the Conservative. 9
would amount to about three days'
work for Ohicngo.
"The most remarkable , however , of
all the establishments of Cincinnati , "
says Mr. Hoffman , "are those immense
slaughter-houses , where the business of
butchering and packing pork is carried
on. The number of hogs annually
slaughtered is said to exceed one hun
dred and twenty thousand ; audthe capi
tal employed in the businesses estimated
at two millions of dollars. Some of the
establishments cover several acres of
ground ; and one of the packing-houses ,
built of brick , and three stories high , is
more than a hundred feet long , and
proportiouably wide. The minute
division of labor and the fearful celerity
of execution in these swinish workshops
would equally delight a pasha and a po
litical economist ; for it is the mode in
which the business is conducted , rather
than its extent , which gives dignity to
hog-killing in Oiuoinuati , and imparts a
tragic interest to the lost moments of
the doomed porkers , that might inspire
the savage genius of a Maturin or a
Monk Lewis. Imagine a long narrow
edifice , divided into various compart
ments , each communicating with the
other , and each furnished with some
peculiar and appropriate engine of de
struction. In one you see a gory
block and gleaming axe ; a seething
caldron nearly fills another.
The walls of a third bristle
with hooks newly sharpened for impale
ment ; while a fourth is" shrouded in
darkness , that leaves you to conjure up
images still more dire. There are forty
ministers of fate distributed throughout
these gloomy abodes , each with his par
ticular office assigned him. And here ,
when the fearful carnival comes on , and
the deep forests of Ohio have contributed
their thousands of unoffending victims ,
the gauntlet of death is run by those se
lected for immolation. The scene com
mences in the shadowy cell , whose
gloom we have not yet been allowed to
penetrate. Fifty unhappy porkers are
here incarcerated at once together ;
with bodies wedged so closely that they
are incapacitated from all movement.
And now the grim executioner like
him that battled with the monster that
wooed Andromeda leaps with his iron
mace upon their backs , and rains his
ruthless blows around him. The un
resisting victims fall on every side ; but
scarcely does one touch the ground , be
fore he is seized by a greedy hook pro
truded through an orifice below.
His throat is severed instant
ly in the adjacent cell , and
the quivering body is hurried on
ward , as if the hands of the Furies
tossed it through the frightful suite of
chambers. The mallet the knife the
axe the boiling caldron the remorse
less scraping iron have each done
their work ; and the fated porker , that
was but one minute before grunting in
the full enjoyment of bristling hoghood ,
now cadaverous and 'chap-fallen , ' hangs
a stark and naked effigy among his im
molated brethren. "
ITEMS OF INTEREST TO CREMA-
TIONISTS.
There are 22 crematory temples in
the United States situated as follows :
Washington , Pa. , Detroit , Mich. ,
New York , N. Y. , Lancaster , Pa. ,
San Francisco (2) ( ) , Pittsburg , Pa. , St.
Louis , Mo. , Baltimore , Md. , Phila-
vl'-s ? . > - " ' . - , * v/ . i.-rVv ' , * tfSBSS&Si ? 5.
p . * & * SBBS&k . . > ;
TJ * i v v / - * k i Vj-V/Vi
r1 ' ' ; - ' !
i : ; : - -
PLATE IV.
delphia , Pa. , Troy , N. Y. , Boston ,
Mass. , Davenport , la. , CincinnatiO. ,
Swinburne Island , N. Y. , Chicago ,
111. , Waterville , N.Y. , Buffalo.N. Y. ,
Pasadena , Cal.Los Angeles , Cal.Fort
Wayne , Ind. , Portland , Oregon.
The cost of incineration , urn , and
niche in the urn hall ( or columbar
ium ) is far cheaper than earth burial.
An incineration costs about $30 to
$45. The best way for Freethinkers
who believe in this scientific disposal
of the body is to arrange matters when
living this can bo done by the pur
chase of a ' ' Cremation Certificate' ' for
$30 15 cash and balance in monthly
payments of one or more dollars ; these
certificates are transferable and will
bo honored by nearly all the crema
tion associations in the world.
Cremation appeals to radical , inde
pendent thinkers ; it is a clean , rapid
method. For those who have taken
the trouble to investigate , there is no
choice between the sunset glow of a
furnace and the foulness and corrup
tion of the earth.
Cremation statistics indicate a
steady annual advance in all countries ,
and this is particularly the case here.
In 1879 , 4 ; 1899 , about 260 ; 1899 , about
1,000 ; 1900 , about 1,200. r.
If the 22 cremation societies would
keep a standing advertisement in the
Liberal papers it would be sound busi
ness policy , as nearly all Freethinkers
are inclined to favor cremation. Re
spectfully submitted ,
WALTER BREBN.
