Rights and responsibilities in the meatpacking industry In the early twentieth century, at the height of the progressive movement, “Muckrakers” had uncovered many scandals and wrong doings in America, but none as big the scandals of Americas meatpacking industry. Rights and responsibilities were blatantly ignored by the industry in an attempt to turn out as much profit as possible. The meat packers did not care if poor working conditions led to sickness and death. They also did not care if the spoiled meat they sold was killing people. The following paper will discuss the many ways that rights and responsibilities were not being fulfilled by the meat packing industry. At the turn of the twentieth century “Muckraking” had become a very popular practice. This was where “muckrakers” would bring major problems to the publics attention. One of the most powerful pieces done by a muckraker was the book “The Jungle”, by Upton Sinclair. The book was written to show the horrible working and living conditions in the packing towns of Chicago, but what caused a major controversy was the filth that was going into Americas meat. As Sinclair later said in an interview about the book “I aimed at the publics heart and by accident hit them in the stomach.”# The meat packing industry took no responsibility for producing safe and sanitary meat. One reason for this problem was that there was no real inspection of the meat. A quote from “The Jungle” tells of a government inspector checking the hogs for Tuberculosis, “This government inspector did not have a manner of a man who was worked to death; he was apparently not haunted by a fear that the hog might get by before he had finished his testing. If you were a sociable person, he was quite willing to enter into conversation with you and to explain the deadly nature of the ptomaines which are found in tubercular pork; and while he was talking with you you could hardly be so ungrateful to notice that a dozen carcasses were passing him untouched.”# This obviously led to tubercular meat being processed in the packing house. Another problem was the incredible lack of sanitation and the use of spoiled meat, another quote from “The Jungle” tells of how dirty it was in these plants “There would be meat stored in gre... ... middle of paper ... ... government inspection of meat products. The Pure Food and Drug act also passed after the Meat inspection Act of 1906. The packers denied the charges and opposed the bills to no avail. These bills protected the publics right to safe sanitary meat. In conclusion it is obvious to see that rights and responsibilities were not carried out by the meatpacking industry. They were greed driven business men who “poisoned for profit” as president Roosevelt said. The meatpackers had a right to make their product but did not take the responsibility to do it in a manner that was safe to the consumer. Thanks to people like Upton Sinclair and Theodore Roosevelt, the meat industry today takes the responsibility to make a safe quality product of the public. Bibliography 1. Corey, Lewis, Meat and Men: A study of Monopoly, Unionism and Food Policy (New York: The Viking Press, 1985). 2. Sinclair, Upton, The Jungle, (New York: Bantam Books,1906). 3. Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, eds., America Past and Present Volume II: since 1865 sixth edition (New York: Longman 2002).
After the clean-up, U. S. meat is imported by many countries, opening fresh markets for the packers. Upton Sinclair is supposed to be. to have said that he aimed at the public's heart, and by. accident. He hit it in the stomach.
Meat Inspection Act of 1906 was the first of the legislation of the federal government in that time. The act made meat consumption healthier, and it saved numerous lives. It even made working conditions more tolerable in the plants. Kolko wrote about reality, what really happened in that time and the readers could understand comprehensively about American history, especially Progressive Era.
Through this story telling Upton Sinclair had hoped the book would ignite a powerful socialist movement on behalf of America's workers. The public's attention was directed instead to his fewer than a dozen pages of supposed descriptions of unsanitary conditions in the meat packing plants. The Jungle hit upon more than his hatred of the meat packing industry.
Upton Sinclair’s novel adequately portrays how repulsive and disheartening the working conditions in the 1900’s really were. Through the eyes of Jurgis Rudkus, a strong young Lithuanian man, and his family, Sinclair is able to display the grotesque and stomach churning nature of the meatpacking industry in the early 20...
...xtures of rotten meat, saw dust, dead rats and possibly even human body parts and urine. Shortly after reading the excerpts, President Theodore Roosevelt assigned a special commission to investigate Chicago’s slaughterhouses. This eventually resulted in new federal food laws that would maintain the sanitation of canned meat. Yet this reaction was all to Sinclair’s dismay. The public forced action towards the sanitation of the industry but ignored the conditions of the meat industry workers, which is what Sinclair had originally written the book for. Nonetheless, his work did promote the national well being of the nation. Because of the publication of The Jungle, processed and fast food industries are now regularly monitored and inspected for sanitation. Moreover, his book helped develop a small bridge between the two different worlds of Americans and immigrants.
Divine, Robert A. America past and Present. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Longman, 2013. 245. Print.
"Ironically and to Sinclair 's keen disappointment, as he wrote, 'I aimed at the public 's heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach. ' The Socialist vote in America did not increase, nor did the social revolution appear to be any closer." [...] "...both the Pure-Food and Drug Act and Beef Inspection Act were passed in modified form and became laws of the land - less than six months from the appearance in book form of The Jungle." (Sinclair 348-349) The description of diseased animals and rodents that were packed into food that other richer classes consumed were a result of capitalist decisions. Inevitably, consumers only concerned themselves with what they were eating rather than the original reason as to why tainted meat was permitted to be sold in the first place.
“In 1906, Upton Sinclair's novel "The Jungle" uncovered harrowing conditions inside America's meat packing plants and initiated a period of transformation in the nation's meat industry. The Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act were both passed later that year, and labor organizations slowly began to improve the conditions under which the country's meat packers toiled. But some critics say America's meat business has been in decline for decades and that the poor conditions found in slaughterhouses and packing facilities today are often little better than those described by Sinclair a century ago.” (PBS, 2006) From the 1930’s to the 1980’s trade unions such as the United Packinghouse Workers of America organized workers and improved working conditions and pay. Meat packing employees earned an average of almost $20 and hour in the 60’s and 70’s. In the 80’s and 90’s new competition came on line and tried to undercut other union based companies. Iowa Beef Processors (IBP) sought to work on slim profit margins, increase worker speed and productivity and cut l...
