, 1889-09-05
SENATOR'S AND BEEF.
The Senatorial Committee Ignored
by the Dressed Beef
Men.
The Witnesses Not Appearing to
be Reported to the United
States Senate.
To Reporter p. d. Armour
Severely Scores Senator
Vest.

vestigation into the dressed beef indus.
tries arrived at II position this morning
when II became necessary to resort to
vigorous means or acknowledge the
lionairc dressed beef dealer, had been
subpnnaed for the third time and 1t was
reported that he had agreed to appear
this morning, but he did not come. Il.
ID. Armour, on whom summons was
served, stated that he could
not come at tho hour named
but would let the commission know
when he would be able to attend. Sec
rotary Geo. l.. Williams, of tho Union
Stock Yards, who was ordered to appear
with a list of the stockholders of the
company and other information on
hand, on advice of his counsel refused to
give the names.
The first witness examined was Presi-
dent sherman, of the stock yards COM
pany. His testimony gave an insight
into the extent and the business meth
ods OF the company. In answer To n
question as to whether there were any
relations between the stock-yards at
Ohmaha, Kansas City and those at Chi
Cago hs said there was none.
At the afternooon meeting Chairman
Vest, in discussing the absence of Mr..
Armour and other gentlemen, snid he
was sorry these gentlemen had refused
to attend, but although they could com.
pei attendance, they could not compel
an unwilling witness to testify to all
they knew. 81 have telegram" con.
tinued Senator Vest, "about which |
have desired to personally ask MIR. Ar
mour but as he has refused to appear
here ] will read 1t anyway. II was sent
me by gentleman about whose respect
ability there can be no question" The
message Is as follows; FREEMAN, Pa,
Dec. IL, 1885, Can't allow Schwab to
continue Killing live stock.
IT he will not stop, make
other arrangements and make the price
so that we can get his trade.
The following was then unanimously
iourned:
Whereas, Philip Armour, Nelson Nor
ris, Louis L. Swift, Frank u. Voge, J. 5.
Newman and Jacob Meyer, having been
duly and lawfully summoned to appear
as witnesses before this committee, have
repeatedly refused to obey the same, it Is
ordered that the fact be reported to the
chairman of the senate of the United
states ut its next session.
A reporter for the Associated Press
called on Mr.. Armour and asked for an
interview. Mr.. Armour made the fol
lowing statement:
"The reason we did not appear before
the senatorial committee was that We
know we could not expect n fair state
ment from the hands OF Senator Vest
WHO'S
NoroRIoUsLY ON RECORD
as opposed 10 the dressed beef business
lie Is the champion and advocate of th'
st. Louis deserted cattle market, anc
oppoScd to Chicago interests. lie ha'
been friendly to all hostile beef inspec
tion bills that have been introduced N
tho various state legislatures against
Chicago dressed beef which, If passed
would have destroyed this business. w,
arc perfectly willing to appear before M
impartial committee and give any inior
nation pertaining to our business which
is not of n strictly private nature. w,
have never cNcrted any influence to de
press the price ofcattle or increased the
price of dressed beef. On the ether hand
1t Is a well-known fact that cattle are 81
per hundred pounds higher than they
would he If IL was not for the dressed
beef industry and we can get n deal NOR,
out of bullock than butcher or maj
who kills in small quantities. We have
never had any association with swift
Hammond or Morris, directly or indi
rectly in the purchase of cattle. Th'
telegram to Mr. Vest was read this after
noon for the sake of getting IL on record
IL was directed to our own agent, whom
we had perfect right to instruct tina
he should not kill cattle ii he sold on
dressed beef and ii is entirely stripped
of its force when the fact is understood
that the man was our own represcnta-
tive