In 1902, Caroline Bartlett Crane, a
well known civic reformer, promoted meat inspection and sanitary
slaughter houses in Kalamazoo. Mrs. Crane and several other ladies
inspected seven abattoirs in Kalamazoo and were absolutely appalled
by what they found. Mrs. Crane came away from these visits
determined to see Kalamazoo with a central slaughter house and a meat
inspector. Though the conditions she found were “indescribable,”
then as now, trying to push reforms through can be. . . um,
challenging. Even fourteen years after Mrs. Crane reluctantly
dirtied her soles in her slaughter house inspections, a central
abattoir was still merely a dream, though some important reforms were
made during that time.
A meat packing house in Chicago, from the collections of the Library of Congress
During her inspections Mrs. Crane was
disturbed by the conditions she witnessed. The abattoirs “were all
in an indescribably filthy condition. . . Two are simply
indescribable. . . I expected to see blood, but I expected to see
the blood and the refuse disposed of in a clean manner. Instead
there was an awful mass of filth and offal tramped down into the
floor.” [1] The facilities were “utterly and absolutely filthy.
They . . . are not ventilated, have no drainage, are foul smelling,
dirty, covered with cobwebs and blood, filth and mould of years, and
in general are revolting.” [2] “The ground under and around is
soaked with rotted blood and filth of years. Nothing but a hoe and
plane could effectually remove the caked blood, grime, grease and
mould and other quite unmentionable filth from the walls and floors,
and nothing but a thorough conflagration could ever remedy these
plague spots” that send forth most of the meat eaten by the
townspeople. [3] “At all or nearly all of the abattoirs, hogs are
fed on the offal and afterwards slaughtered and sold.” [1] Mr.
Rufus Averill, who runs one of the slaughterhouses visited by Mrs.
Crane, didn't deny that hogs were fed on offal, but said “experience
has shown that they thrive and that they are just as good meat as
hogs fed in any other way; besides they perform a service that could
be performed in no other way.” [4] Estimating that not even ten
percent of the meat sold in the city was inspected and after
witnessing conditions in uninspected slaughter houses, it is no
surprise that Mrs. Crane declared “after my experience in visiting
the local abattoirs, I utterly refuse to eat meat that has not been
inspected.” [1]
The law at the time, prohibited the
sale of “putrified, poisonous or diseased meat” but provided no
system for detecting it. In fact, only six officers had the job of
inspecting dairies and all manufactured food products for the entire
state. [1] Clearly, the task of ensuring that diseased cattle were
not allowed to enter the slaughter house could not be carried out by
six men for all of Michigan even if that were their only chore. Mrs.
Crane recommended that a central abattoir be built to service the
Kalamazoo area and that it be overseen by an inspector under
municipal control. [1] A single slaughter house would make it
possible for an inspector to assess all cattle brought there for
processing and allow him to make sure that sanitary conditions were
maintained in the facility.
Before examining the slaughter houses
in Kalamazoo, Mrs. Crane had toured at least one meat packing house
in Chicago. There both the incoming cows and the resulting carcasses
and internal organs were inspected for any sign of illness. [2] The
slaughterhouses themselves were kept “scrupulously clean” with
the “floors and surroundings scrubbed daily with boiling water.”
[2] One can only wonder which facilities Mrs. Crane toured because
this was only a few years before Upton Sinclair published The
Jungle, his expose of the atrocious conditions he discovered when
he took a job in a Chicago meat packing plant.
It may be that Mrs. Crane visited a
meat-packing plant that exported meat and therefore had to meet
higher standards. She was angered that the laws were designed to
protect trade and not the health of American families. While
Michigan did have The Pure Food Laws of 1893 on the books, remember
that there were only six inspectors for the entire state, one to see
to dairy compliance and five for everything else. Mrs. Crane
continued “we can live without jellies and candies [which were
subject to inspection], but few of us feel that we can live
altogether without meat. . . The butcher trade is not even protected
by a license. Any kind of man may kill any kind of a beast in any
kind of a place, and sell it to any dealer who may or may not be
aware if that animal came to the slaughter house diseased, dying or
dead.” [3]
Whenever new regulations are proposed
for practically any industry, one can expect objections, no matter
the benefits that would result. This case was no different.
Butchers, as a whole, claimed they would be put out of business.
Others suggested that regulations were unnecessary as they heard no
reports of people dying from consuming diseased meat. Then there was
the usual argument that a new system of inspectors would cost money.
While addressing the State Conference of health officials at the
University of Michigan in 1904, Mrs. Crane proceeded to explain why
those objections were not based on evidence. In her closing
statements she said “Is there anything a city council should be
more ready to pay for, than for wholesome food supply for the city?”
[5]
Nearly three years after her
inspections, Mrs. Crane cited how a few small improvements toward
better meat inspection and better abattoirs had been accomplished.
Asked about the situation in Kalamazoo, she said that “she had no
doubt that it would be accomplished here too in time. 'And,' she
added, with a smile, 'you know I said I would never give it up even
if it took twenty years.'” [6]
Finally, in 1907, Mrs. Crane could
celebrate a significant victory. “Kalamazoo is to have meat
inspection,” cried the Telegraph. [7] After years of inaction the
city council finally passed a resolution to appoint a meat inspector.
