JSTOR, the JSTOR logo, and ITHAKA are registered trademarks of ITHAKA. A young entrepreneur named Henry Ford was so inspired by the process when he visited a meat plant that he used the concept for the basis of his automobile assembly lines. poverty and child labor were social issues that. But, as union researcher Daniel Calamuci wrote in 2008, it wasnt always like this. In 1881, the refrigerated train car was invented, allowing people to transport animal carcasses and processed meats over greater distances. (402) 494-2061 The bridge between those living, feeling animals and the shrink-wrapped steaks and drive-thru cheeseburgers that Americans gobble up by the ton is the meat-processing industry. . After you look at these images of meat-packing facilities from early last century, you'll understand why social reformer Upton Sinclair wrote his great 1906 novel The Jungle about workers'. 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. These problems persist to a lesser degree today. Immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, and Bohemia settled in large numbers in Chicago to work in this industry, helping create the neighboring town, Packingtown. Choice, and U.S. By the 1870s, meatpacking plants were using technology like steam power, monorail trolleys, and mechanical mixers, choppers, and stuffers in factory settings where stationary workers doing individual jobs broke down and processed animal carcasses that continuously passed by them. In 1897, the American Federation of Labor chartered the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, a combined union of several meatpacker unions in Chicago. This new industry centralized in the Midwestern states of Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, and Indiana. He advertised heavily and offered a good price to ranchers who would deliver their cattle to his railyard in Abileneand he delivered on his promise, entering the phrase the real McCoy into the American lexicon. Hair, Dirt, Dust, OH MY If you cant understand them, make them work harder! 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). Theodore Roosevelt on June 30, 1906, that prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock and derived products as food and ensured that livestock were slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. It was the beginning of a new era in the meat industry and the dawn of the Wild West, as rugged, lawless, prosperous, and violent cowtowns began coalescing around major railroad shipping points where thousands of cattle were herded onto train cars for transport as thousands of dollars were changing hands. Food was produced in plants that were ridden with diseases and vermin, while workers were exposed to unsafe labor conditions and horrible treatment. Ivy Roberts has taught undergraduate-level film studies for over 9 years. 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. Workers had few, if any, or no guidelines regarding the quality control of their products. Along with many adults, children were permanently maimed or killed in these horrible work conditions. Poultry is generally not included. now they had thrown him away!Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906) They recruited immigrants from different countries which opposed each other. By 1916, new data had led to the discovery that food contained vitamins, and the lack of "vital amines" could cause disease. It also mandated strict inspections for all imported meat. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together. The first US bank for women was opened by a fraudster in 1879. In 1865, Union Stock Yards opened in Chicago. storytelling. But how well did it integrate into its new home(s)? 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. A tentative beef-grading system was established and in 1924, those standards were published and codified. By the turn of the last century there were only five or six mammoth meatpacking companies, and they controlled the majority of meatpacking in America. Linen Largest of all was the meat-packing industry in Chicago. Omissions? Pork was the meat of choice in America from colonial times until the early 1800s when beef began growing in popularity. The Big Five were shown to make competition essentially impossible for smaller companies and to systematically defraud consumers and producers alike by fixing prices, restricting the flow of food, and manipulating markets. The 1960s were a decade of reformand also a decade when Americas food-supply chain became vastly more sprawling and complex. One of the most influential books Zi remember reading was the book of Upton Sinclair, The Jungle. Please select which sections you would like to print: Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. It would take at least two months or more to heal; and, that was if they were allowed to work in another department so the infection could heal. You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the provided link on any marketing message. The Big Four lost market share to smaller companies. As early as 1880, American ranchers were exporting their beef to England, which had long been considered the home of the finest beef in the world; now, that title was now squarely in the hands of the American rancher. There also was growing support within the industry for regulation in response to heightened public awareness. Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses. Some infected workers just continued handling and contaminating the meat despite their hands essentially being pickled, and, as long as they could stand it. In addition to being handled by unclean workers in an unsanitary environment, large volumes of meat were not always refrigerated. Conditions in the meatpacking industry were poor. Brucellosis, anthrax, and the trichinosis bacteria are just a few more likely contaminants in the diseased meat. 