly of brick, the !
bricks laid with deep grooves between
them, which inevitably fill with ma
nure and refuse. Such pavement can ,
not be properly cleaned and is slimy i
and malodorous when wet, yielding :
clouds of ill-smelling dust when dry.
The pens are generally uncovered ex
cfpt those for sheep; these latter are \
paved and covered. The viaducts and j
platforms are of wood. Calves, sheep, j
and hogs that have died en route are i
thrown out upon the platforms where i
cars are unloaded. On a single plat- i
form on one occasion we counted 15 j
dead hogs, on the next 10 dead hogs. I
The only excuse given for delay in !
removal was that so often heard—the
expense.
_ .. .. i
Buildings.
Material.—The interior finish of
most of the buildings is of wood; the
partition walls, supports, and rafters
are of wood, uncovered by piaster or
cement. The flooring in some in
stances is of brick or cement, but
usually of wood. In many of the
rooms where water is used freely the
floors are soaked and slimy.
.Lighting.—The buildings have been
constructed with little regard to either
light or ventilation. The workrooms,
as a rule, are very poorly lighted. A
few rooms at the top of the buildings
are well lighted because tliey can not
escape the light, but most of the
rooms are so dark as to make arti
ficial light necessary at all times.
Many inside rooms where food is pre
pared are without windows, deprived
of sunlight anil without direct com
•nunication with the outside air. They
may be best described as vaults in
which the air rarely changes. Other
rooms which open to the outer air are
HO large, the windows so clouded by
dirt, and the walls and ceilings so
dark and dingy that nalural light only
penetrates 20 or 30 feet from the
windows, thus making artificial light
in portions of even these outside
rooms necessary. These dark and
dingy rooms are naturally not kept
suitably clean.
Ventilation.—Systematic ventilation
of the workrooms is not found in any
of the establishments we visited. In
a few instances electric fans mitigate
the stilling air, but usually the work
ers toil without relief in a humid at
mosphere heavy with the odors of
rotten wood, decayed meats, stinking
offal, and entrails.
Equipment.—The work tables upon
which the meat is handled, the floor
carts on which it is carried about,
and the tubs and other receptacles
into which it is thrown are generally
'■f wood. In all the places visited
inn a single porcelain lined receptacle
was seen. Tables covered with sheet
iron, iron carts, and iron tubs are be
ing introduced into the better estab
lishments, but no establishment visit
d has as yet abandoned the exten
ive use of wooden tables and wooden
receptacios. These wooden recep
tacles are frequently found water
.viaked, only half cleansed, and with
meat scraps and grease accumula
tions adhering to their sides, and col
lecting dirt. This is largely true of
meat racks and meat conveyors of
every sort, which were in nearly all
cases inadequately cleansed, and
grease and meat scraps were found
adhering to them, even after they had
been washed and returned to service.
Sanitary Conveniences . Nothing
shows more strikingly the general in
difference to matters of cleanliness
and sanitation than do the privies for
both men and women. The prevailing
type is made by cutting off a section
of workroom by a thin wooden parti
tion rising to within a few feet ol' the
ceiling. These privies usually venti
late into the workroom, though a few
are found with a window opening into
the outer air. Many are located in the
inside < orners of the work rooms, and
thus have no outside opening what
ever. They are furnished with a
row of seats, generally without even
side partitions. These rooms are
sometimes used as cloakrooms by the
employes. Lunch rooms constructed
in the same manner, by boarding off a
section of the workroom, often adjoin
the privies, the odors of which add to
the generally unsanitary state of the
atmosphere.
Abominable as the above-named
conditions are. the one that affects
most directly and Seriously the clean
liness of the food products is the fre
quent absence of any lavatory provis
ions in the privies. Washing sinks
are either not furnished at ail or are
sinail and dirty. Neither are towels,
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1906.
soap or toilet paper provided. Men
and women return directly from these
places to plunge their unwashed hands
into the meat to be converted into
such food products as sausages, dried
beef and other compounds. Some of
the privies are situated at a long dis
tance from the workrooms, and men
relieve themselves on the killing floors
Or in a corner of the workrooms.
