Gustavus swift, who came to chicago to ship cattle, developed a way to send freshchilled beef in icecooled railroad cars all the way to the east coast. The pure food and drug act and the federal meat inspection act were both passed later that year. In 1906, upton sinclairs novel the jungle uncovered harrowing conditions inside americas meat packing plants and initiated a period of transformation in the nations meat industry. Chicago,1900 the nightmare of the chicago meatpacking industry was described as follows. Largest of all was the meatpacking industry in chicago. Book by upton sinclair which exposed the abuses of the meat packing industry. The negro in the slaughtering and meat packing industry in. Pacyga, who has written distinguished histories of the city, is one of those scholars. Regulation of the meatpacking industry began in 1906 after president theodore roosevelt read a book about the plight of the working class and the corruption of the meatpacking industry by journalist upton sinclair.
Beasley started central packing company in hattiesburg. The jungle, a harrowing account of a lithuanian immigrants experience laboring in chicagos meatpacking industry, was serialized in the socialist. A protest novel he privately published in 1906, the book was a shocking revelation of intolerable labor practices and unsanitary working conditions in the chicago stockyards. Sinclair wanted to show how capitalism had failed and that socialism was the only way to solve the problems of the american worker.
The jungle by upton sinclair muckraking journalist upton sinclairs 1906 novel portrays the harsh working conditions, extreme poverty and exploitation faced by the mainly immigrant labourers in chicago s meatpacking. The publication of the upton sinclair novel the jungle in the u. By 1900 this dressed beef trade was as important as pork packing, and mechanical refrigeration increased the efficiency of both pork and beef operations. A half mile of pork, at armours great packing house in chicago, around 1894. How chicagos slaughterhouse spectacles paved the way for. After you look at these images of meatpacking facilities from early last century, youll understand why social reformer upton sinclair wrote his great 1906 novel the jungle about workers horrific. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. The city of chicago has an endlessly fascinating history that scholars have explored for several generations. It was 1906, and upton sinclair had just published the jungle, an explosive novel revealing the grim underside of the american meatpacking industry. The title reflects his view of the brutality he saw in the meatpacking business. 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. Note part of an ad for armour, one of the big packers, on a building to the right. The cattle yards that seems to go on forever, and a view of the packing plants in the distance.
The jungle is sinclairs fictionalized account of chicagos packingtown. The story centered on a young man, jurgis rudkis, who had recently immigrated to chicago with a group of relatives and friends from lithuania. The book was a pulitzer prize winner and covered the facts of the meatpacking industry of the time. Vivid and eyeopening novel concerning the exploitation and grinding poverty of workers in the chicago meatpacking factories of the 1920s. This excerpt from upton sinclairs muckraking novel of the chicago meat packing industry describes, in graphic detail, how cattle are slaughtered and. Chicago, il i live in the suburbs and this is the place i go for meat. The decline of chicago meat packing book, 1961 worldcat. By the early 1900s, politically progressive leaders had begun to publish attacks on meat packing establishments for their unsafe working conditions and unjust employment practices. As i described in my book fast food nation, published in 2001, the largest companies in the beef industry had recruited immigrants in mexico, brought them to. Throughout the piece, sinclair criticizes the harsh lives of the workers and the filth and lack of safety in the yards. Why its immigrants who pack your meat the atlantic.
The jungle, novel by upton sinclair, published serially in 1905 and as a singlevolume book in 1906. Moreover, chicago packers were preserving meat in tin cans, manufacturing an inexpensive butter substitute called oleomargarine, and, with the help of chemists, turning previously discarded parts of the animals into glue, fertilizer, glycerin, ammonia, and gelatin. The meat is literally fresh off the butcher block, the prices are unbelievable and the variety of meat is outstanding. Sinclairs book was so moving and troubling that it inspired the establishment of the food and drug administration, a federal agency that is to this day responsible for regulating and supervising the food, tobacco, dietary supplement, and pharmaceutical industries in the u. His primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working. After you look at these images of meatpacking facilities from early last century, youll understand why social reformer upton sinclair wrote his great 1906 novel the jungle about workers horrific experiences in the meat packing industry. T he meatpacking mogul jonathan ogden armour could not abide socialist agitators. Pure food and drug act was passed in 1906, and conditions in american slaughterhouses were improved. Sinclairs book told the tale of an immigrant familys toil in chicago s slaughterhouses, tracing the. The negro in the slaughtering and meat packing industry in chicago book.
