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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1909)
SWIFT & COMPANY'S GREAT PACKING PLANTS What Portland May Expect When the Mammoth Con cern Begins Operations Here. BT PROF. FREDERICK BEECHTOLD. Oregon Agricultural Collar. Corrmllls. AS SOON as It shall be In success ful operation, the S3.000.000 pack ing; plant of Swift & Company will become one of the standard sights of Portland. To come to the city then and neglect to see that plant and the yards would be as Inexcusable as It would be to sjo to Pittsburg and over look the steel mills. The average cltl sen can have no adequate conception of the activities to which such an enter prise will give rise. Nor will the, results be merely of local Importance. The material advan tages that will accrue to Portland and contiguous territory for hundreds of miles, cannot now be computed, but will be vigorously felt the moment the plant opens for business. It will mean a happy repetition of the remarkable experiences of Kansas City, Omaha. St. Joseph. Fort Worth and St. Louis, where branch plants were established. Farm values will Immediately Jump a notch or two. The cattleraisers. sheep men, hograisers and poultrymen will have a new incentive to put life Into their respective industries. Once the enterprise is fairly on Its feet, the ra pacities of all our common carriers will likely be sorely taxed: every avenue of trad and transportation will find it self enlivened by a new and powerful impulse, and hundreds of workingmen now dissatisfied with present conditions will find r.ew. congenial and remun erative employment. Portland U certainly to be congratu lated on the acquisition of this new In dustry. The very fact that this city was chosen by a firm to whom the whole great Northwest was open, and for whose business alluring Induce ments were held out and strong fights made by powerful rivals, would attain pointedly show the superior advantages of the metropolis of Oregon as an In dustrial stronghold, and emphasize anew Its strategic, yes. Invulnerable position as a center of trade and com merce. There will be no uncertain move ments, no experimenting In connec tion with this business. It Is not a puling lnant. nor yet a sentlmetal ' youth, but reached mature mahood a good while ago. Every step that will be taken will be the result of sus tained reflection and careful calcula tion: there will be no floundering as In troubled waters, or groping in the dark. The men who have projected this enterprise stand high In the financial world, and the business Is strongly and broadly conceived. The capital stock of the company, consisting of 400.000 shares at $100 a share, making a capi talization of S60.000.000, Is fully paid up and Is owned by about 12,000 per sons. For last year this company's total distributive sales exceeded the enor mous sum of $240,000,000. For the last nine years this stock has returned 7 per cent per annum, and the dividend Is payable quarterly. A few years ago Swift & Company made total shipments of ten carloads for each working day. The dally ship ments now would make 35 trains of 10 cars to the train; this Irrespective of the Immense local sales of the com pany's output In such cities as Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, St. Paul, St. Jo seph, Fort Worth and St. Louis, where the company owns packing plants, and where there Is a very heavy local sale. As to the number of animals that pass to the cooling-rooms every year, the fig ures are too great to be grasped with anything like an adequate conception of what. In amount of work done, they really mean. The total every year soars to the almost Inconceivable figure of 8.280. 000. comprising cattle, sheep and bogs alone, leaving out of consideration the hundreds of thousands of fowls which the separate poultry plants turn out In all of the seven great Swift plana as many as 11,875 cattle. 16.553 sheep and 34.563 hogs have been transformed Into dressed meat In a single day. In 1908 the combined plants consumed 00.000 tons of coal and used 35.500 elec tric lights, the generators having a rated capacity of 66S5 kilowatts. For smoking meat, they burned 9000 cords of hickory wood, while for curing hams and bacon It took the enormous number of 110.000 tons of salt and 2.882.598 pounds of sugar. For shipping lard. 6.744.718 tins were re quired and the cumber of barrels and tierces that were needed for meat, sau sages and other products exceeded the mil Ion mark by more than 300,000. Nearly all this tremendous business was transacted through the mails in over 2.600.000 letters, necessitating a dally out lay on the part of the company for $150 for stamps alone, to which