Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1910-02-03
PACKERS SOUGHT
ENGLISH CHARTER
SCHEME TO FORM s~5oo,ooo,ooo
TRUST WILL BE CORNER
STONE OF CHICAGO FIGHT.
HOW THEY SQUEEZE sT0GKMEN
Independent Bidding Is Farce-Pack-
ers Manipulate Prices of Live
Stock Against shippers-Re-
guIate Supply by Wire.

Chicago, Inflow the packing
interests of the country tried to form
a $500, 900, 900 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 a
federal grand jury in Chicago. Four
years ago this idea for operating all of
the packing plants in America was
started on its way.
1t died a 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 tts
offices in the Rookery in Chicago, be-
came the dominating influence in pack
ing circles. At its head has been
placed Edward Til6en.
The evidence will show that each
day, between 8 and 10 o'clock, the
operations of THO 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 allotted among the packers.
There is nc independent bidding of
one house against the other. AS an
instance of the daily transactions the
buyers from Armour's plant, from
Swift's and from the other component
parts Of the trust were all assembled
n 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-
tanning the telephones. A hasty on
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
II hog at any price.
The result was that seller who had
brought hogs to the pens had them left
over until the following day. The 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 a fight for
a 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 a market as the
packers might make, and upon such
GIBBS Of the price tide as might
artificially be made.
1t will be shown before the grand
jury at Chicago that 10 price for live
stock has been paid at the Union
Stock yards without the direct,
positive order of the combination. 1t
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 n Q 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 adj
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.
In the showing 1t appears, beyond
doubt that there Is less justification
for a high price on meat under the
latter-uay system for utilizing the by
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