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. Its as old as the country itselfolder, evenand its history is baked into the history of America. The not so lucky ones died. Meat Inspection Act of 1906, U.S. legislation, signed by Pres. The 1905 story about the Chicago meatpacking industry that inspired Upton Sinclair's . When one of its union locals at a Hormel plant in Minnesota went on strike in 1985 to preserve its workers high wages, the national organization declined to support it. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, for example, guarantees workers the right to form unions and go on strike. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Get your fix of JSTOR Dailys best stories in your inbox each Thursday. The law was substantially amended by the Wholesome Meat Act of 1967. 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. The garbage stench, and the smellfrom the vile waste of the meatpacking plants, that floated down the Chicago river, had to be overbearing. Meatpacking brought in more than 23.5 million dollars to the city's economy that year, just 3.5 million dollars behind the iron industry. The rise of industrialized poultry farming in the 1920s, however, was linked to several major outbreaks of disease, as disease is a natural byproduct of unnatural factory farming conditions. There was no market for beef in the decimated Southern economy, but demand was rampant in the North, where ranchers could get 10 times more for a head of cattle than they could in the Southif only they could get their longhorns to the Yankee markets. The fate of the Western open range, the cattle barons whose fortunes were built on it, and the iconic cowboys who did the hard work of driving cattle for endless miles was sealed in 1867 with the arrival of one of historys most low-tech but consequential inventions: barbed wire. It spread through acres of stockyards, feed lots, slaughterhouses, and meat-processing plants. Today, the Oscar Mayer company does more than $5 billion in annual sales and represents one of the most famous names in American meat. and more. Chickens and hens were the first animals to be raised indoors in enormous quantities for egg production and slaughter. Depending on the time of year, the streets were full of mud and excrement from overflowing cesspools. 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. Box 515 The Chicago meatpacking business was a deadly one. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. One of the greatest challenges during the Progressive Era was regulation of the deregulated health and food industries.This was a complicated problem that we do not have to face today due to the work of investigative journalist during the . You may also like: Most common jobs in America 100 years ago. Children as young as three were often employed and forced to work long hours (sometimes 12-15 hour days) for very little pay. 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. The man would not trouble to lift out a rat. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 applied the same standards to foods and drugs, notably banning the unsafe preservatives used to keep meat looking fresh. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Congress was pressured to pass the act, which Roosevelt then signed into law. By 1900, Chicago was the center of the nationwide meatpacking industry. ." According to historian Eric Schlosser, the meatpacking industry has a well-documented history of discouraging injury reports, falsifying injury data, and putting injured workers back on the job quickly to minimize the reporting of lost workdays. Teaching with Reveal Digitals American Prison Newspapers Collection, Return to the Jungle: The Rise and Fall of Meatpacking Work, Prisoners Like Us: German POW and Black American Solidarity, Fast and Pluribus: Impacts of a Globalizing McDonalds, Economic Grrrowth in the East: Asian Tiger Economies, Hysteria, Indigenous Identities, and Cocaine Bear, About the American Prison Newspapers Collection, Submissions: American Prison Newspapers Collection. What were the Working Conditions of the 1900s US Meatpacking Industry? In the beginning he had been fresh and strong, and he had gotten a job While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Conditions were extremely poor in the meatpacking industry in 1900. That year, cattle ranchers countered by forming the National Live Stock Growers Association, which would later become the National Cattlemens Beef Association (NCBA). Horrible sores would then develop on the workers palms and the back of their hands. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Men prepare bacon at a meat packing plant in Chicago, circa 1955. It was written by Upton Sinclair in 1906. Bovine tuberculosis was usually found in raw milk, but it also showed up in infected animals, especially when the meat was undercooked. 2020 reporting from ProPublica and other organizations revealed a concerted campaign from the highest levels of the industry to downplay the crisis, stymie testing efforts, resist reforms and safety measures, and misreport infection rates. document.getElementById( "ak_js_3" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); JSTOR Daily provides context for current events using scholarship found in JSTOR, a digital library of academic journals, books, and other material. Was substantially amended by the Wholesome meat Act of 1967 the committee declared common... 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