Progressive Era- The Jungle

1) What qualities did Sinclair believe a person must have to succeed in Packingtown?
The person had to be a knave. The man who told tales and spied upon his fellows would rise.
2)According to the passage, what is the plant owner's main goal.
The plant owners main goal was to make as much money out of it as he could and he didn't care how he did it.
3) What does Sinclair mean when he says, "...there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar....?" 
He's saying that men didn't mean anything to the owners. They were measured by how much work they could do and how much money they could make the company. Afterwards they were thrown out, there were no emotional ties or hard feelings just strictly business.

4)Research an area that our government enforces now (meat packing, environment, pharmaceuticals) and report how this is enforced today. 

I focused on meatpacking. Today the government has a number of laws regarding meat packing. I chose to highlight a few of the standouts. First off they inspect the conditions of the factory. Specifically how sanitary it is kept, to make sure safety is a top priority and how the meat is inspected and shipped. They also enforce hours; there are certain regulations governing how long a worker can be in the factory during one day. These laws specifically are enforced by supervisors and health inspectors. Their job is to go to factories and make sure everything is in order. They often pose as workers to make sure there is no deceiving by management. Workers are also interviewed to make sure factory life is safe, respectful and strictly professional. Meat is inspected often to make sure they are taking proper precautions to make sure the meat is produced properly. There a number of laws focusing on meat packing that are standard for each state. The meatpacking industry employees over 500,000 workers so enforcement of laws and sanitation are very important.