Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore in 1878. His family lost their wealth and land due to the Civil War. At 10 years old, Sinclair’s family moved to New York City. Sinclair went to his primary schooling there and also college. He attended Columbia University, while he was there he started selling stories to magazines. He graduated from Columbia University in 1897 and married Meta Fuller and had a child three years later. Sinclair joined the Socialist Party in 1903 and started writing for Appeal to Reason, a socialist magazine, a year later. Sinclair had a difficult time getting his novels published.
Magazine publishers discovered that their sales increased when they featured stories of political corruption, corporate misconduct, …show more content…
The Big Four companies broke the strike by bringing in strikebreakers replacements for those on strike. The editor of Appeal to Reason suggested that Sinclair write a novel about the strike. Sinclair prowled the streets of Chicago’s Packingtown, the residential district next to the stockyards and packing plants, for 7 weeks. He posed as a worker and went into the packing plants to gain firsthand knowledge of the life and work in Packingtown. After the 7 weeks he went home to New Jersey and shut himself up in a small cabin and wrote for 9 months. Sinclair’s book was titled The Jungle to reflect his view of the cruelty he saw in the meat-packing industries. The story was based on Jurgis Rudkis, a young man who immigrated to Chicago recently. Jurgis got married and bought a house on credit. He got a job as a “shoveler of guts” at the leading Chicago meat packing industry. The working conditions in the meat-packing industries were horrendous. The company got more work out of the men for the same amount of pay by speeding up the assembly line. Many men lost fingers while using knives on the assembly lines, and men carrying 100 pounds’ worth of meat hurt their backs. At this time, there was no such thing as Worker’s Compensation, so if someone got injured in the workplace it was their own responsibility to take care of it financially. Jurgis got injured while …show more content…
President Roosevelt invited Sinclair to the White House to discuss The Jungle after reading it. Roosevelt’s turned to the Agriculture Department, which reported that meatpacking was carefully inspected and meat was safe to eat. Roosevelt initiated his own investigation, where he selected a special commission to examine Chicago’s slaughterhouses. In the course of the investigation, commissioners observed a slaughtered hog fall into a toilet and workers took the remains out and put it on a hook with the other on the assembly line without cleaning it. The existing meat-inspection laws that only required confirming the healthfulness of animals at the time of slaughter was disapproved by the commissioners. They suggested that inspections take place at all stages of the processing of meat. Roosevelt confirmed that “the method of handling and preparing food products in uncleanly and dangerous to health.” He wrote to Congress, “A law is needed which will enable the inspectors of the Government to inspect and supervise from the hoof to the can.” The Meat Inspection Act accredited inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to barricade any poor quality or mislabeled meat from entering interstate and foreign business. The Pure Food and Drug Act controlled food additives and prohibited misleading labeling of food and drugs. This law inspired to create the Federal
Magazine publishers discovered that their sales increased when they featured stories of political corruption, corporate misconduct, …show more content…
The Big Four companies broke the strike by bringing in strikebreakers replacements for those on strike. The editor of Appeal to Reason suggested that Sinclair write a novel about the strike. Sinclair prowled the streets of Chicago’s Packingtown, the residential district next to the stockyards and packing plants, for 7 weeks. He posed as a worker and went into the packing plants to gain firsthand knowledge of the life and work in Packingtown. After the 7 weeks he went home to New Jersey and shut himself up in a small cabin and wrote for 9 months. Sinclair’s book was titled The Jungle to reflect his view of the cruelty he saw in the meat-packing industries. The story was based on Jurgis Rudkis, a young man who immigrated to Chicago recently. Jurgis got married and bought a house on credit. He got a job as a “shoveler of guts” at the leading Chicago meat packing industry. The working conditions in the meat-packing industries were horrendous. The company got more work out of the men for the same amount of pay by speeding up the assembly line. Many men lost fingers while using knives on the assembly lines, and men carrying 100 pounds’ worth of meat hurt their backs. At this time, there was no such thing as Worker’s Compensation, so if someone got injured in the workplace it was their own responsibility to take care of it financially. Jurgis got injured while …show more content…
President Roosevelt invited Sinclair to the White House to discuss The Jungle after reading it. Roosevelt’s turned to the Agriculture Department, which reported that meatpacking was carefully inspected and meat was safe to eat. Roosevelt initiated his own investigation, where he selected a special commission to examine Chicago’s slaughterhouses. In the course of the investigation, commissioners observed a slaughtered hog fall into a toilet and workers took the remains out and put it on a hook with the other on the assembly line without cleaning it. The existing meat-inspection laws that only required confirming the healthfulness of animals at the time of slaughter was disapproved by the commissioners. They suggested that inspections take place at all stages of the processing of meat. Roosevelt confirmed that “the method of handling and preparing food products in uncleanly and dangerous to health.” He wrote to Congress, “A law is needed which will enable the inspectors of the Government to inspect and supervise from the hoof to the can.” The Meat Inspection Act accredited inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to barricade any poor quality or mislabeled meat from entering interstate and foreign business. The Pure Food and Drug Act controlled food additives and prohibited misleading labeling of food and drugs. This law inspired to create the Federal