The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-02-26

stored, proved a fruitful source of inVestl-
cation. More than q month ago the in
quiry by the grand jury was started, cold
storage plants were inspected, witnesses
were examined. Today the indictment
was handed up in the supreme court be-
fore Justices Blair and Carey.
Manipulation of Food Supply.
The proceedings were formal in the ex-
IRENE. and there was nothing dramatic I'D
the presentation of the document that Will
mean the trial by jury of some OF the
most prominent men in the United states
charged, in effect, with cheating the pub
lie by manipulating the food supply
through the medium of cold storage.
OF this alleged manipulation the indlct-
ment charges that the defendants con
spired within the jurisdiction of this
court, wilfully, unlawtully
and felonously devising, cOntriving and
intending for their own unjust, excessive
| immoral and unlawful profit and gain, 10
injure, defraud, prejudice, damage, cheat,
impOveTiSh and Cypress the public and the
people by cOrnering and limiting the
necessary and reasonable supply OF
meats and poultry for consumption by the
public and the people of said city and
said county, so as to produce an artlrlclal
scarcity in the supply of said meats and
poultry, and to greatly, excessively and
eXtortionately enhance and increase the
cost and price thereof"
Unlawful Agreement.
According to the indictment, an Illegal
agreement to control prices was entered
into by the defendants as far back as
March 1, 1905 when, it is charged, a meet
ing was held in Jersey City at which the
defendants ''Niifully, unlawfully, fraudu-
lently and eXtOrtionately' bound them
selves to maintain and exercise control
over a monopoly of the meat and poultry
supply, and to arbitrarily and unlawfully
increase the price of meat and poultry,
and not to sell TO the public meats and
poultry except at exOrbitant prices agreed
upon"
The indictments goes on to state that
mere dTiblets of the supply were put on
the market at stated Intervals, small
quantities agreed upon by the defendants,
thus 10 curtail and restrict the supply
for the purpose of fictltlOusly, arbitrarily
and unlawfully increasing prices to the
public"
No attempt is made to recte the loss
alleged to have been sustained by the
public at this alleged creation OF arti-
fetal prices, but warehouses are hello
specifically to blame. By this means, il
is charged, the defendants were success
full in keeping off the markets large guam
titles of meat and poultry, which, II put
upon the markets, would have been sur
ficient to meet reasonable demand.
The National Packing Company.
Significant relations between the Ar
mGur. Swift and Morris interests, through
the medium of the National Packing COM
pany, are set forth in the document. To
carry out the conspiracy, 1t is charged,
certain adjustments in the directorate Of
the National Packing company were
nece ssary.
To this end, the Indictment says. a
meeting was held in Jersey City on De-
cember a. 1908, at which various diTec-
tors of Armour q Co, Swift q Co, and
Morris q Co. were elected directors of
the National Packing company, constitut-
ing a majority and controlling the board.
The Armour interests were represented by
J. Ogden Armour, Corners and Meeker;
Morris interests by Edward Morris and
Wilson and Kenneth n. McBaren, a resi-
dent director CMcLaren was not indicted,
and the Swift interests by Edward +.
and Louis F. Swift and L. A Carton.
The makeup of the directorate OF the
National Packing company indicates how
wholly representative IT is of the great
packing interests Of the country, while
in turn the company owns the capital
stock of the following:
Fowler Packing company. the St. Louis
Dressed Beef & Provision company, the
Fowler Canadian company Qlmited), FOw-
Ter Brothers Qimite0 of Liverpool. the
Omaha Packing company, the Hammond
Packing company, the G. o. Hammond
Packing company, the Anglo-American
Provision company and the United
Dressed Beef company.
The National Packing company was in
corporated under the laws of New Jer-
sey in 1903, and has a capital stock Of
SIS 600, 900.
Ira n Morris sent a lawyer to Jersey
City this week from Chicago to inform
Prosecutor Garvan that he had retired
from the directorate of Morris & Co., but
nevertheless he was indicted.
Cooper is the New Jersey manager for
Swift & Co Bathgate, Edwards, Hart
We'll, Darlington and Fuller are said to
be officers and eastern agents Of the Ma
tional Packing company, while others
named are either directors or officers or
former directors or officers of the Ma
tiOnal Packing company.
Capiases for the arrest Of all the de-
PENDANTS will be issued Immediately, and
the grand Jury will resume its investiga-
ton on next Wednesday.