The Holly chieftain., 1905-01-13
GETTING AFTER
THE BEEF TRUST.
Attorney General Moody Exposes the
Devious Methods Employed by the
Beef Trust to Fleece the Public.

The beef trust. or packers COM
bine, was excoriated by Attorney
General W. H. Moody in his ar
gument before the United States
supreme court in Washington. d.
c., on Monday in the snit of the
United States government against
the great packing companies under
the Sherman antitrust law. The
court room was crowded aad it
was universally agreed that Mr..
Moody made one of the strongest
arguments presented to the su-
preme court in years.
His review of the alleged offense
was exhaustive and lie showed
clearly how the packers conducted
every part Of their business Ill
complete concert. doing up alike
the liv. stock producer, the COM
mission men, the butchers and the
people of the nation.
In conclusion, Mr.. Moody said:
These are The main subjects of
the unlawful conspiracy among
the defendants. Others ale set
forth in the petition, the purpose
of which is to make more effective
the main conspiracy and render it
less easy for the defendants them
selves to escape from the perform
ance Of the unlawful conspiracy
which they have formed. / will
now consider these subsidiary
agreements.
"First-ln the seventh para.
graph Of the petition it appears
that the defendants have agreed
upon this device: In pursuance
of the conspiracy among them
selves their agents bid up the price
of live stock ut certain selected
times to an abnormal point. This
naturally induces the shipment
from other states of live stock to
10 the point where the price is bid
up in quantities much larger than
under normal conditions.
Then, taking advantage of this
congestion of the markets, they re-
frain from bidding against each
other in the purchase Of liye stock
with the result that the producers
and owners of the stock are forced
to sell at rulnous prices. Thus the
unlawful conspiracy to refrain
from bidding against each other is
made doubly profitable. and the
great profits which come from the
transaction in turn increase the
power of the combination and
tend to fasten upon the people a
monopoly. The conspiracy in
this case is anciIlary to the con-
spiracy to refrain from bid'ling
and to the creation of the monop-
oily which this whole case dis
closes.
"Second-It is alleged i'll the
eighth paragraph that for the pur-
pose of aiding IN the raising, low
ering and fixing and maintaining
of uniform prices for fresh meut.
the defendants collusively restric-
ted and curtailed shipments of
meats TO the various markets
throughout the country. The
word 'collusively' fairly interpret
ed, means that they curtailed ship
ments bv agreements with each
other. Doubtless such transac-
tions sometimes may be entirely
ley itimate. This consideration is
reco !nized in the decree, which
examp,s frem its prohibition the
curt.iIlug OF SHIPMENTS made in
good faith !" pier ut the conges-
lions of mn krts.
Til 'rl-In pnr,rr,ph' eight, |
penal les arr. imposed against sch
Other by defendants f,r al d-vit-
tion, from the pice fixed. which
NEEDS no special comment.
Fourth In paragraph eight,
also, uniform rules Tor the giving
of credits ale agreed upolA his
of itself might be harmless, but