The Paducah evening sun., 1910-02-26

New York, Feb. 26.-Slx great
packing companies and twentyrone
packers. several OF them multi-mil-
limaires. socially and industrially
prominent. were indicted by a grand
jury in Hudson county. New Jersey,
charged with conspiracy in limiting
the supply OF meat and poultrl
The indictment is drawn under the
law OF New Jersey which provides.
upon conviction. a maximum penalty
OF three years in the penitentiary or
a 1000 fine. or both. The offense liz
lextradltable. which means that prac-
tically all the meat barons of this
country must either successfully re-
sist extraditioR or come to Jersey
City for trial.
The foregoing list of names, Il will
be seen. represents the very back
bone of the great packing industry
OF this country, containing. as IL does.
two Armours three Swifts and two
Morrlses. all the most part residents
of Chicago, together with less i'm
lportant figures in the packing world.
Their indictment brings to a climax
the first concerted effort in the east
TO fix responsibility for prevailing alb
NORMALLY high prices of commodities.
Jersey City, as a cold storage cen
ter, where the packing companies of
the west maintain vast warehouses.
lin which countless thousands OF
pounds OF meat and poultny are
stored. proved a fruitful source of
investigation. More than a month
ago the inquiry by the grand jury
was started. cold storage plants were
inspected, witnesses were examined.
land the Indictment was handed up
in the supreme court before Justices
Blair and Carey. The proceedings
were formal in the extreme and there
was nothing dramatic in the presen-
tation of the document which will
mean the trial by jury of some of
the most prominent men in the
United States, charged. in effect. with
cheating the public by manipulating
the food supply through the medium
of cold storage.
or this alleged manipulation the
indictment, after voluminous and re-
peated legal reference to the defend
lants. charges that they did meet and
conspire within the jurisdiction of
this county, wilfully. unlawfully and
Ifeloniously devising. contriving and
Intending, for their own unjust. ex-
cessive, immoral and unlawful profit
and gain, to injure, defraud. preju-
dice. damage, cheat, impoverish and
Ioppress the public and the people by
cornering and limiting the necessary
land reasonable supply OF meats and
poultry for consumption by the pub
lie and the people OF said city and
lsaid county. so as to produce an arti-
lficial scarcity in the supply of said
meats and poultry. and to greatly,
excessively and extortionatelN en-
lhance and increase the cost of price
thereof"
Goes Back Two Years.
According to the indictment az
Illegal agreement to thus contro
prices was entered into by the de
. PENDANTS as far back as March 1
!, 1908. when. il Is charged. a meetini
was held in Jersey City at which th'
defendants "wtlfuliy, ulhawfully
: fraudulently and extortionately
/, bound themselves to maintain an;
exercise control over a monopoly o
the meat and poultry supply, and Il
arbitrarily and unlawfully increas
the price OF meat and poultry and no
: To sell to the public meats and poul
: trv except at exorbitant prices agree
e upon"
: The Indictment goes on to stat
I that mere driblets of the supply wer
a mt ON the market at stated intervals
(Continued on Page Five.)