The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-02-06

VI dllcQ Slldoc INhoAi ~ CiAiicA
of the cabinet board, was has the North
ern Securities scalp dangling at his belt,
and who was one of the best prosecuting
attorney-generals the nation ever had.
Also the equally keen, hard-brained
George Woodward Wickersham. attorney
general, whose mind is as swift as a
panthefs, and who came into the cabinet
because nc was ambitious to leave rec
ord of honorable public service. He sees
his opportunity In subjugating all the
unruly, defiant, lawlese, predatory cor
p'rations, and is Absolutely confident in
his own ability to accomplish the said
subjugatior.
In the board of strategy there are also
Jacob McGavock Dickinson, secretary of
war; Charles Nasel, secretary Of COM
mercc and labor; Wade Ellis, assistant
tc the attorney general. and Frank B.
Kellogg all of whom stand ir the front
rank of the bar
In selecting The beef trust as their first
victim, the board OF strategy has
played a shrewd and level-headed game.
In the first place, the evidence against
the giant monopol-r is said to clinch the
governments case beyond reasonable
doubt. In the second place. President
Taft is confident the supreme court, in
the Standard Oil and Tobacco trust cases
will uphold the decisions of the lower
courts. In the third place, no more pop
ular object of public rerfoach than the
National Packing company under which
name the Armour-Swift combination does
business, could have been chosen.
The suit to dissolve the beef trust will
be significant in many ways. 1t will be
the criterion by which the value of flu
ture prosecuting under the Sherman anti
trust law will be judged. 1t has direct
bearing on the question which Is now agl-
tating the Countrywide high cost of liv-
ing. a question which threatens to become
a political issue and to make or break the
Taft administration. 1t will expose the
processes by which artificially high prices
are maintained and the restraint of trade
accomplished. 1t will either>do that or
exempt the corporation from all blame for
the present meat prices No one really
believes that the beef trust is as guiltless
| OF such sinister manipulation as II pre-
| tends to be.
| The present retail price Of beef is so
| high that the meat boycott threatens to
| become national movement. 1t has al
| ready proved its power to knock down
| prices. But 1t is obvious that the boy
colt will hit possibly innocent party
the retailer-hardest and practically leave
the real offender-the packers trust-un-
scathed. 1t has been suggested that 1t is
| prices and who derives the benefit from
| them. An illustration from the Baltimore
market, proves exactly the contrary.
The price of first quality beef cattle in
that city is from to 4hc a pound, and
medium quality to 81 cents a pound,
This was the price the farmer received
for his cattle. Out of 1t he had to pay
| freight commission, and perhaps other
Koha 1aazrfnU him IN II
profit upon the cattle he has fattened
upon corn worth go to 10 cents q bushel.
heef loses about 20 per cent in butch
ering, therefore the price paid by the
butcher for first-class beef cattle would
be about cents and a little upward, and
for medium about 375 cents pound The
retail market reports show that the price
charged the consumer for roasts is Is to
| 20 cents a pound, and for steaks Is to Is
cents The lowest price at which any is
sold is s cents, soup meat. 1t Is estimated
that what Is called the fifth quarter -
that is. the hide and tallow-pays the cost
Of butchering. Dressed hogs quoted by
the farmer at SA to 10 cents a pound,
| while the woman who goes to market
must pay II to IS cents for pork OBJ
viously the farmer Is not the beneficiary
Of high prices.
As a matter of cold fact, the farmers
have probably been victlmized by the
beef trust. 1t Is the belief of the gov
eminent that the packers combined to
keep the price of cattle down and to keep
the price of beef up. In 1904 Judge Cross
cup OF Chicago issued an injunction to
restrain both these practices, and it was
shown that the companies had an agree
ment not to bid for cattle against each
other.
Their plan was to advance prices nomi-
nally, in order to stimulate great ship.
ments to market, and as soon as that cat
tie arrived the prices would suddenly go
down. In 1904 congress ordered an inves-
tfgation, and on February 90 1905, the
federal grand jury at Chicago began ar
inquiry. Following this suit was brought
under the Sherman act The same veal
four of the officials of the packing coAl.
panies pleaded guilty to the charge of ac
cepting rebates In March, 1905, Judge
Humphrey of Chicago discharged all thu
defendants in the beef cases on the grount
that they were entitled to the "immunit,
BATH" and thus drew the wrath of Pres
dent Roosevelt upon his head
The exposures were contained in move
that Chicago Packing houses were re