One of those instances, which, unfortunately, was very common during this time, was the use of sickly and supposed “diseased” meat so the most profits could continue to be made. The cattle that were meant to be thrown out, were instead continued along the butchering line, being sliced into every possible portion of meat that could be sold. This occurred again with making sausages; everything was included in the sausage, from old sausage that had been rejected, meat that had been dumped on the sawdust-covered floors that workers spit upon, meat that had water from the roofs leaking on it, meat that rats would run on, then the rats were poisoned and used as well (Sinclair, 1906, ch 9). All of this damaged, disgusting meat was injected with chemicals and colorings to make it look like worthy meat. The business owners did everything possible to earn as much money as they could, and to pay their workers as little as they could. Thankfully, the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were passed in 1906. The Pure Food and Drug Act was put in place to prevent the production and sale of poisonous, untreated, chemically adulterated food and other products, while the Meat Inspection Act made it mandatory for the livestock to be examined before entering the slaughterhouses, and furthermore the carcasses after slicing (Carpenter, 2004). Since the passage of these acts,
In the modern world, customers and consumers intake a variety of foods; but primarily, foods from the fast food production industry. Under the images of farmers, ranchers, and animals on certain food products, there’re actually assembly lines in factories supervising the distribution of the food we eat today. The film Food Inc. directed by Robert Kenner takes its audience to the examination and inspection of the industrial production of meat in the United States, and revealed its hidden truth, emphasizing on the harm it has on the environment, animals, and the human population, which is crucially important and vital to the development of our nation. Back then in the 20th century, Upton Sinclair wrote about the errors and flaws in the meat packing
Those in charge of the acts created by the story have had their funding slashed dramatically over the past century, to the point that their work is almost obsolete compared to that of the USDA. The 1960’s and 70’s also saw a radical change in the American belief in business. Private business became America’s choice, and emphasis on big business saw a decline (Andrews). With this decline, there was no longer strict enforcement or monitoring of large-scale business activity. For these reasons, laws involving the meat industry were no longer strictly enforced until the creation of the USDA (“Food Safety Regulation”). Despite even the creation of a multi-dimensional federal service that covers all food of the United States; budgets have still been cut concerning food safety. Outbreaks involving diseased food, even if it is not necessarily meat, are still common with all of the technology utilized today. Though The Jungle may have a had a large impact on business right after its publication, that positive impact has faded away over time, and the only reason for change within the meat industry is due to innovations in health and science
The beef industry in, The Jungle exposes and represents the harsh realities of the processing of meat. In Upton Sinclair’s book it states, “That day they had killed four thousand cattle, and these cattle had come in freight trains from far states, and some had got hurt” (66). This exemplifies the importance and significance of a cattle’s life. As workers gathered these animals, it seems as if these creatures aren’t animate nor significant because they arrive at the slaughterhouses injured without caring and nurturing aid. The merciless treatment endless numbers of cows undergo remains unimportant as long as companies and workers earn money, when meat is later sold in stores. “Cattle were driven by men with goads which gave them electric shocks. Once crowded in here, the creatures were imprisoned, each in a separate pen… leaving no room to turn round” (Sinclair 40). This demonstrates how the livestock is forced and placed in a small setting with no option but to stay still. Being electrocuted is insensitive and nauseating because it expresses the lack of compassion the industry has towards these innocent animals. The way cattle are handled by men elucidates the suffering they have to endure. In addition to the beef industry, the lives of chickens today in the modern day chicken industry are harsh and dreadful
Choosing to do the right thing is difficult because there exists no clear description of what the right choice is. The difference between right and wrong is not black and white; rather, it relies on one’s conscience as well as the outcome of a situation. Dishonesty is often resorted to because of greed or pressure, among a multitude of factors. The meatpacking industry is a prominent example of a complete neglect and destruction of morality. Meatpackers paid little attention to the quality of what they were selling, which would eventually be consumed by countless people. The factory owners were only concerned with making a profit, and they were able to benefit by producing cheap quality products with cheap labor (Sinclair). The meatpacking industry was undeniably completely lacking in morals and properness. If factory owners had chosen to work honestly and with dignity, they would create sanitary conditions. Moreover, if they had chosen to act based on the notion of propriety, they would have yielded to corruption and informed the public about what went into the food that they ate. The difference between acting morally versus properly in the situation of the meatpacking industry is that acting morally includes taking into account the health of consumers and acting properly includes maintaining a professional demeanor towards employees. However, the
Production and Operations Management is composed of many aspects, both positive and negative that comes along with it. Throughout this course of learning about production and operations management, there are also ethical dilemmas that plays a major role as well. Over the years, an issue that seems to be reoccurring is how to find lower costs and efficient animal meat production. The main issues that seem to come to mind is deciding what is the best option, focusing on the care of the animals or just worrying about lower costs. This paper will be composed of the ethical dilemmas of animal production, Christian worldview on the ethical dilemma and potential solutions for the ethical dilemma.
Sinclair was trying to do with his novel was that he wanted to demonstrate to the American people the harsh working conditions and exploitationation that immigrants face once coming to the United States. However, Americans didn’t receive this message instead focused on the descriptions of the meatpacking plants and how they would handle their meat in unzanitaty places with rats and employees spitting into steaks, going to the public of the American people. Even though the novel didn’t get across the message that it wanted, it did lead to the “Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat inspection act,” which ensured that “meat would reach its consumers fresh and disease