The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-09-17
EVIDENCE in BEEF INQUIRY
TENDS TO SHOW A COMBINE.
James "a. spaulding and Inspector
T. l.. O'Sullivan Comment Upon
Uniformity of Meat Prices.

The Beef Trust inquiry conducted by At
torney General Crow in the session here
Yesterday. which was adjourned from JET
ferson City Monday. brought out evidence
tending to show that men are hired under
an agreemnt by the big packing companies
to see that meat is sold at a uniform price
This testimony was given By James h
Spaulding. who said that he came TO ST
Louis In 1857 and opened a house for the
Armour Packing Company at No. 2loo Clark
avenue. He was in this position five years.
when he went to Des Moines, Ia. for the
company.
After being at Des Moines for some time
he came back to ST. Louis, and until last
Christmas he was employed by the ST.
Louis Dressed Beef and Provision Company
TO manage a distributing house at No. 5000
South Broadway.
about a year ago now" said Mr.. Spauld-
ing. ct had some pork on hand that was
not OF first quality. and. not wanting to
sell It to my regular trade. / disposed of II
one day to a peddler for half cent
pound less than the regular market price.
within twenty-four hours a man en-
ployed in a general way by all the COM
panies walked into my office and asked me
what had been doing. told him / had
been doing nothing. when he replied in
stantly that I had been selling pork under
the price. 1 explained why i did 1t, and
after looking around for awhile he went
out I did not hear Of II afterward
.'Did you cut prices after thatT' asked
Mr. Crow.
NO. 1 did not cut the price any more:
got around It by adding to the weight"
EVIDENCE OF COMBINE
"DId you know when you were in the
employ of the packing companies. Mr..
spauldius. that they had a formal and spe-
cinc agreement to maintain a uniform
standard OF prices?'
ct knew of IL, but never had any doc
umentary or other evidence In my posses
sion by which such an agreement could be
proved IN court.
when goods were sent to you from the
house was there always sent with them a
| price at which you were to sellr'
Sometimes there was and sometimes
there wasn't. There was always bill sent
| with goods. but generally 1 set the price
myself according to merit"
awhen there wasn't a specific statement
| to YOU of the price to be asked didn't yoC
have to make your price according to the
| bIllT"
| II did"
was there anything else in which you
| knew the packers to be interested mutu-
| allyT'
..rhey had what they called the c. o. d.
list. which was made up every Wednesday
night at a meeting OF representatives from
| each of the companies
What companies?
"Armours. Swift Co.. Cudahy. Nelson
| Morris & Co. and the st. Louis Dressed
| Beef and Provision Company. The c. o. ID.
list consisted Of names OF small dealers
who bought from the packers. When a man
| had not paid on Wednesday night all bills
| contracted up to the previous Saturday
| night hS was put on the c. o. ID. list. a
/ COPY of which was furnished to all con-
Germs for office reference. Thereafter he had
/ to pay cash for goods, which he might buy
/ at any OF the places. He was treated the
| same at a new place as at the place from
/ which he had been buying all his goods
before"
Mr.. spaulding stated that he Is not In any
/ business regularly, but had been soliciting
/ for an insurance company since he left
the employ of the packing companies He
| was the last witness OF the day.
| The forenoon and a great part Of the aft
ernoon was taken up in hearing the testi-
| mony and the cross-examination OF 7. L.
| OSullivan, q city meat Inspector. who has
been IN the meat business In ST Louis ne
| says. for the last thirty years.
Mr.. OSuIlivan testified at jefferson City
in May. when Attorney General Crow was
| seeking information upon which to begin
the QUO verranto proceeding. His evidence
| was to the effect that In his dealings with
the different packing companies he had
found that they all had the same prices;
that when there were advances the In
creased prices went into effect at all the
coolers or packing houses at the same time.
When asked II he had never bought meat
at one place lower than at another. he
said he had not. but that he had gotten
rebates f<um the house Of Charles ES-