Upton Sinclair published The Jungle in 1905 to expose labor abuses in the meat packing industry. But it was food, not labor, that most concerned the public. Sinclair’s horrific descriptions of the industry led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, not to labor legislation.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/42b.asp
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair = this is a book during a progressive era that exposed bad working conditions at a meat packing factory. In my opinion, I think I would not ever eat meat in those conditions. Upton Sinclair did an enormous work by discovering the factory and how they were packing meat. He did not care if he put his life in risk because of this. He is an example of how the progressive activists brought about changes for the good of many Americans by convincing the government to pass laws that protect citizens’ safety.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Food_and_Drug_Act http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Meat_Inspection_Act.html
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