Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1905-03-17
COMMISSIONER GARFlELD'S RE-
PORT.
It Is Found to Be Favorable to the
Great Packers


Great Packers
The report of Commissioner of Cor.
porations Garfield on the beef indus
try, after about eight months inyesti-
cation in Chicago and elsewhere,
shows that there has been an enormous
amount of eXaggeration in the state
ments that have appeared for some
time past in regard to the beef bilSl-
ness. This investigation was set on
foot by resolution Of the House or
Representatives adopted March Z, 1904,
and the ascertaincd facts after most
rigid examinatio of the methods and
general conduct of the business are
contained in a report covering Jus
pages. Its figures and tables conclu-
sively show that the popular belief in
enormous profits made by the large
packers, such as Armour & Co, Swift
& Co. and Nelson Morris & Co., and
in the exclusive control Of the Dusl-
ness which many think they ENJOY, IS
really without foundation.
The report made to President ROoso-
Welt by Commissioner Garfield is real
ly the first official statement of the ac-
tual conditions of the beef business
that has been made, and as all the con-
illusions arrived at are based, as SHOWN
by him, upon data officially obtained,
there seems to be no reason why they
should not be regarded as reliable ana
in all respects trustworthy.
This report shows why the price of
both cattle and beef advanced to the
highest level ever known after the
short corn crop of 1901, and states that
i in
cattle and also in decreased weight,
'the high prices of beef which caused
so much complaint among consumers
at this time were attributable wholly
to these abnormal cattle prices"
All the figures of the live weight
and live cost of all dressed beef cattle
were obtained from actual killing rec
ords and all information of every kind
obtained by the Commissioner was
voluntarily and freely offered by the
packers, all books of record and papers
connected with the business having
placed at his disposal.
To make certain that the results OF
the investigation should be absolutely
accurate, the Commissioner states that
q double method of ascertaining profits
was adopted, and, without going into
detail here, it is found that the conclu-
sion arrived at shows an average profit
of 80 cents per head. The Commits
sioner says 1.-The close parallelism in
the results of the two methods Of ascer-
tanning the profits confirms completely
the correctness of the general conclu-
sions" 1t is clearly established that
western packers do not control more
than half of the beef supply Of the
United States" the conclusion of the
Commissioner being that the business
done by them amounts to about 40
per cent of the total slaughter Of the
country.
The whole report is extremely inter-
esting and we'll worthy of careful Pc
rusal. AS an official report it may be
regarded as worthy of confidence and
it certainly leads the reader to the
conclusion arrived at by the Commits
sioner when he states that 1.-The capital
ization of none of these concerns is
excessive as compared with its actual
investment and that from thorough
and rigid examination of original en-
tries in books and papers to which he
had access there was also indirect evil
dence that the profits of the packers
in their beef business are less than is
frequently Supposed as shown by
comparison between the total profits
and the total amount Of sales.