"I aimed for the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." Upton Sinclair used those words to describe the reaction his novel, The Jungle, received upon its initial publication. Sinclair intended to illustrate the plight of immigrants in Chicago at the turn of the century; providing details and examples of abuses in the meatpacking industry merely as a means of demonstrating their troubles. Instead of being one example of many hardships, those examples, revealed in fewer than twelve pages, became both the rallying cry for industrial abuse and the public perception of the entire thematic nature of the novel.
Originally, The Jungle appeared in serial form in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason in 1905. Sinclair was hired to write an exposé about labor conditions in the Chicago stockyards. Sinclair's novel had mass appeal and led to an outcry against the meatpacking industry.
The harsh realities and controversial topics of The Jungle made finding a publisher for a bound edition difficult. Only after investigating the allegations in Sinclair's book did Doubleday, Page, and Company agree to print the book in 1906.
While publishers debated printing The Jungle, the public demanded government intervention against the atrocities. This public outcry led to the 1906 Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act. It also, however, led to a report issued the same year by the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal Husbandry that refuted the worst of Sinclair's allegations. The public's perception at this time was that the meatpacking industry feared these Acts. What was unrecognized, however, was the fact that meatpackers knew they were viewed with contempt, and facing substantial losses, the industry actually supported the Acts. They just did not want to be the ones to pay for the implementation. These Acts allayed most fears, and ironically, actually favored big business, which was the opposite of Sinclair's intention.
