The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1905-03-24
Big Packers Exonerated by Garfield.


Il The report Of Commissioner Garfield
on the methods under which the business
!. of the so-called beef. trust is conducted
has. been published and closely printed
y booEsof over 800 pages is the result of tho
examination to which that industry has
been subjected. The report 10 very full
and complete, every phase of the business
having been investigated with the utmost
care and thorouglness, as is shown BY
exhaustive tables of figures, with authen-
ticated facts and statistical data covering
almost every detail of the business.
After a careful reading of this report
It is impossible to arrive at any other con-
clusion than that for some time past
there has been great deal said and writ
ten about this great industry that has
had no foundation in fact. 1t would ap:
pear that popular clamor has resulted
from newspaper comment and the pas
sage of many resolutions by those who,
rs plainly shown by the report, were with
out any definite information. This re-
port, the result of an inquiry in compll-
ance with congressional demand upon
the secretary Of commerce and labor, II
SO complete and detailed that as a whole,
it will not of course be read by the pub
lie at large, but the facts and figures,
authenticated by government expert ex.
aminers, which it contains, show with
indisputable certainty that the hue and
cry raised during the past year against
the packers has been at least un:eason-
able and much of it, indeed, han been
hysterical.
These officially ascertained facts are q
surprise to very many who have been i'm
pressed by the denunciatory language
they have read and heard for some tme
past, for they now find that, instead Of
the great profits said to be made by
western packers, the business il being
IL rs
profit than that prevailing in any. other
Industry. Commissioner Garfield himself
says: "The year 1902, instead Of being
one of exorbitant profits, as has been
commonly supposed, was less profitable
than usual" and this will be remembered
as the year when the highest prices ruled
and the packers were being everywhere
accused of extort;onate methods. Regard
ing This very year when the complaints
of irjustice were the loudest and the
most unanimous, the commissioner says:
'In fact during the months when the
price, of beef were the highest, some, at
least, of the leading packers were actual.
ly losing money on every head of cattle
slaughtered" for the reason, he con-
the prices of beef in full proportion to
the great advance in the prices of cattle
at that time"
The report also shows that the public
belief that enormous profits are usually
characteristic of the beef business is en-
tirely erroneous, az it proves, after full
investigation, that tho maximum net re-
turn on the several investments was two
and three-ten tbs per cent. and che mini
mum one and eight-tenths per cent.
The report is much too detailed and
extensive to attempt any thorough review,
but it clearly demonstrates that there
has been great deal of unnecessary
alarm on the part Of the public as to the
meat situation and a good deal of looss
denunciation OF packers about whose
methods and business there has been lit.
tie or no real information. The conclu-
sions Of Commissioner Garfield are all
&hc more valuable as the investigation
was by no means commenced in anything
like friendly or partial spirit and that
it has been full and complete is shown
when he says: "4All the statistic. taken
from the books of the companies were
checked in che most thorough manner.
Totals selected at random were verified
by the items. Many typical ban .hss Ct
cattle have been traced from the tune Of
purchase to the time of sale as dressed
beef, thus obtaining accurate iuiorn,a-
ton from original records of costs, Of
actual selling prices and Of u'tmata
profits. In many cases the statements OF
cattle purchaser by the companies were
compared with accounts Of the commits
sion houses through whom tho cattle
were sold. The various checks :hus EN-.
p]oye4 insure the absolute accuracy of the