Omaha daily bee., 1905-07-02
leads OF THE BIG FOUR ON THE LIST
Charges of Conspiracy, Combination aud Re
osiving and Granting Rebates
CORPORATIONS ARE ALSO INDICTED
Armour, Swift, oudahy, Morris and Fair
banks Accused Of Same 0tfsnse.
HOW THE MARKETS ARE CONTROLLED
Agents Fix Buying and selling Prices
Daily and in Certain Cases
Destroy stock to Prevent
Disturbance.


CHICAGO, July l.-After an investigation
which has lasted something over three
months and during which more than 100
witnesses were examined, the federal grand
jury this afternoon handed in its report.
Seventeen men prominent in the packing
industries of the country were indicted Cor
violation Of the Sherman antitrust law.
and four officials of the Schwarzchild &c
Sulzberger company were indicted for al
legged illegal rebating to the railroads. Be
sides these individual indictments. bills
were voted against five corporations, Ar
mour & Co. Swift and Company. Nelson
Morris & Co., the Cudahy Packing COM
pany and the Fairbanks Canning company,
The men indicted for alleged conspiracy in
restraint of trade, which constitutes vio-
lation of the Sherman act, are:
j. ogden Armour, president of Armour
& Co.
Charles Armour of Armour & Co.
Arthur MeelIer, general manager for Ar
mour & Co.
T. ]. Conners, director, Armour & Co.
P. A. Valentine, treasurer of Armour
e. Co
Samuel McRoberts, assistant treasurer OF
Armour & Co.
Louis F. Swift president of Swift and
Company.
Charles Swift of Swift and Company.
Lawrence A. Carlton. treasurer of Swift
and Company.
Arthur F. Evans, attorney for Swift and
Company.
r. c. McManus, attorney for Swift and
Company.
A. c. Veeder. general counsel for Swift
and Company.
Edward Cudahy of Cudahy Packing COM
pany.
d. f. Hartwell secretary OF Swift and
Company.
Edward F. Swift, vice president of Swift
and Company.
Edward Morris. secretary of Nelson Nor
ris & Co.
Ira w. Morris of Nelson Morris & Co.
The four employees of Schwarzchild &
Sulzberger who were indicted for alleged
rebating with the railroads are all con-
nected with the traffic department of tho
corporation. Their names are Samuel Well,
B. S. Cussey, c. z. Todd, " D. Skipworth
Ten Counts in indictments.
The indictments voted for alleged viola
| ton of the antitrust law were Identical in
| each instance. The indictments contained
each ten counts. which were spread over
sixty-three typewriter pages.
The first and second counts of the indict-
ments pertain only to beef sold in domestic
| trade. The ninth and tenth counts relate
to beef sold in foreign trade. The third
| count charges conspiracy in restraint OF
! trade and commerce among the states and
| with foreign nations in fresh, dried.
| smoked, canned and picked meats and n
| certain by-products of the packing indus
| try, viz, sausage castings, sausage contain
ers. oleo stock. stearine and oils, and in
butter, eggs and poultry. This count charges
that the trade which the defendants were
carrying on in the above named commodi-
ties was to be restrained in several ways:
,First-.Compettion in the buying cattle at
the stock yards in different cities was to be
| prevented and destroyed by the defendants,
who required their purchasing agents to re-
| fratn from bidding against each other.
| Sacond-Competition as to the sale OF the
| above commodities in foreign and domestic
! markets was to be prevented and destroyed
| by the defendants fixing noncompetitive and
| unreasonable prices for such commodities
and requiring their representatives in the
different markets to fix prices by agree
ment from day to day according to what
the market would stand.
Third-The supply of the above commodi-
ties to be curtailed and restricted
whenever necessary to maintain the prices
so fixed
Fourth-The United States was divided up
into territories between the defendants and
each was to keep its own territory without
| interference by the others.
Fifth-There was division as to the
volume of trade allowed to each defendant
in a given market n one packer sold
more than his percentage during a given
} week he was Obliged to pay an ante OF SO
much per hundredweight according to this
into pool TO cover the excess of sales and
this fund was divided among the packers
who fell short in their sales.
SiXth-Certain corporations, namely, tn,
Aetna Trading company and the Open
heimer Manufacturing company, were TO b
exclusive agents of the packers to handle
the sausage casiEgs and containers, anC
these companies were TO make arrange
ments with the several concerns which haC
been handling such merchandise in thu
markets of the world, for working In har
mony and controlling the output and prize
| the destruction or "tanking'' OF large quan
titles Of castings whenever the supply wa
q too great.
The Kenwood company, another corpora
a ton, was TO handle oleo, oils and product
= on substantially the same LINES. excepting
, ! that there was to be no destruction o
these commodities. These agents OF tn
packers were also to make oohttacts wit
b.. small packing concerns throughout III
n country for taking their output OF casing
! and these castings were either 10 be de
!. stroyed or handled In connection with tn
i goods of the packers
l. Charge of Monopoly.
The fourth count charges that the sam
n matters mentioned I'm the third count a
NJ being in restraint of trade and commerc
constituted an offense on the part OF III
n packers to monopolize such trade an
commerce.
n The ffth count specifically covers III
handling OF the by-products castings an
" containers oleo, stocks, stearine and oil
" and describes a conspiracy IN restraint {
trade TO be effective in the same way q
set forth in the third count with referenC
,r to all OF the products mentioned.
" The sixth count charges the castings col
n, splracy to be an attempt to monopolii
trade and commerce In that commodit
IN in the United States and foreign countrie
NJ The seventh count sets forth the pa
ticulars concerning the organization
" the National Packing company and charg
II that the object and effect Of that organic
or tlon was to destroy competition, not on
between the packers who were Interests