and more. Required fields are marked *. the meat-packing industry is dominated by immigrant workers. The reality of this terrible event offers a small window into the family tragedy that would have certainly followed. Choice, and U.S. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Elisha Mills in 1818 started the first large-scale pork-packing plant in Cincinnati, where pigs were slaughtered and their meat was preserved in brine-filled barrels to meet the growing demand for salted pork. But, Calamuci writes, that changed after World War II, thanks largely to the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA), which organized the eras dominant meatpacking companies, known as the Big Four. "Men who used knives on the sped-up assembly lines frequently lost fingers. In your opinion, which details in this excerpt most convincingly highlight problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s? It was convenient, and the great majority of the workers lived in this dismal, loud, and overcrowded area. Beginning in the 1880s, American chemist Harvey W. Wiley, chief of the Bureau of Chemistry of the USDA, issued reports noting the health hazards posed by the adulteration of processed foods such as canned meat and by chemicals used as preservatives and colouring agents. In the 1900s, the food and labor industry were far from perfect. (402) 494-2061 Meatpackers suffered from the following: Meatpackers were not the only ones impacted by the poor conditions in their facility. . The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, for example, guarantees workers the right to form unions and go on strike. Americas many >stockyards were known to be filthy, and a breeding ground for diseased meat. The answer, of course, was that the industry needed regulation. The realities of the industry have fueled major reforms, public outrage, and activist movements, but mostly the meat-processing industry has been hidden away from the sensitive eyes and minds of an American population that is almost totally disconnected from the origins of the food it consumes. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); At the same time, new production techniques reduced the skill required of slaughterhouse workers. The first widespread public attention to the unsafe practices of the meatpacking industry came in 1898, when the press reported that Armour & Co., had supplied tons of rotten canned beef to the U.S. Army in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. At a time when half of the American population lived and worked on farmscompared to 2% todayLincoln called it the Peoples Department. The USDA is still charged with ensuring that meat is safe, properly inspected, and correctly packaged to this day. Conditions in Meatpacking Plants (1906, by Upton Sinclair) https://www.britannica.com/topic/Meat-Inspection-Act, National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Introduction and Historical review of meat inspection. Industrialists challenged unions through several methods. Asked by sidney b #832622 on 10/20/2018 1:38 AM Last updated by jill d #170087 on 10/20/2018 2:26 AM Answers 1 Add Yours. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. There was money to be made both at home, as well as overseas. Making profits initially relied upon two major things cheap labor, and the absence of any type of regulation. The problems in the meatpacking industry is that it was very unsanitary. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In your opinion, what surprised you the most? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Men prepare bacon at a meat packing plant in Chicago, circa 1955. By 1900, Chicago was the center of the nationwide meatpacking industry. As a member of the relatively militant Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), the union embraced more strikes and bigger demands than rival union Amalgamated Meat Cutters, which was part of the more conservative American Federation of Labor (AFL). The meat had been packed in tins along with a visible layer of boric acid, which was thought to act as a preservative and was used to mask the stench of the rotten meat. Today many big agriculture states enforce strict ag-gag laws, many of which come with severe penalties and are even considered eco-terrorism under the law. In 1905, Upton Sinclair (18781968), a young socialist journalist and novelist, received a $500 advance to write a novel about abuses in the meat processing industry and spent seven weeks investigating the subject in Chicago. Later that day, John was killed at work when he got caught in the belting of a large meat machine. JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. The novel was an instant international best seller and prompted massive public outrage at the contamination and sanitation issues raised in the work, even though Sinclairs primary intent in writing the story was to promote socialism. This novel told the story of a Lithuanian immigrant who worked in a filthy Chicago meatpacking plant. Meat was a critical component of the food-supply chain, which was under enormous strain as the government struggled to feed its military, civilian population, and starving allies overseas. In the long time between The Jungle and today, meatpacking has changedfirst for the better, due to strong unions, then for the worse. So, the meatpackers union was defeated through strategies of divide and conquer. storytelling. More than 120 years later, the NCBA is still the most prominent organization representing Americas cattle ranchers. as well as image rights, data visualizations, forward planning tools, In 1865, the Union Stock Yards opened in Chicago. Since they first opened nearly a century earlier in 1865, the 475 acres of land known as the Chicago stockyards helped give birth to one of Americas great cities and positioned Chicago as the meat-processing capital of the world. The signing of the Homestead Act sent waves of bold and ambitious pioneers and immigrants flooding out of the eastern cities westward in search of land and a new start. Meatpacking is physical, hands-on work conducted indoors in close quarters, conditions that put meat processing workerswho are mostly immigrants and African-Americansat risk more than virtually