Sinclairs Impact

By: Madeleine Wilczewski

Madeleine Wilczewski

Professor McDonald

History 153

28 January 2017

Sinclairs Impact

In a world full of new found wealth and growing business, greed trumps safety and

health. The beginning of the 1900s is bustling with new and growing industries. As the constant

need for money grows, the working conditions and sanitation regulations were often left behind.

The industry that showed a disturbing lack of sanitation and other regulations was the

meatpacking industry. The meatpacking industry had taken over the slaughterhouses in the

1900s. Its quick growing success left little room for sanitation making it one of the most

hazardous corporations, especially because it dealt with food. Chicago became home to the

largest meatpacking industry, which it got the name Packingtown. (Costly) The industry had

even created the first industrial assembly line, It was more accurately a "disassembly line,"

requiring nearly 80 separate jobs from the killing of an animal to processing its meat for sale.

"Killing gangs" held jobs like "knockers," "rippers," "leg breakers," and "gutters." The animal

carcasses moved continuously on hooks until processed into fresh, smoked, salted, pickled, and

canned meats. The organs, bones, fat, and other scraps ended up as lard, soap, and fertilizer. The

workers said that the meat-packing companies "used everything but the squeal. (Costly). The

industry seemed to be very efficient and productive but behind the scenes the working conditions

were horrendous. The workers were mainly immigrants but their were a few skilled workers who
were paid more. Unskilled immigrant men did the backbreaking and often dangerous work,

laboring in dark and unventilated rooms, hot in summer and unheated in winter. Many stood all

day on floors covered with blood, meat scraps, and foul water, wielding sledgehammers and

knives. Women and children over 14 worked at meat trimming, sausage making, and canning.

Most workers earned just pennies per hour and worked 10 hours per day, six days a week. A few

skilled workers, however, made as much as 50 cents an hour as "pacesetters," who sped up the

assembly line to maximize production. The use of pacesetters caused great discontent among the

workers. (Costly).

The workers were not the only people affected by this industry. Many people were exposed to

unregulated, hazardous meats. One person in particular who was tired of the carelessness of the

meatpacking industry was Upton Sinclair. He wrote the book The Jungle, which exposed the

horrors of the meatpacking industry and allowed the public an inside access to what actually

went on in the industry. Sinclair was born in Baltimore in 1878. He moved to New York and

earned his money for college by writing short stories and articles for magazines and newspapers

(Simkin). The editor of the socialist journal, Fred Warren, asked Sinclair to write a book

regarding the immigrants who worked in the meatpacking industry in Chicago. After the book

was published it sold over 150,000 copies, even president Roosevelt read the book. After

Roosevelt read the book he met with Sinclair and ordered an investigation on the meatpacking

industry (Simkin). Roosevelt concluded his investigation saying; the method of handling and

preparing food products is uncleanly and dangerous to health. (Cherny). He also had the official

report but did not release the results. Congress had been debating passing a Pure Food and Drug

Act and the result of Sinclairs book the act was passed. The consumer movement was the first
push to pass a food and drug regulation act in the United States. This movement was supported

by the General Federation of Women's Clubs and the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

(Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)). Following the consumer movement, Sinclairs book really

pushed congress to pass the act. The book had such a large reaction it sold over one million

copies in its first year.

Without the influence of The Jungle we could still live in a world where health hazards were as

bad as they were in the 1900s. Workers could still be careless and unsanitary as they use to be.

The meat we eat could have fallen in a workers toilet or could have the remains of a human

finger in them. Without the hard work of Sinclair and his determination to expose the corruption

of the meatpacking industry, we would not have the laws protecting our food.
 Works Cited

Cherny, Robert W. "The Jungle and the Progressive Era." The Jungle and the Progressive Era |

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.

Costly, Andrew. "Upton Sinclair's The Jungle:Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry." BRIA 24

1 B Upton Sinclairs The Jungle: Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry - Constitutional

Rights Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.

"Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)." Major Acts of Congress. Encyclopedia.com, n.d. Web. 29 Jan.

2017.

Simkin, John. "Spartacus Educational." Spartacus Educational. Spartacus Educational, n.d. Web.

29 Jan. 2017.