Jungle by Upton Sinclair Term Paper

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Mr. W.H. Moody

Dear Mr. Moody

This writing is in response to works such as The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I believe that Mr. Sinclair is unfair in his assessment of the various aspects in my packinghouse. Of course his views are very subjective, and he presents only one side of the issue. With this letter then, my intention is to explain several aspects within my meatpacking house. These include working conditions, my political dealings, my views on the Chicago poor and immigrant population, and finally my feelings regarding the rise of Socialism.

Firstly then, the working conditions in my packinghouse will be addressed. The workers in my place of business are employed under an agreement that I pay them for a certain amount of a certain type of work. They are free to seek other employment if their working conditions or the conditions of their contract do not please them. Admittedly, the type of work is not always pleasant, as Mr. Sinclair rightly describes. However, given the equipment and time constraints that I have available, all the kinds of work in my establishment do need to be done. My role is therefore to provide those who are willing to do such work with a livelihood. I am therefore preventing starvation for many people as a result of providing them with work.

Furthermore, I am entirely within the law regarding other aspects of the conditions in my factory: children under sixteen are by no means allowed to be employed in my place of business. Each child applying for work is screened carefully by means of identity and other documents. If any new laws regarding labor aspects come into existence, I will certainly and without question make every effort to comply. I am a law abiding citizen who, like many others of my kind, seek only to provide those less fortunate than I with a living while remaining within the parameters of the written law.

This brings me to my next point. Mr. Sinclair appears to feel that managers such as myself engage in somewhat shady dealings, both politically and otherwise, in order to further our own wealth.

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In defense of this aspect, I feel I should explain our position.

Mr. Sinclair himself admits that hard work alone is hardly enough to rise to wealth. The very nature of the American economy makes this impossible. If I did engage in less than pristine dealings, the reason for this is only to make my own fortune so that I could improve the lives of others. As I said above, I am providing hundreds of persons with the means to make a living and keep from starving. These people are of course free to take whatever they earn to start their own establishments. This is the beauty of the American Dream.

The point I am trying to make with this is that I am simply using the resources available to me to make a success of my own American Dream. Whoever else wishes to share in this or start something of their own has my complete blessing. I am not trying to keep anybody else from realizing their dreams. In fact, what I am accomplishing here, along with being part of what makes America great, is providing those who truly need it with the means and the ambition to do better for themselves.

I am therefore helping the poor to escape their terrible living conditions. Of course in Chicago and nationwide, the poor are forced to live under the burden of extreme hardship. Indeed, often fifteen or more of them are forced to live in a single room together. To provide more sleeping space, many of them sleep on the sidewalks during summer months. In this, Mr. Sinclair's assertions are entirely accurate.

I feel that the poor need to be helped to improve their living. I believe that businesses such as mine are their avenue towards better living conditions. As I said earlier, they could even use what they can save from their wages to invest….....

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