Cogs in the Great Machine Summary and Analysis

Some people get so used to smells that they no longer notice them; others never get used to a smell, and it bothers them continually. The people in Greeley, Colorado are of both groups. The smell comes from the slaughterhouses that kill cattle, package the meat, and cook the remains into dog food. Industrialization has now hit the production and packaging of meat, so no skill is required. Thus, low wage jobs for immigrants and high school dropouts have been created, jobs which bring high rates of injury, create ghettos, and generally destroy towns in the West. ConAgra runs the largest meat processing and packing plant in Greeley. It brings cattle into feed lots and feeds them only grain for three months, to fatten them up, aided by anabolic steroids implanted in their...