any population other than nursing home residents and prisoners. Force was also an option: the police often came to the aid of the industrialists. Decent Essays. Their work also exposed horrible abuses at animal laboratories, fur and leather producing facilities, government labs, and animal-based entertainment operations such as circuses. If your organization is interested in becoming a Stacker In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which set the first standards for reducing pain and suffering during the process of transforming living, feeling animals into food. . U.S.A. However, problems persist today, as meatpackers still encounter poor conditions and low pay. Roosevelt had seen enough, and in 1906, he muscled Congress into passing the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), which he signed the very same year that Sinclair published The Jungle. It mandated strictly regulated sanitary conditions for before, during, and after the slaughter of animals, made it a crime to sell misbranded or adulterated cattle, and charged the USDA with conducting meticulous inspections. Which statement best describes why Progressives worked to reform the meat-packing industry in the early 1900s? Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Box 515 In 1883, Bavarian immigrant and butcher Oscar Mayer opened his first meat market in Chicago. I feel like its a lifeline. Can the conditions that produced the fast-growing economies of the Four TigersHong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwanbe replicated? Along the way, the meat-processing industry served as a driving force in the rise of the railroad industry, the labor movement, trucking, and transportation. These bacteria, along with the others, caused serious illneses, and like the others, in many cases death. In 1905, Upton Sinclair, a socialist journalist, published The Jungle, a book based on his investigation into the meatpacking industry. All of their sausage came out of the same bowl, but when they came to wrap it they would stamp some of it "special," and for this they would charge two cents more a pound. Strapped for cash, Lambeaua worker at a meatpacking plantasked his employer, the Indian Packing Company, for funds to pay for equipment and uniforms. It doesnt take a big stretch of the imagination to realize that these workers would suffer, and did, a much higher rate of cardiovascular, respiratory, and many other illnesses. Even the workers on the floors of the plants benefited. After reading it, President Theodore Roosevelt sponsored the Neill-Reynolds report, which confirmed Sinclairs charges. The committee declared such common meat preservatives as borax, salicylic acid, and formaldehyde to be unwholesome. The press also reported from the committees hearings that some of the nations food supply was adulteratedmade impure by the addition of foreign or inferior substances. The 1939 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act finally gave teeth to those reforms by giving the FDA the authority to regulate, monitor, and enforce safety and quality standards for food and drugs produced, sold, and consumed in the U.S. You may also like: Where America sends its planes and 25 other manufacturing exports. distribution partner, email us at Unlike at the turn of the 20th century when the Big Five controlled virtually the entire industry, today, just four companies dominate Americas meat productionTyson, Cargill, National Beef, and JBS control more than 85% of Americas beef supply. Im going to read it in fullvery important book to understand American history and the struggle of workers and immigrant to assimilate. Sometimes, children worked as long as their parents, usually 10 to 15 hours a day. The need for economic growth and profits took precedence over the well being of laborers. It made sense, as Midwestern cities were located strategically between the vast grasslands of the Westwhere huge herds of cattle were raisedand the hungry cities in the East that generated an unquenchable demand for meat. One of its most effective tactics was undercover investigationsoften conducted by moles who sought jobs in slaughterhouses to serve as spiesthat dramatically increased public awareness of horrifying and systematic cruelty to animals at slaughterhouses, meat-processing facilities, and factory farms. What impact did working in the meat packing plant have on workers? There were 85,000 pigs being processed there annually by 1833; by 1850, Cincinnati earned the nickname Porkopolis., You may also like: The best school district in every state. Why did David Clark lead a successful campaign to keep kids working in the early 20th century? In 1662, he became the New Worlds first meatpacker when he began packing large quantities of salted pork into barrels for export to the West Indies. "Conditions in Meatpacking Plants (1906, by Upton Sinclair) Meatpacking plants have become distinct hotspots for coronavirus outbreaks, putting a spotlight on the generally awful conditions and low wages that these plants have offered workers, even before the virus. Food was produced in plants that were ridden with diseases and vermin, while workers were exposed to unsafe labor conditions and horrible treatment. So, while the meatpacking industry has seen some progress since 1900, significant issues remain. You may also like: The most conservative public colleges in America. Its $1 billion in annual sales was more than the annual budget of the U.S. government. By 1916, new data had led to the discovery that food contained vitamins, and the lack of "vital amines" could cause disease. Significantly, Calamuci writes, the unions interracial organizing meant the largely black workforce in slaughterhouses kill room were union members. Why do you think UPton Sinclair titled his novel The Jungle? It exposed the meatpacking industry by stating their vile practices not only towards their meat but their workers as well. In Chicago 1900 the Chicago meatpacking industry, along with other industries, began to expand and grow. Upton Sinclair was written the most famous muckraker documents. Add into the equation long hours, low wages, and child workers, what emerges is a social nightmare. 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