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Show H THE LABORER IN PACKINGTOWN. I H In tho hubbub aver tho unsanitary H methods in tho preparation of packing H houso products, says tho Literary Dl- H gest, Upton Sinclair complains, public H attention has entirely neglected tho H "wago-slavc," ns ho calls him, tho lm- H migrant, tho laborer whoso lot in H Packingtown is by all account a hard H one. Ills main purpose, Mr. Sinclair H says in an nrtlclo in tho Now York H Evening World, was not to cxposo "the H condemned-meat industry," but rather H to "mako the avcrngo Amorlcan sym- H pathi'.o with tho story of tho forolgn- H born wagcslavc In Facklngtown," "1 H do not want to bo ungracious," ho adds, H "but I fear that 'Tho Jungle' would H hnvo been much longor in doing its H work had its appeal been simply to tho H hearts nnd consciences of its readers H and not at all to their stomachs." Ho H goes on: H "And yet wo aro tied up in tho samo H country with theso strangers, and their H fnto is our fato; tho way our country H goes in tho futuro depends upon what H .opportunities nnd what llfo wo glvo H them. They aro coining hero at tho H rate of a million n year, and if wo H think that wo can allow them to bo H beaten nnd degraded without limit, and H not pay n fearful penally for it our- H solves, wo mako a great mistake. H "Tho wholo country Is nt this mo- V ment struggling against tho power of H tho trusts. You yourself aro suffering H from their encroachments and aro H lighting to frco yourself. And it is H the power of tho political machine H which holds you down; nnd tho power H of tho mnchlno Is founded upon the H foreign voto, which is bought. H "About twelvo years ago old P. D. H Armour, at tho closo of n great strike, H had declared with an oath that ho H would ilx tho population of Packing- H town so that' It would never call a H striko upon him again; and so ho had H set his agents nt work to bring out H hordes of emigrants from eastern En- H rope Lithuanians, Poles, Bohemians, H nnd Slovaks. I met dozens of men who H hnd como as a direct result of his on- H deavor. Strangers had como to thoir H village men who spoke their own Ian H guago nnd wero familiar with their H Ideas, and who told wonderful talcs H about frco America and about tho groat H packing factories nnd tho tremendous H wages that were paid there. Ono could H get over for almost nothing, for ar- H rnngements had been m a do with the H steamship company, and so they had H sold out all that they owned and como, K sometimes wholo families of thejm, V sometimes half a dozen families from a H single village. They had poured into H Packingtown, ono swarm after another H and ns a result old P. D. Armour had M had all tho labor ho could uso and hnd B beaten down, wages to tho starvation H point and made himself ono of the H richest men in Amorlcn. nnd his son H ono of tho half dozen masters of tho H destiny of tho American people." H Theso Ignorant strangers, ho adds, H "had boon plundered from tho moment m they loft their nntlvo village." On H. every hand they nro cheated and prey- H cd upon by grafters, real cstato sharks. H and what not. Mr. Sinclair condenses H n section of "Tho Jungle," showing H how houses are sold to Immigrants on H tho Instalment plan and then taken H from them, after hundreds of. dollars H have been paid in, for Inability to pay H an instalment at n certain time. Ho H continues: H "Tho typical tenement houso In H Packingtown Is 'a two-story frnme M building having four small rooms on a H lloor. A floor will bo rented by a fain- H ily, which will then tnko in boarders M to help mako expenses. Slnglo men M of whom thcro aro large numbers, oc- 1 caslonnlly ront a Hat for themselves. H Most of tho Poles nnd Slavs with H whom I talked said that thoy were B saving up money to got away from H America becauso tho work was too H hard for them to stand. Thoy llvo sometimes as many as thirteen In n room, renting a room and employing a woman to cook for them cooperatively. coopera-tively. Thoy have mattresses spread on tho floor, covered with blankets which never gets a chanco to got cold. Tho illth nnd vermin in theso rooms are, of course, beyond words; and, needless to say, in tho winter tlmo no fresh air over gets Into tho building. Living In homes such as this, and working ten or twelvo hours a day under un-der terrifying pressure and liable to work fourteen In rush season tho niou hayo very litllo loft, and know no way to spend their money except in drink. "When I had finished 'Tho Jungle" I wont through It nnd cut out everything thnt sounded like preaching. Hero is ono of tho paragraphs which I cut out tho best statement I can mako upon this question: " 'Once upon a tlmo a great-hearted woman set forth tho suffering of tho black chattel-slave and roused a continent conti-nent to nrms. Sho had many things In her favor which can not bo counted on by him who would paint tho life of tho modern slave tho slavo of the factory, tho sweatshop, and tho mine. Tho lash which drives tho latter can not either bo seen or heard: most people peo-ple do not bellovo that It exists it Is tho cant of tho philanthropist nnd the political convention that It does not exist. This slavo is never hunted by bloodhouds; ho Is not beaten to pieces by picturesque villains nor does ho die in ecstacles of religious faith. His religion re-ligion is but nnother snnro of tho oppressors, op-pressors, and tho bitterest of his misfortunes; mis-fortunes; tho hounds that hunt him aro dlscaso and accident, and tho villain vil-lain who murders him Is merely tho prevailing rate of wages. And who can thrill the reader with tho talo of a man hunt, In which tho hunted Is a lousy and ignorant foreigner, and tho hunters hun-ters nro the germs of consumption, diphtheria, nnd typhoid? Who can make a romance out of tho story of a man whoso ono life adventure Is the scratching of a finger by an infected butcher knife, with a pino box and a pauper's grave as tho denouemont7 And yet it may bo Just as painful to die of blood-poisoning as to bo beaten to death; to bo tracked by bloodhounds nnd torn to pieces Is most certnlnly a merciful fato compared to that which falls to thousands ovory year in Packingtown Pack-ingtown to bo hunted for life by bitter bit-ter poverty, to bo ill clothed and bndly housed, to bo weakoned by starvation, cold and exposure, to bo laid low by sickness or accident and then to lie and watch while tho gaunt wolf of hunger creeps in upon you nnd gnaws out tho heart of you, and tears up the bodies nnd souls of your wlfo nnd babies.' ba-bies.' " n |