should be added the cost of sending over 700.000 telegrams, an average of 2000 per day. A business on a truly prodigious scale; one which, once established In a city or town, must have an Instant effect on the pulse of business activity. The most Important animal and numer ically by far the strongest In the econ omy of the packing plants of Swift & Company, is the hog. The very large number of pens In the stockyards are practlcaly never empty. In Its Chicago j yards the company has storage capac ity for 7V0 live hogs. They are not dressed the same day they are brought from the yards, but are allowed to rest until the day after their arrival. From their resting pen they are then raised by an automatic hoisting wheel which passes the shackle hook on the hog's hind foot to a sliding rail on which the animal passed the skilled dispatcher who. at the rate of 1000 an hour, with one thrust of a double-edged knife, pain lessly bleeds the animal and starts It on Its Journey to the large cooling rooms. In the short space of t minutes, the work Is done: the hog Is completely dressed, which terms includes tne operation of scraping, taking out the leaf fat. split ting down the backbone, trimming and scrubbing with hot water. Down through floor after floor, room after room, passes thla long line of "pink-coated porkers" on their way to the dryroom which. In the Chicago plant, has a capacity of 17.00 hogs. Here they remain four hours, lo allow the excess moisture to leave the meat before going to the refrigerating room, where they are two days in chill at a temperature of 28 degrees Fahren heit, when they are finally ready for the chopping block. All meats Intended to be .smoked are first cured in a sweet pickle of sugar, salt and water, or dry salt, the period depending on the weight of the meat. 40 days being a fair average. The smoking process, as a rule, lasts from 30 to 48 hours, according to the size and weight of the meat, the hams, shoulders, sides and sausages, carefully separated, hang ing over slow-burning fires of hickory wood The hams and bacon are then wrapped In white parchment paper and packed In various styles to suit the de mand of the trade. Those for export to rigorous climates are packed In what Is called -Sealtlte" wrappers, which keeps them intact for any length of time. A place of much less noise than the "pork'noiise." in fact one of almost om inous silence, is the "beerhouse." Here from the fatal thud of the long-handled eledge hammer on the broad forehead of the lordly steer to the last cut before re frigeration. Just 39 minutes elapse. The 250 men In this department at Chicago can prepare for market 2t animals an hour. S 0 '-V : J V i X v' 1 . : v - - J I ; S i ' ! f i 7 I s 1 V n-A v$ V. - tx -a k.. ' 4:m iv'-' t v I'''- m' i ; r ' A . .:: inM ' -4Ys lal -:aa- I- -... - K- i : A- . : i -MM;: I - - ' - ; , - ' wvr , ' . f ' - .v - j- : VJ ,- .i-.-i-r ; " ' v-jn !' s iBf's- ::yvrsr'f":v : ::i;:::Kir: ? ; t " ft. A-t" ' i ; ' " "' Wv ' ' " ' - A l .:. J , .. ;j '. ; . , , .' :..jit...o..i int 1 : ' 1 vmmi- i SPI-ITTING BACKBONE.. OF HOGS SWIFT A1V"I COMPAJfT It Is aetonishing with what rapidity these men work. Village butchers, professional hunters and trappers have looked with open-mouthed wonder at the speed and absolute sureness with which every blow, thrust and cut Is delivered, and every visitor marvete at the scrupulous cleanli ness that prevails everywhere. The whole deoartment. like the one De- fore. In a perfect beehive of industry, each man having his separate duty -to perform. and yet all moving with the regularity or clock-work. Soma are busy removing the hides, others are dressing and washing the bullocks, while still others are trim ming and removing the Intestines. in seemingly never ending succession, hun dreds of huge beeves, still warm, are be ing weighed. Inspected, and hurried along on sliding rails to the cooling rooms. where, in a temperature of 34 degrees, the meat Vs gradually cooled, though not froien. In from two to three days, the meat, now firm and attractive to the eye. Is ready for the refrigerator car, to be sent Into every portion of the habitable globe. The operation of dressing sheep, taking not more than 26 minutes. Is similar to that of dressing hogsT with the exception that the pelt is taken off and transferred to the wool factory, where the wool ie re moved, sorted Into about 50 grades, and the skin prepared for tanning. Both products are then ready for the Immedi ate use of the cloth and leather manu facturers. "Round-dressed" or "caul dreased" In about 16 different styles, the sheep are sent to the cooling room with out being cut, except down the center. Thla cooling room is of the most modern