The Jungle by Upton Sinclairr

Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to expose the appalling working conditions in the meat packing industry. His description of sick, rotten, and contaminated meat shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws.

Before the turn of the 20th century, a major reform movement had emerged in the United States. Known as progressives, the reformers were reacting to the problems caused by the rapid growth of factories and cities. At first the progressives focused on improving the lives of those living in the slums and eliminating corruption in the government.

By the turn of the century, progressives had begun to attack huge companies like Standard Oil, US Steel, and the Armor meat-packing company for their unfair practices. Progressives revealed how these companies eliminated competition, set high prices, and treated workers as "wage slaves."

Progressives, however, differed on how best to control these large corporations. Some progressives wanted to dismember large corporations with anti-monopoly laws. Others thought state or federal government regulation would be more effective. A growing minority sided in favor of socialism, the public ownership of industries. The owners of the big industries rejected all these proposals: they asked to be left alone to run their businesses as they saw fit.

Theodore Roosevelt was the president when progressive reformers were gathering strength. Taking over the presidency in 1901 after the assassination of William McKinley, he remained in the White House until 1909. Roosevelt favored big business. "The company is here to stay," he said. But he favored their regulation by the government "with due consideration for the public as a whole."

Roosevelt did not always approve of progressive-minded journalists and other writers who denounced what they considered corporate injustices. When David Phillips, a progressive journalist, wrote a series of articles attacking US senators from both political parties for serving the interests of corporations rather than the people, President Roosevelt thought Phillips had gone too far. He referred to him as a man with a "manure rake".

Even so, Roosevelt had to admit: "There is dirt on the floor and it has to be scraped with the rake." The term "muckraker" has caught on. He was referring to investigative writers who discovered the dark side of society.

Few places had more "dirt on the floor" than Chicago meat packers. Upton Sinclair, a largely unknown fiction writer, became an "accidental muckraker" when he wrote a novel about the meat-packing industry.