Horace Frank Lester

“ It may, of course, be urged that the mere fact that the business of slaughtering animals produces, and must of necessity produce, the demoralisation of those engaged in it, is not by itself a sufficient argument against meat-eating. If meat-eating is a necessity for health and strength, then animals must be killed, whatever the consequent suffering to them, and degradation of the unfortunate butcher class. ”

“ To treat the operative slaughterer, as he is usually treated, as an unclean creature, a pariah of society, may be logical in the Vegetarian, but it is moral cowardice in the meat-eater. The meat-eater accepts the results of this man's demoralisation of character. Pious and professed Christians are content to allow the deep degradation of the nature of a whole class of men, set apart to do the nation's dirty work of slaughtering, without an apparent thought of the baseness of their conduct. ”

“ Third, it is still somewhat doubtful how far death by electricity can be said to be painless. Unless a very powerful shock be given, the animal is liable to revive in a surprising and disquieting manner when supposed to be quite dead. Until these objections can be removed—and the first of them seems to be of a kind which belongs to the constitution of nature, and cannot therefore be overcome—it would not be wise for any company or corporation, still less any private butcher; to embark on electrical killing of animals, the expense of which must be great. ”

“ So crowded are the slaughtering-rooms at Deptford with the carcases of animals hanging to "set," that towards the end of the day the butchers actually have to stoop down to get room to kill! In the interests of the consumer it is most desirable, as long as meat-eating continues, that the processes of killing, of dressing, and of hanging, should all go on in separate apartments. ”

“ The medical man, whose patients enjoy their mutton-chops, says that mutton-chops are essential to life, and thereby worships at the same delectable shrine. In fact the butcher is the high priest of modern civilization, and it is a mere unfair distribution of the honours and rewards of life which prevent his being recognised as such. ”

“ Thus only is it possible to guard against the sale of diseased meat, and to ensure the buildings in which the slaughtering trade goes on being constructed, and inspected, so as to have regard alike to humanity to animals, the healthiness of the meat supply, and the decent comfort of the unfortunate operators. It is in such large establishments alone that we can hope to see merciful lethal apparatus introduced. ”

“ This may not be the case with savages, but now-a-days we treat "human nature" as that belonging to the average man in a community removed several steps from mere barbarism. It may with some confidence be affirmed that the average European or Asiatic would rather be excused from the task of providing his own beef or mutton. With persons who have attained to any degree of education or refinement, this natural repugnance is of course vastly increased. ”

“ But there are plenty of men engaged in this work of killing animals for food who are much too good for the business. These will tell you openly that they dislike the job, but "people will have meat," and if they were to give it up someone else would step into the work. As to the demoralisation consequent on the trade of a slaughterer, it is written plainly enough, on the countenances of the hapless race who inhabit these "Lugentes Campi." At Deptford there is a regulation forbidding bad language and riotous behaviour among the slaughter-men, on pain of expulsion. ”

“ Furthermore, in view of the increasing evidence of the sufficiency of a non-flesh diet, the Humanitarian League will aim at the prevention of the terrible sufferings to which countless numbers of highly-organised animals are yearly subjected through the habit of flesh-eating, which is directly responsible for the barbarities of the cattle-traffic and the shambles, and will advocate, as an initial measure, the abolition of private slaughter-houses, the presence of which in our large centres is admitted to be a cause of widespread demoralisation. ”

“ Tidy, himself a Medical Officer of Health, said, there are so many slaughter-houses in Islington, that it is impossible to keep a man at each to see that all the meat that comes out of them is fit for human food. Thus the existence of these 600 private slaughter-houses in London is a direct encouragement to the trade in diseased meat. Contrast with this state of things the arrangement at the public abattoir at Manchester, where no animal can possibly enter without being supervised by an inspector ”

“ In a large abattoir special anaesthetic chambers could be constructed, into which not only sheep, but bullocks also, could, as a matter of course, be introduced before slaughtering. If established on a large scale, the cost of the construction of the chambers would not be heavy, and the cost of the gas used is insignificant. Moreover, in a large place the system could be so worked as to cause no loss of time in the slaughtering operation, because one animal could be being anaesthetised while another was being killed and cut up ”

“ The "lair," or place where the animals are kept, is situated so that the wretched creatures can see right into the slaughter-house. There are no utensils for feeding or watering; there animals are kept as long as the butchers choose.
Or, take another instance. A roofed-in space just at the back of the shop, in close contiguity to an offal-heap and a dust-bin. It is about 10-ft. by 5-ft, in size: that is, about large enough for a man and a couple of sheep to stand in. Here we saw a butcher killing one lamb, while another stood in the corner, behind a hurdle, waiting its turn. ”

