Chicago and the Meat Packing Industry

Paper Summary:

The following research explores the history and impact of the meat packing industry on Chicago. It supports the thesis that the meat packing industry was not the sole industry in Chicago, but that it was responsible for supporting many other industries that would not have survived without it. It gives several instances where the Chicago meat packing industry had an effect, not only the local area, but on the nation as well.

From the Paper:

"We get another glimpse of the meat packing industry from author Upton Sinclair in his 1906 book, The Jungle. Sinclair's book brought the plight of the meat-packing worker to the eyes of the world and this sparked a controversy. He called the conditions of the worker as closely resembling wage-slavery. It highlights the challenge of the immigrant worker's struggle for simple survival against a modern capitalist economy. It shed a socialist perspective on the subject, but it was his portrayal of the unsanitary conditions in the plants that hit home. His book caused such an uproar the government decided to launch an investigation and found Sinclair's descriptions to be accurate. This eventually led to the Meat Inspection Bill and the Pure Food Bill, passed on June 6, 1906, the same year Sinclair's book hit the market (Zwick, 2003). President Theodore Roosevelt was provided an advance copy and it sickened him. He immediately called upon Congress to set up the Food and Drug Administration, setting up the first federal standards for meat inspection (Blackwell, 1998)."

More papers on Chicago and the Meat Packing Industry:

• Book Review # 99685 : "The Jungle"
• Term Paper # 144882 : "Invention of the Assembly Line"
• Analytical Essay # 24249 : "Upton Sinclair"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: