Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-03-30


 the Anglo-American Pro-
 vision company, by Swift
 | & Co. .................. 5000, ,000 Value in merger ......... 15.OOO, ,OOO Total capitalization of beef
 trust .................... POI, ,OOO, ,O0O
 Remarkable Display of Genius.
 The story of how the present gigantic power of the beef trust was born and nurtured has its beginning in the char acter and personal achievements of Gus tavus Swift. However much P. D. Ar mour contributed of sagacity and ener- getic constructiveness, the present con- dition of supremacy of the beef trust and of subservience of the railroads, the fruit growers, the farmers and the stock raisers of the United States would never have come about but for the rawboned, money-loving Yankee Swift the elder. An idea that was his and to which he clung with the tenacity of an inventor, and upon which he staked his all, brought it to pass.
 We have said that Gustavus Swift left the cattle buying business in Brighton and other Massachusetts towns when he discovered how superior western cattle were over those of the east. and how much more money there was for him in dealing in westerns.
 Although he later gave evidence of the innate genius for organization and mon- ey making, he had not up to his remov- al to Chicago been successful except in very small way Utmost frugality and incessant attention to business had giv- en him slender bank account.
 1 The First Refrigerator Cars.
 Nelson Morris, who was rated as one of the cattle kings in the Chicago yards even then, had been experiment. ing with the shipment of meats in box cars packed with ice. These experiments had been very crude and not entirely satisfactory to Morris, but Swift had watched them with keen interest. He seemed to have prophetic vision of the present day. He could see that if meats could be shipped east dressed there l of the day, shipping live cattle, beef on the hoof.' He realized that the beef business would surely grow and that the economy of the new method would mean great deal of money. He formed de- termination which later discourage ments showed nothing could break to succeed in shipping dressed beef
 About that time an inventor by the name of Tiffany had invented and pat ented refrigerator car which promised to be successful. He tried to get back ing and Morris refused it. Gustavus Swift, practically unknown, asked the railroads to furnish some of those cars and he would furnish the dressed beef for the east The railroads refused. To build and own such cars would take sev- eral thousand dollars. and Swift could not we'll spare it from his business, which was growing so fast that it kept him cramped for capital. His associates in the packing business told him he would Ego broke" if he put any money into the Tiffany cars. but he risked fail ure and consequent ruin, and plunged in having three cars built The railroads were to haul these cars. and Swift had no thought of asking pay for the mileage travelled by his cars. He was satisfied tc have the advantage over competitors O >. owning and shipping in refrigerated cars.
 
 Growth of Private Car Line Evil
 When the trial of the cars had become more than an experiment Swift realized 1t was a success. ard as fast as he could he had more of them built Morris. too and others at the Chicago yards had re frigerator cars constructed for them Dressed beef could be shipped to eastern points at such great saving over ship ping live cattle that there was saving to consumers. which stimulated the de mand for dressed beef. and big profit for the packers. The refrigerator cars had come to stay and Gustavus Swift managed to maintain the lead he had SC