Hence, in some cases the fumes of the
urine swel\ the sum of nauseating
odors arising from the dirty biood
! soaked, rotting floors, fruitful culture
i beds for the disease germs of men
i and animals.
A Model Slaughterhouse in Contrast
with Those of Chicago.
In impressive contrast to the condi
j lions that we saw in the stock yards
|of Chicago is an establishment that
I Mr. Reynolds visited in New York
, City. It well merits a description in
1 those particulars in which it is vastly
superior to similar concerns in Chica ,
go. The two upper floors used for cat
! tie pens are paved frith well-laid
J bricks and cement, with side walls of
! brick, the top floor being covered to
i protect the cattle from the weather.
I The killing floor is paved with blue
j stone, sloping toward well arranged
drains, and has a large air shaft for
I special ventilation and abundant win
: dows. The ceiling and upper side
| walls are of hard cement, with steel
j crossbeams and cement faced steel
I supports. The lower side walls are
| covered with white porcelain brick, j
When the slaughtering of each day is j
| finished, water is turned on, and in i
! not more than fifteen minutes the !
j room is so thoroughly cleansed that j
j all perceptible odors and traces of the |
I work are removed. Other rooms, such j
; as those for cooling and storage, are
j of similar construction to the killing
I floor.
Treatment of Meats and Prepared
Food Products.'
Uncleanliness in handling products.
—An absence of cleanliness was also |
j found everywhere in the handling of
! meat being .prepared for the various
! meat-food products. After killing,
| carcasses are well washed, and up to
i the time they reach the cooling !
I room are handled in a fairly sanitary
| and cleanly manner. The parts that
leave the cooling room for treatment
I in bulk are also handled with regard ]
! to cleanliness, but the parts that a,re j
' sent from the cooling room to those |
| departments of the packing houses in |
which various forms of meat pro
ducts arc prepared art* handled with
110 regard whatever for cleanliness.
Meat scraps were also found being
shoveled into receptacles from dirty
floors where they were left to lie un
til again shoveled into barrels or in
to machines for chopping. These
lloors, it must be noted, were In most
damp and soggy, in dark, ill -
ventilated rooms, and the employees
in utter ignorance of cleanliness or
danger to health expectorated at will
upon them. In a word, we saw meat
shoveled from filthy wooden floors,
|)iled on tables rarely washed, pushed
from room to room in rotten box carts,
in all of which processes it was in the
way of gathering dirt, splinters, floor
filth, and the expectoration of tuber
culous and other diseased workers.
Where comment was made to floor
superintendents about these matters,
it was always the reply that this meat
would afterwards be cooked, and that
this sterilization would prevent any
danger from its use. Even this, it
may tie pointed out in passing, is not
wholly true. A very considerable
portion of the meat so handled is sent,
out as smoked products and in the
form of sausages, which are prepared
to be eaten without being cooked.
A particularly glaring instance of
uncleanliness was found in a room
where the best grade of sausage was
being prepared for export. It was
made from carefully selected meats,
and was being prepared to be eaten
uncooked. In this case the employee
carted the chopped-uo meat, across a
room in a barrow, the handles of
which were filthy with grease. The
meat was then thrown out upon tables
and the employee climbed upon the
table, handled the meat with his un
washed hands, knelt with his dirty
apron and trousers in contact with
the meat he was spreading out, and,
after he had finished his operation,
again took hold of the dirty handles
of the wheelbarrow, went back for an
other load, and repeated this process
indefinitely. Inquiry developed the
fact that there was no water in this
room at all, and the only method the
man adopted for cleaning his hands
was to rub them against his dirty
apron or on his still filthier trousers.
As an extreme example of the en
tire disregard on the part of employ
ees of any notion of cleanliness in
handling dressed meat, we saw a hog
that hud just been killed, cleaned,
washed, and started o*i its way to
the cooling room fall from the "slid
ing rail to a dirty wooden floor and
slide part way into a filthy men's
privy. It was picked up by two em
ployees, placed upon a truck, carried
into the cooling room and hung up
with other carcasses, no effort being I
made to clean it.
Treatment of meat after inspection.