It probably didn't hurt that the Kalamazoo health officer presented
a basket of tubercular cow lungs to the council to underline his
stance on the issue. [7] Shortly after this announcement was made,
it was reported that Mrs. Crane along with the city health officer, a
city attorney and the “newly appointed,” but yet unnamed meat
inspector would draft a meat inspection ordinance. [8]
In 1909, the Kalamazoo board of health
was still discussing a central slaughter house and after a joint
meeting with the meat dealers association the Kalamazoo Evening Press
reported that an ordinance including a central abattoir, local meat
handlers and licenses for certain types of butchers was “coming
soon.” [9]
“Soon” would turn out to be the end
of 1915, at least for a license requirement for butchers. The
Kalamazoo Telegraph-Press proclaimed that the new meat ordinance was
“most rigid in requirements.” [10] In addition to requiring
licenses for butchers, with yearly renewals contingent on a
satisfactory inspection of their place of business, strict
regulations for slaughter houses were also to be implemented. The
new rules stated that: 1) All slaughter houses must have an ample
supply of water, uncontaminated by any run-off from the premises, for
the purpose of cleaning the building. 2) Slaughter houses must have
cement floors with proper drainage and sewer connections. 3) Floors
must be washed daily and other surfaces, including walls must be
scrubbed at least monthly. 4) Offal and refuse must be removed the
day of slaughter and properly disposed of. 5) Animals must be
treated humanely. [10] This was a tremendous leap forward and
assuming the ordinance was complied with, would do much to assure
that locally butchered meat was fit for consumption.
Mrs. Crane succeeded in making known
the disgusting conditions in local slaughter houses and as a result
the questionable safety of the meat processed therein as early as
1902. Five years after her crusade began she won a victory with the
appointment of a meat inspector for the city. In 1915, licenses
would be required for the first time and strict standards of
cleanliness, at least in comparison to what came before, were put in
place for slaughter houses. A central abattoir would remain an
elusive goal at least as late as 1916 when it was still just another
recommendation in the annual report to the city council. [11, 12, 13]
In searching the newspapers online at the
Kalamazoo Public Library
through 1923 I failed to find any mention of a central abattoir
becoming a reality. Be that as it may, Mrs. Caroline Crane did
Kalamazooans a tremendous service by bringing the issue of filthy
slaughter houses and a lack of meat inspection to light. I have no
doubt that her crusade played a critical role in successfully
bringing meat inspection and regulations governing butchers and
slaughter houses to Kalamazoo.
“Foul Places Are Abattoirs, Says
Mrs. Crane,”
Kalamazoo [Kalamazoo, Michigan] Evening Telegraph,
25 March 1902, page 1, column 1-2, digital images, Kalamazoo Public
Library (
http://www.kpl.gov:
accessed 3 March 2014), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“The Meat We Eat,”
Kalamazoo
[Kalamazoo, Michigan] Evening Telegraph, 28 March 1902, page 4,
column 3, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library
(
http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 27
June 2012), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“Meat Inspection, The Paramount
Issue Among the Women of Kalamazoo,”
Kalamazoo [Kalamazoo,
Michigan] Evening Telegraph, 31 March 1902, page 7, column 1,
digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library (
http://www.kpl.gov:
accessed 27 June 2012), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“Visit To Abattoir,”
Kalamazoo
[Kalamazoo, Michigan] Evening Telegraph, 27 March 1902, page 2,
column 4, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library
(
http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 27
June 2012), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“Answer to Objections Against
Inspection of Meat,”
Kalamazoo [Kalamazoo, Michigan] Evening
Telegraph, 12 January 1904, page 3, column 1, digital images,
Kalamazoo Public Library (
http://www.kpl.gov:
accessed 12 August 2014), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“Abattoir Inspection Movement
Gaining Momentum,”
Kalamazoo [Kalamazoo, Michigan] Evening
Telegraph, 16 January 1905, page 2, column 2, digital images,
Kalamazoo Public Library (
http://www.kpl.gov:
accessed 12 August 2014), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“Will Inspect City's Meats,”
Kalamazoo [Kalamazoo, Michigan] Evening Telegraph, 11 June
1907, page 2, column 4, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library
(
http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 12
August 2014), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“
Changes
Made In Committees,” Kalamazoo [Kalamazoo, Michigan]
Evening Telegraph, 28 June 1907, page 2, column 3, digital
images, Kalamazoo Public Library (
http://www.kpl.gov:
accessed 12 August 2014), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“Willing On Both Sides,”
Kalamazoo [Kalamazoo, Michigan] Evening Press, 13 May 1909,
page 1, column 1, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library
(
http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 12
August 2014), Miscellaneous Kalamazoo Publications Collection.
“New Meat Ordinance Most Rigid
in Requirements; Assures City of Clean Meat”
Kalamazoo
[Kalamazoo, Michigan] Telegraph-Press, 10 November 1915, page
11, column 1-2, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library
(
http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 16
August 2014), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“Health Officials Want
Improvements,”
Kalamazoo [Kalamazoo, Michigan] Telegraph-Press,
11 April 1914, page 10, column 4, digital images, Kalamazoo Public
Library (
http://www.kpl.gov:
accessed 12 August 2014), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“What Health Department
Recommends”
Kalamazoo [Kalamazoo, Michigan] Telegraph-Press,
10 April 1915, page 1, column 1, digital images, Kalamazoo Public
Library (
http://www.kpl.gov:
accessed 16 August 2014), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
“Report Shows Health and
Sanitary Conditions in City to be Excellent,”
Kalamazoo
[Kalamazoo, Michigan] Telegraph-Press, 7 April 1916, page 6,
column 2, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library
(
http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 16
August 2014), Kalamazoo Telegraph Collection.
