Media-wise, muckrakers and other writers exposed corruption in society. Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle had countless effects on America. Roosevelt called for immediate action and organized an investigation into the packinghouses in Chicago and other cities. From this came the production of the Meat Inspection Bill and later the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. This is still an active group today, and anyone from the…
When thinking of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, many immediately picture the grotesque meat that was being packaged and sent out to the families all over the state and country. That is because of the paragraph about the meats, where Sinclair writes of the spoiled meat used as sausage; the many chemicals used to change color, flavor, and odor; and removing the bone from bad smoked hams, where a white-hot iron was placed instead. The bad meats were sold under false pretenses, and most of the time it worked. Boneless hams were odds and ends of pork, California hams were shoulders and knuckle joints, and skinned hams were made from old hogs (142). That passage so angered President Roosevelt that he had the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act passed, which had harsher laws regarding the meats that could be used. “‘I aimed at the public’s heart,’ said Sinclair, ‘and by accident I hit in the stomach’” (McCage). He said that because he was instead hoping to expose the poor working conditions and hopefully promote socialism. The workers in Packingtown were given very low wages; not even eighteen cents an hour (Sinclair 44)! They were treated very poorly and were given no sympathy for sickness or death. For example, Ona was dislike by her forelady after asking for a holiday to get married (112). Although it was not allowed to happen, bosses would blacklist workers, keeping them from ever getting a job (208). The working…
The Uniform Controlled Substances Act was drafted by the United States Department of Justice in 1969. The Uniform Controlled Substances Act brings together a number of laws regulating the manufacture and distribution of any narcotics. All controlled substances are placed in five different schedules, based on medicinal values, harmfulness and potential for abuse or addiction. Narcotics can be refer to as opium and have semi-synthetic substitutes such as; heroin, oxycontin, vicodin, codeine, morphine and fentanyl. Narcotics “opioids” medical uses are prescribed by doctors to treat pain, suppress cough, cure diarrhea and help as a sleep aid. Other manufacture and distribution drugs are stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids…
In 1906, our country enforced the Pure Food and Drug Act. It pushed drug companies to remove medicines that were not scientifically tested. That was only one of the many ways our country help improve food safety.…
Charles P. Neill, an economist, and James B. Reynolds, a lawyer, both never previously exposed to the meat slaughtering houses, were assigned by President Roosevelt in hopes of exonerating the meat packing industry and their practices. Unfortunately, their report confirmed Sinclair’s conclusions that conditions were yet horrible and unsanitary in deed. This influenced President Roosevelt to support regulation for the meat packing industry, leading the United States Department of Agriculture to routinely inspect meat packing houses and their procedures. The end result was the amending of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 requiring mandatory inspections of livestock before and after slaughter and a standard on the sanitary conditions of their housing. The act ensured that good meat and healthy procedures were used by the meat packing industry before human consumption, changing food safety legislation since. The next battle was over who was to pay for such law inspection and their fees with government deciding to cover the cost. This amended law would cost three million dollars to implement compared to the estimated eight hundred thousand thought by legislators, thus allowing the government more control of inspections and regulations within the meat packing industry. Even though…
The factories were extremely unsanitary, there were numerous injuries, and dangerous working conditions. Sinclair depicts the gruesome aspects of factory labor, such as human limbs getting caught in the machines and still being packaged along with the other meat. "The Jungle" changed the way food is distributed now, after the novel was published the FDA (food and drug administration) was established to inspect food quality.…
The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair can be considered one of the most influential novels written at the beginning of the 20th century. Though largely known as the book that resulted in the creation of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, The Jungle illustrated the harsh working conditions and ruthless competition that plagued the meat-packing plants in Chicago. Sinclair’s original intention for writing the book was to point out the flaws of capitalism, the greed that plagued society, and the poor imprisoned wage-slaves that struggled with starvation, disease, and the purpose behind their lives.…
Historians debate as to what the motives were of Dr. Harvey in campaigning for the 1906 laws and what purpose of the Pure Food and Drug Act was. Hunter Dupree stated that Wiley’s motives weren't to act out of pure selflessness, and loyalty to the public. Wiley pushed for reforms in the food and drug regulation via his adulteration of foods to save his Division of Chemistry, which Wiley thought was going to come to an end due to the large government agencies that were hiring their own private chemists (9, 277). Richard Hofstadter thought that the act was an example of the shift from the concern of the producer, to the concern of the consumer. Robert Wiebe saw the act as an example of experiment in bureaucratic reform. Conflict also arose about…
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 were both widely accredited to a book called 'The Jungle' that was written by the Progressive author Upton Sinclair. Upton Sinclair revealed the unhygienic and unsanitary methods used by the food industry and a scandal emerged about the quality and purity of food sold to the U.S. public. The Jungle was published in 1906 and became an international best seller. Upton Sinclair exposed Chicago's meatpacking industry telling lurid tales of diseased meat, of dead rats and the poison that killed them being thrown into the processing vats to make…
“There would be meat that had tumbled on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs.” (Sinclair, The Jungle) The book became wildly popular with people of the middle class and elsewhere, people saw their food as tainted and with excerpts of the book in support, adulterated. Eventually the president even read it, and the people pushed for…
Consumer protection was one of the goals many progressive reformers set to improve society. Many muckrakers like Upton Sinclair and his book, The Jungle, had exposed businesses for having unsanitary working conditions and reviled many problems. Factories were unsanitary; The Jungle told consumers details about the death and disease that reside in the meat packing industries (Doc 1). Meat industries were controlled by robber barons that ran the companies with unethical business practices; they would try to raise profits at the consumers’ expense. They would pay corrupt meat inspectors, have unsanitary slaughter houses and feed consumers disease filled cows (Doc 2). The food and drug industry was also not regulated before Roosevelt came into office; foods and medicines did not have ingredient labels and harmful drugs were sold over the counter. Due to the exposure of the horrors inside the food, drug and meat industries reformers started to take action. Theodore Roosevelt sat down with Upton Sinclair and promised him to use his power to try and eliminate the problems that Upton describes in his book. On June 30th Roosevelt kept his promise by signing into law, The Meat Inspection Act. It forced industries to put accurate labels on product, banned unhealthy dyes,…
In Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, he mentions how repulsive the conditions are that the food Americans eat is prepared, therefore, the Food and Drug Safety Act and the Meat-Inspection Act were created. These acts are both still in place today, subsequently, showing the lasting impact Sinclair’s novel had. Sinclair was definitely revolutionary and made big changes that still apply today.…
During this same time period, the United States started to take notice in the favor of prohibition of all “moral evils,” particularly drugs and alcohol. New York Representative Francis B. Harrison was particularly moved by both the Shanghai Commission and the reformists in the Progressive movement who wanted to eradicate drugs, he proposed a two measure system to prohibit the introduction and nonmedical use of drugs as well as regulate the production of drugs in the United States. This became known as the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914.…
Legislation was passed which specified that meat had to be processed safely with proper sanitation, giving the advantage to large packing houses and undercutting small local operations. Foodstuffs and drugs could no longer be mislabeled, nor could consumers be deliberately misled. Roosevelt also fought strongly for land conservation, and safeguarded millions of hectares of wilderness from commercial…
|1906 |The Food and Drug Act was signed by President Roosevelt, and prohibits misbranded and |…