construction, the walls being of concrete with cork insulation of two layers two Inches thick, within which the refrigerat ed atmosphere, under perfect ventilation. Is supplied by open brine system at a temperature of 36 degrees Fahrenheit. The Chicago plant has a capacity of 600 sheep per hour. Choice selection of beef and pork to the amount of 75 tons are dally chopped Into sausage meat In the mammoth sau sage factory of Swift & Co., perhaps the largest on this continent. Besides the Justly famous Brookfleld Farm Saussge and various appetizing cooked specialties, there In made a full line of Summer sau sage. The latter, however, must be so carefully prepared and Its Ingredients so delicately proportioned that they will ap peal to the tastes of different nations. For. strange to say, sausaae that would delight the palate of our Scandinavian brothers, would find no sal In the Ger man country: and the Frenchman would probably be seized with a sneezing fit If by mistake he were to cut Into sausage prepared for his Spanish or Italian cous ins. The Summer sausage is packed by hand. The meat Intended for the other kind, after leaving the large, rotary chop-plng-boards, is forced by pneumatic pumps Into casings, twisted in the famil iar links, the fresh sausage ready for wrapping and the rest forwarded to the drying-room. In what to known as "the lard filling room." the leaf fat, the back fat and the fat trimmings from the porkhouse are steam-rendered in large kettles, filtered and clarified. The substance, now regis tering 180 degrees temperature, of a tex ture the purest white, Is then cooled over rollers filled with Ice water and carried in large pipes into air-tight tin pailB, tubs and ironbound tierces of various sizes and bought Into commerce as "Silver Leaf Lard," perhaps the most widely distrib uted standard lard In the world. The Chicago plant has a dally capacity of 500,. 000 pounds or 250 tons. The great dressed meat companies of the United States originally intended to confine themselves strictly to the packing of pork, beef and mutton or any one of the three. Competition, be tween the 735 packing-houses of the country became, however, so Intensely keen that the boldest of them, In a desperate attempt to outdo the others. Introduced & fourth factor, poultry. Unable to get birds properly and sci entifically fattened, so as to rival the famous "poulardes" of France, the companies were forced to buy the birds In whatever condition they might be found, establish feeding structures of their own and then proceed to Inaug urate a fattening process along recog nized, sclentlflo principles. These feed ing structures, or "batteries," as they are technically called, are large, airy sheds, with abundance of sunlight and ventilation. Each battery consists of double rows of coops, built one above the other, five tiers high. The coops are made of rods, an Inch or more apart, to admit air and light, and the birds stand on perches, with Just barely room enough to move about a. little. Here they are fed for 14 days from troughs running In front of each coop, and, of course, have a pretty dull time of It, for It Is all eating and dozing and doz ing and eating, With no chance for exercise. But they have the most clean ly quarters imaginable, for their coops are scraped each day, steamed an cleaned, and the entire battery white washed. After thus faring sumptuously for twice seven days, on a diet of corn meal, oatmeal and pure fresh milk, all Judiciously mixed, the birds are fat, their meat tender and delicately flavored. They are then speedily but carefully dressed, -transferred to the cooling room for a number of hours, therf packed In boxes, a dozen to the box, placed In the refrigerator car and sped on their way to bring cheer to the tables of American men and women. - - While the meat-packing business . in the early stages was a highly profitable one, and even 15 or 20 years ago fairly remunerative, of late. , under the. tre mendous pressure of competition, maf gins of profit have been shrinking more and more. Larger and larger plants be came necessary; greater and greater out lay for machinery was unavoidable, and constantly increasing additions to ope -atlng capital grew simply Imperative. Consequently, with every new step for ward, the size of profits became more and more simply a question of economy In production. Every dressed-meat producer knows that while he pays the cattle-grower for his steer on the hoof, only from 56 to 68 per cent of the animal's weight Is avail able for food, vvi-at to do with the re maining 42 or 44 per cent Is the great question, for It represents over two-fifths of the weight of the animal and has to be paid for at the same