—The radical defect in the present
system of inspection is that it does
not go far enough. It is confined at
present by law to passing on the j
hoalthfuluess of animals at the time j
of killing: but the meat that is used !
in sausage and in the various forms of j
canned products and other prepared j
meat foods goes through many proces- ]
ses, in all of which there is possibility
of contamination through unsanitary
handling, and further danger through
the use of chemicals. During all
those processes of preparation there
i-; no government inspection and no
assurance whatever that these meat- 1
food products are wholes: me and fit
for food —despite the fact that till j
these products, when sent out, bear a j
label stating they have been passed i
upon by government inspectors.
As to the investigation of the al
leged use of dyes, preservatives, or
chemicals in the preparation of cured j
meats, sausages, and canned goods |
wo are not yet prepared to report, j
All of these canned products bear 1
labels of which the following Is a
sample:
ABATTOIR NO.—
The contents of this package have
been inspected according to the act
of congress of March 11, 1891.
QUALITY GUARANTEED.
The phraseology of these labels Is
wholly unwarranted. The govern
ment inspectors pass only upon the
hoalthfulness of the auimal at the
time of killing. They know nothing
of the processes through which the
meat has passed since this inspection.
They do not know what else may have
been placed in the cans in addition to
•inspected meat." As a matter of
fact, they know nothing about the
"contents" of the can upon which the
packers place these labels—do not
even know that it contains what it
purports to contain. The legend
"quality guaranteed" Immediately fol
lowing the statement as to govern
ment inspection is wholly unjustifi
able. It deceives and is plainly de
signed to deceive the average pur
chaser. who naturally Infers from the
label that the government guarantees
the contents of the can to be what it
purports to be.
in another establishment piles of
sausages and dry moldy canned meats,
admittedly several years old, were
found, which the superintendent
.stated to us would be tanked and con
verted into grease. The disposition
to be made of this was wholly optional
with the superintendents or repre
sentatives of the packers, as the gov
ernment does not concern Itself with
the disposition of meats after they
have passed inspection on the killing
floor. It might all be treated with
chemicals, mixed with other meats,
turned out in any form of meat pro
duct desired, and yet the packages or
receptacles in which it was to ba
shipped out to the public would lia
marked with a label that their con
tents had been "government inspect
ed." It is not alleged hce that such
use was to be made of this stuff. The
case is pointed out as one showing
the glaring opportunity for the mis
use of a label bearing the name and
the implied guaranty of the United
States government.
Another instance of abuse in tha
use of the labels came to our notice,
in two different establishments great
stocks of old canned goods were be
ing put through a washing process to
remove the old labels. They were
then subjected to sufficient heat to
"liven up" the contents —to use the
phrase of the room superintendent.
After tills, fresh labels, with the gov
ernment name on them, were to be
placed upon the cans, and they were
to be sent out bearing ail the evidence
of being a freshly put up product. In
one of these instances, by the admis
sion of the superintendent, the stock
thus being relabeled was over two
years old. In the other case the su
perintendent evaded a statement of
how old the goods were.
Treatment of Employes.
The lack of consideration for the
j health and comfort of the laborers in
j the Chicago stock yards seems to be
a direct consequence of the system of
! administration that, prevails. The
! various departments are under the
| direct control of superintendents who
; claim to use full authority in dealing
with the employes and who seem to
i Ignore all considerations except those
I 1 112 the account book. Under this sys
j torn proper care of the products and
j of the health and comfort of the era
! ployes is impossible, and the con
sumer suffers in consequence. The
unsanitary conditions in which the
laborers work and the feverish pace
which they are forced to maintain in
evitably affect their health. Physi
| eians state that tuberculosis is dis
proportionately prevalent in the stock
yards, and the victims of this disease
expectorate on the spongy wooden
floors of the dark workrooms, from
which falling scraps of meat are later
shoveled up to be converted into food
products.
