Meat Packing Industry

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Fereshteh KIA
Part 1. In what ways did the meat packing industry in Chicago abuse its workers? Give examples of the abuses and at least one direct quote from the book. Do not use the same passages found in the lecture notes for your quote(s).
In the early 1900s, The U.S. had faced a lot of problems. The overcrowded cities as a result of too much immigration was one of the major problems. There were too much competition to find a job for most of those who weren’t wealthy, so most of them have to work even in the worst condition with the least wages. The working condition was terrible. There were too many workers in the market, and business owners who were interested to pay the least wages to get the most profit. Workers had to work hard to keep …show more content…
Women and children have to work in a very bad situation long in a dangerous and unhealthy environment for a long hour. Most of them couldn’t bare the situation and got sick, but still they have to work to keep their job. Persistent fatigue of workers and starvation were to examples of abusing them in the factories. As the writer says in the book,” Oha, who had once gone about singing like a bird. She was sick and miserable, and often she would barely have strength enough to drag herself home.”(JUNGLE, CHAPTER 14). Moreover the workers had to work in an unhealthy and insanitary atmosphere which led to a different kind of diseases. As the book mentioned, “There would be hams found spoiled, some of them with an odor so bad that a man could hardly bear to be in the room with them.” (JUNGLE, CHAPTER 14). In addition, the spoiled meat and rats, which …show more content…
They used some additives to destroy the bad odor of spoiled meat, and sold them even as the first grade meat, as the book says,” Jonas had told them how the meat that was taken out of pickle would often be found sour, and how they would rub it up with soda to take away the smell, and sell it to be eaten on free-lunch counters; also of all the miracles of chemistry which they performed, giving to any sort of meat, fresh or salted, whole or chopped, any color and any flavor and any odor they chose.”(JUNGLE, CHAPTER 14). There were some spoiled sausage that always rejected from Europe, and with adding some chemicals to them, they were ready to send for Americans consumption, As the writer says, “there was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and white--it would be dosed with borax and glycerin, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption.” .”(JUNGLE, CHAPTER 14). Moreover, there were rats everywhere around the meat which were piled on the floor, and workers put out poison bread to kill the rats. The rats died around the pile of meat, so meat, rats and bread went into the hoppers together. Moreover, every few months the waste barrels were cleaned of spoiled meat, trash and
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