rate as the other portion. Formerly It was thrown away, with the exception of the hide, tallow and tongue. Today, so keen Is com petition, the meat packer finds his profits almost exclusively in tho by-product business, and In the' science of economi cal production and transportation car ried to Its utmost limit of minute detail, as well as the rigid elimination of every possible source of loss. The fats, the lean-meat trimmings, the hair, the horns, the hoofs, the blood, the fibrous matter, tho wool of the sheep, the feathers of the chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys, all are made use of, absolutely nothing being permitted knowingly now to go to waste. . . . The fato are used In the manufacture of nearly endless varieties of toilet and laundry soaps, and of washing powder, In the soap factory of Swift & Company, one of the most completely equipped plants of Its kind In the world. The lean meat trimmings, a surpris ingly valuable food product formerly simply thrown away, are now caused . to pass through process after process of cleansing and preparation, and emerge finally an excellent quality of sausage, fit for the table of an epicure. "An intolerable nuisance." was the term formerly applied to the hair taken from the hide. No one wanted It, since i' - v 4 tt-t t i'f . . - it ' i BEAUTIFUL CASTLE3 IX SCOTLAND IS RESTED BY "WEALTHY AMERICANS. NEW- YORK, Sept. 4. (Special.) Tulloch Castle is one of the most beautiful of the old castles of Scot land. For some years It has been rented to wealthy Americans. This year it has been taken by Mrs. James H. Smith and it is In Tulloch Castle that the wedding of her daughter to Prince Miguel of Braganza will take place September 15. " no one knew what to do with It, Today It is carefully collected and cared for, and -brings a good price per ton. Horns and hoofs which at one time constituted unsightly heaps near packing establishments, and - could rot be dis posed of for .love or money, today bring $250 per ton the one, and from 335 to 360 per ton the other. From them are made barbers' combs, ladles' orna mental head-combs, buttons, knife, cane and umbrella handles, and a variety of other articles used by the million In everyday life. The prices, however, are due to the scarcity of horns the pres ent breeding of dehorned cattle reducing the available supply to a small fraction of Its previous volume. In every packing establishment today the blood from the slaughtered animals. In earlier days wasted, is carefully col lected and dried. In this condition It is nut on the market as a fertilizer and rearlilv sells at 340 per ton. The fibrous matter, which la the final residue of the tissue structure after all the oil, grease and nutritious elements have been extracted, Is likewise con verted into fertilizer material, and sells from 317 to 324 uer ton. thousands and thousands of which are used on tho cot ton fields of the South. One of the most important of packing house by-products, used in over 40 dif ferent industries. Is glue, made princi pally from the cartilage and bones of the packing-house animal, fully 18 per cent of the latter being glue. The factory of Swift & Company, which runs night and day," turns out some eight million pounds annually, most of which goes to match factories and the manufacturers of sand paper. Glue is the substance that holds the head of the match on the stick, and the particles of glass on the paper. From the finer and better fats of the animal, the kind, which may readily be detached by cutting and pulling, Is made an article that Is now known the world over but dates Its history back only about 40 years. It Is and you need not look so disdainfully oleomargarine, or butterine. These "butter fats," as they are some times called, will average in weight from 60 to 75 pounds to the animal; and the toothsome article made from them has been declared by chemists of note and standing in their profession as healthful, wholesome and nutritious as butter itself. Oleomargarine Is a composition of "oleo," (the highest grade of oil extracted from the butter fat of the animal) "neutral." (the purest lard after it has been put through various filtering and refining processes) and ordinary 'milk and cream mixed In proper percentages. Butterine has had to make a strong fight for Its existence but has now reached a sure place among staple food products. Its wholesomeness and Its low price, for It Is from 40 to 60 per cent cheaper . than butter, are strong sustaining qualities and the cause of Its continued poularlty. The Grout law, as It is known, is the only unfair handicap placed upon this meritorious article requiring a tax of 10 cents per pound for the privilege of using the