Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-11-23
THE CATTLE IN NrERESTS
Progress of the Beef Trust
Investigation.
EVIDENCE TAKEN PRO AND CON
The Range Men and Butchers Joint
Convention Not o HOwling
Success.
Associated Press DISPATCHES to the HERALD

Associated Press Dispatches to the HER.Ip
ST. LOUIS, November 32.-The Senate
Cattle Trade Investigating Committee
met again this morning. T. L. Leonard,
of Saline county, one OF the largest i'm.
porters Of black cattle in Missouri, said
the cattle markets were paralyzed by the
control the dressed beef men had secured.
There is 70 competition in the market
between the buyers.
Senator Plumb asked witness if he
thought the price to the consumer lower
than formerly, when there were no pack
ing houses.
Witness-I know the prices we get for
our live beef does not justify the price
which the consumer pays.
Levi Samuels, wholesale butcher of
New York. formerly an exporter, testi-
| fed that the cattle market is now de-
pressed. He was familiar with the
dressed beef business. With the excep-
| ton Of one or two towns in the East all
the beef sold there is dressed beef. The
local butchers have quit slaughtering or
| buying from the wholesale slaughterers.
| The reason for this was that the Western
dressed beef men have gone in there
and offered their beef lower than the
local butchers could buy cattle and
slaughter them. In this way the local
slaughterers were forced to quit killing
and to buy dressed beef from the West.
When the Western men had secured
control they put up the price high enough
to justify their loss previous to obtaining
control.
A. w. Hilliard, of Midland, Texas.
stated that about year ago he was
negotiating with the proprietors of the
beef refrigerator in Ell Paso to supply it
with cattle, but the negotiations fell
through because the FL Paso people were
closed out. The Southern Pacific Rail
road refused to supply cars for the
transportation of dressed beef to Los
Angeles, having contract with the
Chicago people, which compelled them
to exclude the El Paso people.
Richard Gray, General Freight Agent
OF the Southern Pacific system, with his
office at San Francisco, was examined at
his own request. He wished to get on
record denial of the statement made
by Hiliard and another witness with
reference to the company's refusal to
furnish refrigerator cars at Ell Paso. his
statement could not be true, as the COM
pany never had any refrigerator cars in
its equipment. The company had never
refused to furnish box cars to any one
when it had them.
Senator Cullom thought he had Gray
cornered when the latter admitted that
his company had refused to accept cars
from other companies and compelled
shippers to transfer from original cars to
Southern Pacific cars. Gray, however,
qualified this statement by saying the
Southern Pacific only had done this when
the cars offered were unfit to go aver the
steep grades and aroundthe sharp curves
OF their road.
George Beck of Detroit, butcher and
cattle dealer for the last thirty years, tes-
tilted that the dressed beef organization
had been the means of crushing out all
the butchers throughout the East and
concentrating the cattle business in Chi
cago.
Warren Buckmaster, retail butcher
of Akron, Ohio, testified that in 1887.
the labor unions OF Akron, Ohio, passed
a resolution not to buy meats of Armour
q Co. The butchers of Akron were
happy, but in few days Armour sent
down carload of meat and undersold
them all. Armour's concern opened
two stores in the heart of Akron, and
actually gave away the best meat in the
land. The result was the signing of an
agreement by the Butchers Association
to give preference to the house of
Armour Il Co., the latter agreeing TO
close their retail establishments in
Akron. Instead of closing their stores.
they sold them to local butchers to be
run to the great detriment of the trade.
Witness admitted, however, that at
present the consumers get their meat
much cheaper then before Armour G. Co.
came in.
John Duff, of Detroit, a butcher of
twenty-six years. experience, testified
that he was met at Cheboygan six years
ago by Armour meat, and closed out of
the market there. At twenty.six places
in Michigan, outside of Detroit, Armour's
meat is one cent per pound higher than
in Detroit. In those towns, butchers
who six years ago were well-to-do, are
now bankrupt.
Only one witness was examined at
the night session, A. G. Cassidy, an
East st. Louis commission man. He
explained the difference between Chi
cago and st. Louis as a cattle market on
purely business principles, and claimed
that if st. Louis did the right thing, the
cattle question would come out all right.