The Carlisle independent., 1910-02-03
SCHEME TO FORM. $5oo,ooo, ,ooo TRUST WILL BE CORNER
 STONE OF CHICAGO FIGHT.
HOW THEY SQUEEZE ST0CKMEN
Independent Bidding Is Farce-Pack- CTS Manipulate Prices of Live Stock Against Shippers-Re-
 qulate Supply by Wire.


 interests of the country tried to form a $500,000,000 trust, with an English charter so framed as to dodge the operations of the laws of the United States, is the corner stone of the new fight that is under way before federal grand jury in Chicago. Four years ago this idea for operating all oi the packing plants in America was started on it's way.
 It died speedy death when at torneys looked into the question re ported to the chief movers that an English corporation, operating under an English charter could no nothing in America that a local corporation would be prohibited from doing Then the National Packing company became the sole reliance of the meat interests This New Jersey corporation, with it's offices in the Rookery in Chicago, be came the dominating influence in pack ing circles. At it's head has been placed Edward Til6en.
 The evidence will show that each day, between g and 10 o'clock, the operations of the buyers are mapped out by them. A network of private telephone lines, leading to each pen and from each packing house is brought into service to tell each buyer what he must buy, what he must keep off of and how the days buying has been allottA1 among the packers.
 There is 10 independent bidding of one house against the other. AS an buyers from Armour's plant, from Swift's and from the other component parts of the trust were all assembled one morning in the hog pens. Sud- denly several of the buyers looked at their watches and took keys from their pockets They opened boxes con. taining the telephones. A nasty con- versation in each box brought the orders for the day. Immediately every buyer in the pen drew off except the buyer from one house. They had been ordered to let that house do all the buying and not to make a purchase of one hog at any price.
 The result was that seller who had brought hogs to the pens had them left over until the following day. Tie hogs must be fed, the men must maintain themselves at hotels, and the cost of waiting for a rise in price was thus made too great to warrant fight for higher price for the hog shipments.
 Next day the price of hogs went down and everybody bought The general programme was to limit the buying, squeeze the price, and then by concerted action stock up on hogs at the reduced price just before "the law of supply and demand" quoting the packers, forced up the price again"
 But whose supply? The packers. And whose demand? Again, the pack ers.',
 So that, limiting and regulating the supply and being masters of their own demands, they made such prices from day to day, and made such pur- chases to fit in with the prices that the farmer and stock raiser, now held by the packers as guilty of maintain ing high prices, were forced to get rid of their stock in such market as the packers might make, and upon such ebbs of the price tide as might artificially be made.
 It will be shown before the grand jury at Chicago that no price for live stock has been paid at the Union Stock yards without the direct, positive order of the combination. It will be show that buyers have idly frittered away the day, with pens bursting with cattle, hogs and sheep, and then busily sought purchases on days when there were no animals to be brought and no chance of making any extensive purchases.
 Then, with prices sent over the wires as of the day in which the stock was short, the cattle raisers, reading the notices, hurried their stock in to get the benefit of the ad- vance, only to find that the mysterious telephones had swept away the phantom prices. and the hungry stock was eating its head off" as an in ducement to a fast sale and the new and reduced rate.
 Tn the showing it appears, beyond doubt that there is less justification for a high price on meat under the latter-uay system for utilizing the by product than there has ever been since the packing industry began.
 Will Withdraw Hartman Money.
 NoU Vorly fv-Th0 millions left by E. H. Hartman are to be