same vegetable coloring matter that Is used In butter. This is an In stance of class legislation in a mis guided effort to "protect" the dairy in terests. In fact, it only increases the price to the poor man's table of one qf the commodities of daily use. and reduces the Federal revenue previously received when a tax of 2 cents per pound was col lected by Uncle Sam from the manu facturers of colored butterine. Of the disposition of the enormous quantity of feathers from the poultry de partment to . pillow 'makers and uphol sterers, and the daily output of ten tons of wool to the clothmakera, it Is hardly necessary to speak. Suffice It to say that there can be no further expansion of efforts of getting more product out of the animal. It Is conceded by all that the limit In this direction has been reached some time ago. The only field in which operations may yet be extended is In the direction of manufacturing, ai the packing-house itself, the large num ber of articles which now are made by independent establishments who procure the necessary raw material from the packing-house. Let the consumer feel at ease regarding the sanitary conditions' under which the work in the large packing-houses is oar ried on. Let him make a trip of Inspec tion through any of the packing-nouses that DUt out meat under Government In spection, and I am sure he will come out a wiser If not a Detter man. r.very vmem the utmost cleanliness prevails. On every turn of the road almost, there stands a Government inspector, whose trained and watchful eye would not tolerate the least irregularity nor wink at the slightest In fraction of any of the very stringent rules enforced by Federal authority. The pres ence of disease is discovered Immediately and without fall, and an animal thus suf fering is condemned at once and ordered removed. There is absolutely no cause for distrust, the products are as good, as pure and as wholesome as human In genuity can make them. Would space permit, many more acces sories or accompaniments of this great Industry could be mentioned and dis cussed. The account would, however, be Incomplete, If one feature, the one that . .40 . .lis . .lc . .lo Impressed the writer most In his visits to the mammoth plant of Swift & Com pany, were left untouched; the attitude of the employers toward their employes, an array of over 26.000 men and women. Kindness and consideration are the key words that explain the absence of even the least friction, and account for the ex ceeding loyalty of every worker to the manifold interests of the firm. Wherever you go, in every department of that vast plant, there ' la -manifest that same thoughtful regard for the comfort and welfare of the tolling laborer. He is de cently paid. He works In clean quarters, built according to hygienic principles, not the least of which is a most admirable system ' of ventilation. The rooms are cool in Summer and comfortably warm in Winter. The length of his working day is very reasonable. , He. may -enjoy the quiet of a rest-room and can get the ser vices of a barber, for instance,' at . merely nominal prices. There, is hot and the best of cold water everywhere. There "s a restaurant where wholesome and nu tritious food is furnished him at cost. Look at this menu and ponder what it means: '. Mam sandwiches .....,... ..-la Pie . Frankfort! Cu of coffee . ., DniirhmttM - Should he meet with an accident, there is a hospital where everything that human skill can do is done ' for him, absolutely free of charge. Indeed, at all times and everywhere, he feels that his superiors are his friends and his employers his willing benefactors who ask nothing of him ex cept that he do his duty and conduct himself in all respects according to the rules and prlnolples recognized by decent society. In July, 1907, the- Employes' Benefit Association was organized. It now has a membership of over 15,200, and has paid to date 1100,796.65 In- benefits. The company furnishes office room and pRys operating expenses of the associa tion. The secret of the low cost of protec tion to members Is the fact of there be ing no cost for collection of dues, which hold the same relation in the member ship that premiums do to the ordinary Insurance policy. In January, 1909, President Louis F. Swift had a certain portion of tha ten million Increase In capital stock set aside to be subscribed for, at par, by employes upon payment of 10 per cent In cash, notes being taken for the bal ance at 6 per cent Interest, dividend going to tho employe In the meantime at the rate of 7 per cent. At the time of this subscription offer, stock was quoted on the open market at 3102 and $103 per share. This offer was taken advantage of by employes