Even the ordinary decencies of life
are completely ignored. In practical
ly all cases the doors of the toilet
rooms open directly into the working
rooms, the privies of men and women
frequently adjoin and the entrances
are sometimes no more than a foot or
two apart. lu other cases there are
110 privies for women in the rooms in
which they work, and to reach the
nearest it is necessary togo up or
down a couple of flights of stairs. In
one noticeable instance the privy for
the women working in several adjoin
ing rooms was in a room in which
men chiefly were employed, and every
girl going to use this had to pass by
the working places of dozens of male
operatives and enter the privy the
door el' which was not six feet from
the working place of one of the men
operatives. As previously noted, in
the privies for men and women alike
there are no partitions, but simply a
long row of open seats. Rest rooms,
where tired women workers might go
for a short rest, were found as rare
exceptions, and in some establish
ments women are even placed in '
charge of privies chiefly for the pur- j
pose, it was stated, to see that the I
girls did not absent themselves too
long front their work under the ex
cuse of visiting them. In some in
stances what was called a rest room
was simply one end of the privy par
titioned off by a six-foot partition
from the remaining inclosure. A few j
girls were found using this, not only |
as a rest room, but as the only avail- I
able place in which to sit to eat their
luncheon.
Much of the work in connection
with the handling of meat lias to bo
carried on in rooms of a low tempera
ture, l)iti even here a callous disregard
was everywhere seen for the comfort
of those who worked in these rooms.
Girls and women were found in rooms
registering a temperature of IIS degree
F. without any ventilation whatever,
depending entirely upon artificial
light. The floors were wet and soggy,
and in some cases covered with water,
so that the girls had to stand in boxes
of sawdust as a protection for their
feet.
| Balcom Lloyd. |
i| fi
11
'ffl ___ lip
Ira WE have the best stocked frjj
ij general store in the county
p and if you are looking for re
jig liable goods at reasonable jjji
P prices, we are ready to serve
;!' you with the best to be found. ||
p Our reputation for trust- u|
; yjj worthy goods and fair dealing [S
0 is too well known to sell any
p but high grade goods.
11
jgfj Our stock of Queensware and
ffl Chinaware is selected with fo]
great care and we have some
; fij .of the most handsome dishe3
y ever shown in this section, |Ji
ft] both in imported and domestic
makes. We invite you to visit (,]
us and look our goods over.
I I
r I
i I
]ll - 111
I Balcom $ Lloyd, j
****** ** jet SI j
LOOK ELSEWHERE BUT DON'T FORGET M
M THESE PRICES AND FACTS AT
li | LaBAITS || I
II —u 1*
N 1J
N We carry in stock 1 _ i £4
fc* the largest line of Car- . • 112 1
pets, Linoleums and fi/
*2 Mattings oi all kinds /112 j
11 f ver bf o"g ht t ? this , GSMHSI !!
A very large line ot •FOR THE fi2Sf>
fl Lace Curtains that can
m h p e ie a " y - COItfDRfM LOD6ING 11
Art Squares and of fine books in a choice library
Kugs of all sizes ar.d select the Ideal pattern of Globe- P*
£* kind, from the cheap- Wernicke "Elastic" Bookcase. S*
est totlie best. Furnished with bevel French
plate or leaded glass doors. ||
M Dining Chairs, I o*
N S° c i a " d 1 GEO - J - LaBAR, £*
Higll Chairs. Sole Agent for Cameron County.
£2 A large and elegant ———— —£*
|| line of Tufted and
|| Drop-head Couches. Beauties end at bargain prices.
if ——
kg S3O Bedroom Suits, COE S4O FVdeboard, quar- (fon £2
112 solid oak at J>ZO tered 4ak 4>wU Pf
* S2B Bedroom Suits, cor I i 32 Sideboard, quar
if solid oakat J)/! tered oak 4>ZO
J* $25 Bed room Suits, COfl s'22 Sideboard, quar- cIC N
|jjj solid oak at tered oak; 4)10 ||
A large line of Dressers from Chiffoniers of all kinds and ft 4
fc jfj $8 up. all prices. Ik#
I " m*
mm ~ . —————— ||
||| The finest line of Sewing Machines on the market,
j| ; the "DOMESTIC" and "F.LLRILGK.' All drop- Ej
|2 heads and warranted.
1 " A fine line of Dishes, common grade and China, in £*
** sets and by the piece. M
As I keep a full line of everything that goes to ftf
& $ make up a good Furniture store, it is useless to enuin- M
N erate them all.
£| Please call and see for yourself that I am telling
|| you the truth, and if you don't buy, there is 110 harm £2 '
|| done, as it is 110 trouble to show goods.
•j GEO. J .LaBAR. ••
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