The leader., 1905-03-18

Post.
Big Packers Exonerated by Garfield.
The report Of Commissioner Garfield
on the methods under which the business
of the so-called beef trust is conducted
has been published and a closely printed
book of over 800 pages il the result of the
examination to which that industry has
been subjected. The report is very full
and complete, every phase of the business
having been investigated with the utmost
care and thoroughhess, as is shown by
exhaustive tables of figures, with authen-
ticated facts and statistical data covering
almost every detail of the business.
After careful reading of this report
it is impossible to arrive at any other con-
clusicn 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,
as plainly shown by the report, were with
out any definite information. This re-
port, the result of an inquiry in compli-
Rlce with congressional demand upon
the secretary of commerce and labor, is
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 DS government expert eN-
Rmlners, which it contains, show with
indisputable certainty that the hue and
cry raised during the past year against
the packers has been at least unreason-
able and much OF it, indeed, has been
hysterical.
These officially ascertained facts are a
surprise to very many who have been inn
pressed by the denunciatory language
they have read and heard for some time
past, for they now find that, instead of
the great profits said to be made by
western packers, the business is being
conducted upon a smaller margin OF
profit than that prevailing in any other
industry. Commissioner GARFIELD himself
says: The year 1892. instead of being
one of exorbitant profits. as has been
commonly supposed was less profitable
than usual, and this viii be remembered
as the year when the highest prices ruled
and the packers were being everywhere
accused of eXtort ionate methods. Regard
ing this very year when the complaints
of injustice were the loudest and the
most unanimoGs, the commissioner says:
I'm fact during the months when the
prices of beef were the highest, some, at
least, of the leading packers were actual.
ly losing money on every head CT cattle
slaughtered" for the reason, he con
tinues, it was not possihle8to advance
the prices Of beef in full proportion to
the great advance in the prices of cattle
at that tine,
The report also shows that the public
belief that enormous profits are usually
characteristic of the beef business is en-
tirely erroneous, as it proves, after full
investigation, that the maximum net re.
turn on the several investments was two
and three-tentEs per cent. and the 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 TIE
meat situation and a good deal of loose
denunciation oil packers about whose
methods and business there has been lit
tie or no real information. The concll-
siuns of Commissioner Garfield are Ill
the more valuable as the investigation
was by no means commenced IN anything
like a friendly or partial spirit and that
it has been full and complete il shown
from the books of the companies we're
Totals selected at random were verified
by the items. Many typical blnehes of
cattle have been traced from the time of
Tlirshase TO the time of sale as dressed
beef, thus obtaining accurate illforma-
tion from original records of costs, of
actual selling prices and of ultimate
profits. In many cases the statements of
cattle purchased by the companies were
compared with accounts Of the coinnlis-
sion houses Though whom the cattle
were sold The various checks thus EN-
ployed insure the absolute accuracy of the
fnulrs