generally, and a good many of them who other wise never save a hundred dollars were Induced to Invest their savings a little at a time, and In addition to providing: for a "rainy day," they feel an Interest In the corporation by which they .are employed. There Is no doubt that along -with Other causes, of course, this friendly and generous attitude of capital toward labor has been one of the most Impor tant factors In the upbuilding and phenomenal growth of an Industry that has now attained truly glgantio propor tions. It can clearly be seen that in attract ing this industry and adding It to the many already existing and flourishing, the State of Oregon In general and the City of Portland In particular furnish proof positive that the wonderful ad vantages and marvelous resources of this great commonwealth and Its wide awake commercial center so long per mitted to lie dormant and, unrecognized, are at last being discovered, and placed In their proper light. Portland Is coming Into its own. KEPT 0PEH BY BAD BI0QD Whenever a sore refuses to heal it is because of bad blood. The circulation has become contaminated with impure, polluted matter which has not only diseased the blood, but also destroyed its plasmic or natural healing properties. The sore or ulcer therefore remains open, while the morbid discharge from the circulation into it, causes the place to inflame and fester. , . Impurities in the blood which keep old sores o'pen, come from different causes. A long'spell of debilitating sickness, which breeds disease germs in the system, is a common source. These morjbid impurities get into the circulation, and the blood becomes a polluted, infec tious fluid, which instead of nourish ing the fibres and tissues of the flesh, irritates and ulcerates them by con tinually discharging its impurities into the place. Another cause for bad blood is the retention in the system of the refuse and waste matters of the body. Those mem bers of the body whose duty it is to carry off the useless accumulations become dull and sluggish in their action and leave their work imper fectly done, and mis fermenting matter is absorbed into the circula tion. The weakening or polluting of this vital fluid may also come as the results of some constitutional disease, especially where mineral medicines are used for a protracted time, while persons who are born with any hereditary blood taint are very apt to be afflicted with old sores. Local or external applications cannot cure an old sore, because they do not reach the blood. Such treatment may reduce the inflam mation, lessen the pain and discharge, and tend to keep the place clean, but can do no real good toward effecting a permanent cure. The sore cannot possibly heal until the impurities have been removed from ,the circulation and its natural, healing constituents restored. Since an impure condition of the blood is responsible for old sores, a medicine that can purify the blood is the only hope of a successful cure; and it should be a medicine that not only cleanses the circulation, but one that at the same time restores the blood to its normal, rich. nutritive condition. S. S. S. is just such a remedy. It is made entirely of healing, cleansing, blood-nourishing, roots, herbs and barks. S.S.S. has long been recog nized as the greatest of all blood purifiers, pos sessing the properties that are most necessary in all impure or mobid conditions of the circu lation. When S.S.S." has purified the blood, old sores heal readilv and surely because they are no longer fed and kept open by a continual discharge into them of disease-laden, irritating matter from the circula tion. S. S. S. brings about a healthy condition of the flesh where the sore is located, and makes a lasting cure because it restores the healing properties of the blood. Book on Sores and Ulcers and any medical advice free to all who write. THE SWIFT SPECIFIC CO.. ATLANTA- GA. BAD SORE FROM OLD WOUND. I want to recommend S. S. S to any who are In need of a blood purifier, and especially as a remedy for sores ana obstinate ulcers. In 1887 I had my leg badly cut on the sharp edge of a barrel, and having on a blue woolen stocking, the place was badly poisoned from the dye. A great sore formed and for years no one knows what I suf fered with the place. I tried, it seemed to me, everything I had ever heard ef but I got no relief, and I thought I would hare to go through life with an angry, discharging sore on my leg. At last I began the use of S.S.S., and It was but a short time until I saw that the place was improving. I continued it until it removed all the poison from my blood and made a com plete and permanent cure of the sore. JNO. ELLIS. 108 Wyckofl St.. Brooklyn, N.Y.