Meatpacking in the Mid-West

[Jim heartfield]

In message <37766A2D.2AB0BCFE at lor.net>, Tom Lehman <TLEHMAN at lor.net>
writes
>http://www.thenation.com/1997/issue/970203/0203coop.htm
>
>Read the above---you may decide to become a vegetarian.
>
>Tom Lehman
>
In 1906 Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle drew attention to the dirty and
repressive conditions in the meat packing industry, leading to a meat
inspection law that broke the Beef Trust - or at least that's how the
official version runs. Reflecting on the storm over the Jungle, Sinclair
wrote that he was primarily moved by the condition of the workers, not
the meat: 'I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in
the stomach. I am supposed to have helped clean up the yards and improve
the country's meat supply - though this is mostly delusion. But nobody
even pretends that I improved the condition of the stockyard workers.'
(Kolko, Triumph of Conservatism, p103&7). Economic Historian Gabriel
Kolko explained 'The reality of the matter, of course, is that the big
packers were warm friends of regulation, especially when it primarily
affected their innumerable small competitors.' (p107)
-- 
Jim heartfield