The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-05-22
GRANTED
TEMPORARY RESTRAINING on.
DER ISSUED AGAINST LEAD
-. ING PACKERS.
LITLLK OBJECTION. RAISED

-OoC1O11O4Ns' hAlOEJ
Ruling by Judge Grosscup at Chicago
So Wide in Its Scope That if the
Packers or Their Agents Continue in
Their Present Alleged Uniform Ar.
engagements They Will Be Taken In.
to Court on Contempt Proceedings.
Chicago, May 21.-The temporary
Injunction asked for by the govern
ment against the members of the So
called packers combine is now in
force. It was issued by Judge Peter 8
Grosscup after the close of arguments
in the United States courtroom. The
order gives the relief prayed for in
the bill filed by District Attorney Be-
thea on May 10. It is so wide in it's
scope that if the packers. or their
agents continue with their present al
legged Uniform arrangements they will
be taken into court on contempt pro-
ceedlngs and the burden of proof will
be on them to show that they have not
violated the order in any particular.
Little objection was raised against
the governments petition. ATTORNEY
John S. Miller, who was the sole repre-
sentative of the packers present, point
ed out some Objectionable clause in
the draft of an order presented by
Mr.. Bethea. These concerned the al
legged agreements for credit, blacklist
ing and carriage. Judge Grosscup
thought some of these minor clauses
had been made too prominent and he
himself drew a form of order that
pleased both sides. At the same time
the order was entered numerous afr
davits and other exhibits were filed
| for the government.
The courtroom was crowded as it
has seldom been before. General
Consul Miller sat alone to represent
the defendants, though there were
many office employees of the packers
among the spectators For the gov
eminent District Attorney Bethea was
the leader and was aided by Solicitor
General J. K. Richards and Special
Counsel Day of Washington and AS
sistant District Attorneys Morrison.
Pagin and Davis.
District Attorney Bethea had read
part of the bill before Judge Grosscup
interrupted him with the statement
shat this would be unnecessary, as the
court was already advised of the
Charges Made by the Government.
Mr. Bethea then filed a number of af-
fidavits. Attorney Miller next made a
statement on behalf of the packers
and said that while he was not pre-
pared to oppose the governments Pc
tltion at present, he was authorized to
submit to the entry on behalf of his
clients - >
Solicitor General Edwards made
brief statement in answer to some of
the objections made by Attorney Mil
Ter. Attorney Day also spoke briefly
on behalf of the government At the
conclusion of the remarks the order
was taken away by Judge Grosscup
Tor amendment, and later was filed.
Unless the defendants decide to
make light at an early date in an ef-
fort to have the order set aside they
Will have until Aug. 4 to make reply
to the complaint. Attorney Miller said
that he cannot tell whether a demur-
rer, plea or an answer will be filed,
though the first named is the most
likely to be the form of the packers
Defense
The subpoenaes served recently on
the defendants commanded them to
file their appearances separately be-
fore July 7.
The evidence presented by District
Attorney Bethea, when the case was
opened, consisted of bulky batch of
afidavits collected from persons for
merly connected with the packing
houses that have been made defend
ants in the suits. The affidavits were
20 in number and the attorneys in
dulged in a short tilt over the question
of whether they should be read, but
the court decided that no reading
would be permitted until the issue
had been slated.
An important Affidavit.
The most important affidavit SUBJ
mitted is that of Daniel w. Meredith
of Jersey City, N. J. For six years he
was manager for Armour & Co. at
Milwaukee and manager. in Philadel-
phia for three years. Prior to working
for Armour & Co. he had been with
Swift e Co.
Since 1893, he declared, six general
managers for the big companies have
been accustomed to meet at least once
week in the city of New York to rec
oncile the differences between them
selves concerning the operating of
their business and also to consider the
price which they should place for the
ensuing week on the meat products
sold in that territory, and for the pur-
pose of considering the quantity of
meats which each concern had on
hand and when the necessities of
the trade require they would agree
to curtail their shipments of meat
from Chicago, their design and pur-
pose being to limit the quantity of
meats in sight at New York and ad-
jacent points and raise the prices.
The affidavit covered at considerable
length the manner, in which the al
legged meetings were conducted.