While Sinclair’s work failed to turn the public toward socialism, it is an example of the progressive reforms that were accomplished through the "muckraking" exposés of the era.That the introduction into any State or Territory or the District of Columbia from any other State or Territory or the District of Columbia, from any other State or Territory or the District of Columbia, or form any foreign country, or shipment to any foreign country of any article of food or drugs which is adulterated or misbranded, within the meaning of this Act, is hereby prohibited and any person who shall ship or deliver for shipment from any State or Territory or the District of Columbia to any other State or Territory or the District of Columbia, or to a foreign country, or who shall receive in any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, or foreign country, and having so received, shall deliver, in original unbroken packages, for pay or otherwise, or offer to deliver to any other person, any such article so adulterated or misbranded within the meaning of this Act, or any person who shall sell or offer for sale in the District of Columbia or the Territories of the United States any such adulterated or misbranded foods or drugs, or export or offer to export the same to any foreign country, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and for such offense be fined not exceeding two hundred dollars for the first offense, and upon conviction for each subsequent offense not exceeding three hundred dollars or be imprisoned not exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court: Provided, That no article shall be deemed misbranded or adulterated within the provisions of this Act when intended for export to any foreign country and prepared or packed according to the specifications or directions of the foreign purchaser when no substance is used in the preparation or packing thereof in conflict with the laws of the foreign country to which said article is intended to be shipped but if said article shall be in fact sold or offered for sale for domestic use or consumption, then this proviso shall not exempt said article from the operation of any of the other provisions of this Act. But the public outcry stirred up by The Jungle led President Roosevelt to start an investigation of the meatpacking industry, and hastened federal action to regulate the food industry. But it was the graphic depictions of the unsanitary conditions and the dubious origin of the meat, which Sinclair spent months undercover researching, that grabbed attention instead, and sparking an outcry for food industry reform.Ĭongress had already been considering a food purity act for some time, but action had been stalled by objections from conservative congressmen and food-processing companies. ![]() ![]() Sinclair hoped that getting readers to sympathize with the difficult lives of the laboring classes would increase interest in socialism. ![]() The book chronicles a fictional Lithuanian immigrant family’s attempts to earn a living amidst the exploitative labor practices of the Chicago meatpacking industry. The catalyst for these acts was Upton Sinclair’s best-selling book, published just six months prior, The Jungle. On June 30, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act, marking an achievement in federal regulation of the food industry.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |