ABSTRACT
An early biographer of Crane graphically describes the experience: Horror and disgust robbed them all of power to speak words adequate to meet the conditions. The buildings were old abandoned bams or sheds, unpainted, warped and rotting. Dense black cobwebs covered the ceilings and upper walls, while within six feet of the floors, walls, posts and shelves were caked with blood, grime, grease, mold and putrid flesh. Although Crane was critical of meat products from uninspected local slaughterhouses, she believed that federal meat inspection was adequate. Crane was particularity concerned with discrepancies between official regulations and secret circulars of instructions issued to inspectors which seemed to refute or mitigate official rules regarding the health of animal carcasses. Dr. Harvey Wiley also defended Crane in the July 1912 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. Crane reflected on meat inspection reform and noted that this particular aspect of her long and often frustrating campaign for public health was especially distasteful.