The book s impact was immediate and practical the us congress passed the meat inspection act and the pure food and drug act in the same. The following excerpt is from the wpa guide to illinois. Conditions in meatpacking plants 1906, by upton sinclair. The salt opened in 1865, chicago s union stock yard was the greatest. The nightmare of the chicago meatpacking industry was described as follows. Oh, yeah, great, why dont we pass the meat that untold numbers of slavik. Impact of sinclairs the jungle on food safety nprs melissa block speaks with morris dickstein of the city university of new york about upton sinclairs book the. The jungle, written by upton sinclair, was intended to show the plight of immigrant workers in the meatpacking industry of chicago. Photo courtesy of the library of congress in 1906, upton sinclairs novel the jungle uncovered harrowing conditions inside americas meat packing plants. An essay or paper on working conditions in the jungle. Upton sinclairs the jungle constitutional rights foundation.
Upton sinclair described the terrible working conditions he saw facing those working in the meat packing industry at the turn of the century in his novel the jungle, with the immigrant jurgis following the american dream and finding working. Upton sinclair, whose muckraking changed the meat industry. Their primary target was the union stock yards section of chicago, a massive complex of feedlots, slaughterhouses, meat processing plants, and employee housing. Utterly disturbing, centuryold photos of meatpacking. While upton sinclair originally intended to appeal to the publics heart concerning the conditions and the treatment of workers, it was obvious that the book had more of an impact on the meat. The book is centred around jurgis, a jejune lithuanian immigrant and his travails through this dreadful industry. Work exposed working conditions in the chicago meat packing industry. The jungle, a 1906 novel by upton sinclair, is full of graphic descriptions of the poor conditions workers and cattle endured in the chicago meatpacking industry. The setting of sinclairs novel the jungle is the early twentiethcentury chicago meat packing yards in packingtown and their squalid surroundings. Essay about upton sinclair and the chicago meatpacking.
The law reformed the meat packing industry, mandating that the u. How chicago s slaughterhouse spectacles paved the way for big meat. The jungle is a 1906 novel by the american journalist and novelist upton sinclair 18781968. As a result, the government would step in and pass legislation that protected consumers from. This book led to the meat inspection act and the pure food and drug act of 1906, which eventualy led to the food and drug administration.
The meaning of meat in industrial social protest novels. The jungle, americas most influential proletarian novel, emerged from a sevenweek investigation of chicago s slaughterhouses. His primary purpose in describing the meat industry. Men standing on wooden beams between the cattle yards in chicago, c. His latest work to examine the history of chicago is slaughterhouse.
An expose of the american meatpacking industry and the horrors endured by. Researching the book in 1904, upton sinclair interviewed fellow socialists, settlement house officials, health inspectors, and the workers themselves, who smuggled him into meatpacking plants so he could view conditions firsthand. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. In 1938 the merchants company a wholesale grocery distributing company started jobbing meat products for wilson packing company of chicago, illinois. Peoria packing butcher shop near west side chicago, il. He and his family live near the stockyards and meatpacking district where. The jungle exposed the horrors of the meatpacking industry. Sinclairs book told the tale of an immigrant familys toil in chicago s. The jungle was first published in 1905 as a serial in the appeal to reason and then as a book in. Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the united states in chicago and similar industrialized cities. Upton sinclairs the jungle and the meatpacking industry. In the jungle, author upton sinclair took aim at the brutalization and exploitation of workingmen in a chicago meat packing house. Meat packing blues a book examines when chicago was the king of. The words of the late pulitzer prize winning author upton sinclair only begin to tell the story of the beginning of the chicago meatpacking business.
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