Progressive Era - The Jungle

1. What qualities did St. Clair believe a person must have to succeed in Packingtown?

St. Clair believed that you could not rise or succeed in Packingtown for doing good work. "If you ever met a man who had risen, you had met a knave." No matter how hard working you were, they would just "speed you up" until you were worn out and then they would toss you out into the gutter.

2. According to the passage, what is the plant owner's main goal?

The plant owner's main goal was to sell as much meat as possible and to get as much money as possible for that meat. This meant using meat that wasn't clean of diseases or using whole calves when sorting out the meat. Sometimes this meant using intestines and entrails of the cows, just to get more meat into the consumers of America.

3. What does St. Clair mean when he says, "there is no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar?"

St. Clair meant that if the owners had to get rid of a man because he was not making them enough money or working fast enough for them to make enough money, then he would be fired immediately. The money the owners made valued higher than that of the work done by the men in their factories.

The Governments Regulating of the Meat Industry Today

The government had intervened to try and insure food safety. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service promulgated the pathogen reduction hazard analysis critical control point rule in 1996. Roosevelt signed a law regulating foods and drugs on June 30, 1906, which was the same day he signed the Meat Inspection Act. The Pure food and Drug Act regulated food additives and prohibited misleading labeling of food and drugs. The law led to the formation of the FDA. The laws ended up increasing consumer confidence in the food and drugs they purchased, which benefitted the businesses. 

Sources for information: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/Overviews/ucm056044.htm