“Skilled dispatcher”...

“Skilled dispatcher”...  Page from the Visitor Reference Book, for visitors to the Swift & Co. slaughterhouse in Chicago, circa 1903.  It's clear that folks back then were just a tad less squeamish about the source of their meat than the average American is today.

Back in the '70s, when I was in the U.S. Navy, my ship (USS Long Beach CGN-9) visited Singapore.  Together with 20 or so other sailors, I visited a Chinese restaurant there.  One of the sailors ordered a roast chicken, and to his surprise – and discomfort – the waiter hauled him over to a pen to choose which chicken he wanted to eat.  Despite having suffered weeks of awful Navy-at-sea food, he didn't enjoy his meal at all.  The Chinese staff had seen this American reaction before, and they were quite amused.  As, I think, they should be – for what a silly pretension we Americans have, that our meat all comes from some factory, wrapped in plastic, and not directly from the flesh of some animal...