“ The efforts of Parliament have been devoted not to providing for the humane treatment of animals in slaughter-houses, but to the minimising of the nuisance and danger to public health incidental to such places. Local authorities are empowered to make by-laws, which regulate such matters as the supply of water, the construction of the buildings, lime washing the walls, cleansing the pounds, disposal of refuse, etc. ”

“ This principle the Humanitarian League will apply and emphasise in those cases where it appears to be most flagrantly overlooked, and will protest not only against the cruelties inflicted by men on men, in the name of law, authority and conventional usage, but also (in accordance with the same sentiment of humanity) against the wanton ill-treatment of the lower animals. ”

“ A man armed with the spear walks along and drops the heavily-weighted blade or rounded edge of the spear on to the neck of each animal in turn. Both systems are in use in the huge cattle-killing establishments in Chicago.
Turning to the smaller animals used by men for food, we, unfortunately, do not find that invention has been greatly at work to lessen their sufferings. The extreme expedition which prevails in the pig-killing establishments in Chicago would he commendable, if care were always taken that the animal was dead before the flaying and cutting-up operations commenced. ”

“ Lecky, "I venture to maintain that there are multitudes to whom the necessity of discharging the duties of a butcher would be so inexpressibly painful and revolting, that if they could obtain flesh diet on no other condition, they would relinquish it for ever. ”

“ While the killing of large animals presents greater difficulties than the killing of small ones, such as sheep, pigs, and calves, it is with respect to the latter that the discovery of a painless system is most imperatively required. Unfortunately, from the ease with which the smaller animals can he handled, butchers have concluded that it does not much matter how they are despatched, so long as the affair is finished with reasonable quickness. ”

“ If this is the attitude the mind instinctively takes up towards the act of killing a fellow-creature, it would seem to follow that man is more allied in his instincts to the cow or the horse than to the tiger. The mere smell of blood, as is well known, drives a horse nearly frantic with terror.The combined smell and sight of blood, which at the Deptford abattoir, is allowed to trickle down into gutters through the hoofs of the animals waiting their turn to be slaughtered, produces all the symptoms of panic fear. ”

“ When the blow descends on the knob of the punch, the sharp part is driven with great force into the skull, and the animal drops to the ground stunned. It is not dead, and it has to he "pithed" and its throat cut in the usual way before death takes place. The theory on which humane slaughterers go is that the animal is rendered by the first blow unconscious to everything afterwards. ”

“ Among humane implements must be classed those which render the killing process more rapid, although their introduction is due to a desire to save time and money, and not to any feelings of humanity. In some American slaughter-houses bullocks are killed by shooting. ”

“ The shooting system is, as far as pain to the animal operated upon is concerned, an obvious improvement on the uncertainty of the pole-axe; but it would be interesting to learn whether accidents to workmen are unknown where it is adopted. ”

“ Lecky’s statement, that the "repugnance" of butchers to their daily work has "ceased." We must take into consideration the fact that the ranks of slaughter-men are habitually made up from the dregs of the population, persons in whom one could hardly expect to find the sentiment of pity strongly developed ”

“ It is astonishing that the use of this mask has not been more fully tried in places where a number of animals are killed daily, such as the Deptford and Birkenhead foreign cattle depôts, or the abattoirs at Manchester, Liverpool, and elsewhere. Private butchers will not adopt it unless compelled to do so, for the simple reason that each mask costs about thirty shillings. But to corporations and abattoir companies the expenditure of a few pounds is not a matter of much moment. ”

“ At the very centre of the forehead a hollow steel punch with sharp edges is inserted, working in a strong steel socket. The sharp edge rests on the animal's brow, while the other end of the punch is made into a strong rounded knob. ”

“ No separate hanging place. Slaughter-house close to dwelling."
These extracts might be continued, but enough has now been said to show that almost every humane and sanitary principle is daily violated in these dens of cruelty.
Many attempts have been made at various times to introduce humanity into slaughter-houses. The efforts in this direction have been of two different kinds. Private individuals, out of a mere love of animals and dislike of the infliction of needless pain, have invented humane implements of killing, and have induced butchers to consent to give them a trial. ”

“ It will insist on the recognition by the community of its primary duty—the protection of the weak and helpless, and will urge the need of amending a condition of society under which a large portion of the people is in a state of chronic destitution. ”

“ Even then, however, it appears to be impossible to prevent the killing of tuberculous cattle for human food, and consumption is supposed to be readily transmissible by eating the meat or drinking the milk of such animals. ”

“ The Humanitarian League will therefore demand the thorough revision and more equitable administration of the present Criminal Code, under which a very large amount of injustice and oppression is still frequently perpetrated. ”