Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-04-08
TO LIMIT USE OF
COLD STORAGE
Senator Lodge Introduces Measure
signed to Prevent Artificial
Prices.
TO AMEND PURE FOOD ACT
Articles in Storage One Year to Be
Deemed Adulterated.
PENALTY FOR MISBRANDING
Inquiry Committee Asks for Further
Instructions.
UNDER SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION
Funds Asked for Complete work
Along Comprehensive Lines--MRt-
ter VIII Come Up for Con
siderRtion Monday.
} AMEND PURE FOOD ACT
Articles in Storage One Year to Be
Deemed Adulterated.
TY FOR MIsBRANDING
PENALTY
Inquiry Committee Asks for Further
Instructions.
UNDER SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION

WASHINGTON, April "A limit should
be put on the use of cold storage for the
purpose Of advancing prices artlflcally.
This is the judgment Of the senate cost ot
| living committee and chairman Lodge to-
day introduced in the senate bill to meet
| the recommendation.
| In presenting the bill Senator Lodge made
the following statement:
Under the resolution OF the senate, the
senatorial commission propose to inquire
| into wages and prices OF commodities and
was given authority TO make recommenda-
tlons. In pursuance Of that authority the
committee desires to recommend to the
/ senate that legislation limiting the time
during which perlshablo articles Of food may
be held in cold storage. From such in
vestigatons as the committee has thus far
/ been able to make, It is satisfied that some
! limit ought to be put on the use of cold
storage for the purpose of advancing prices
artlficially. It's members arc Of the opinion
that this limit of time will tend to an
equalization of prices and in some cases to
! reduction.
''The investigation of this subject Is not
complete but 1t has proceeded far enough
to confirm by the results thus far OBJ
I ldlutu lle tNlh Nllob Noo AnhNA W
the committee
The question of public health is not
within the jurisdiction Of your committee
charged with the investigation into the
| wages and prices. The committee has
no doubt however. that a limitation of
| the time during which perishable articles
OF food and more especially meat prod
ucts may be retained in cold storage
would be hygenically of very great value
and would tend to check many physical
troubles which are brought by those who
| have examined the question to be at
| tributable 10 the practice of keeping
meats. particularly in storage for very
! long time,
Legislation in tLA direction st the earliest
possible moment."
Provisions of the Bill.
Mr.. Lodges bill will provide that food
! kept in cold storage for more than one
year should be considered as adulterated
! and that any food taken out of cold stor-
age and enormously marked as to the time
| it has been in storage should be regarded
as lnisbranded by violation Of the pure food
law.
The committee, through Mr.. Lodge, also
asked the senate for instruction in the
matter of continuing the investigation into
| the cost of living 1t was estimated that
four months would be required to complete
the work and that 1t would necessitate an
expenditure Of $65,OOO
The outline of the suggested plan was
given in great detail 1t calls for state
ments to be obtained from forty buyers in
! selected localities, covering the price paid
to the producers on January, February,
March, April, May and June of each year
! g. n
live stock and other farm products.
| 1t contempates also the procuring OF
Wholesale prices by the bureau of labor
on 26 Ocommodities for 1903 and the first
four months of 1910, in order to bring down
to date the statements already given since
the year 1890.
The bureau of labor would be called on
to obtain wholesale prices from 1897 to
1910 on all kinds Of agricultural impIe-
ments.
Prices "a Consumers.
! Retail prices paid by the consumer on
! seventy -one articles would be obtained
covering the same periods as we're pre-
! scribed for producers prices. This list is
intended TO include all articles covered by
the senate resolution, providing for the In
vestigaton excepting rent, for which the
committee says it seems practically impos-
sble to obtain reliable comparative figures.
Under the head OF retail prices the com
mittee says the prices should be obtained
from four establishments In each OF twenty
selected cities and that the stores should
be those, patronized by wage earners
An investigation would be made Of wages
salaries and hours Of labor from payrolls
for a stated period In each OF the two
years, 1900 and 1910 from at least ten es-
adjustments in long list OF manufac-
turers and in at least ten cities covering
department stores, street railways tele-
graph and telephone companies and In ten
cities the union scale and the nonunion
wage for building trades, compositore, docl,
hands, iron moulders and machinists
It is suggested also that the prevailing
wages OF agricultural labor In 1900 ana
1910 should be obtained.
QuestiOns Meet Us at Home.
Senator Lodge told the senate Il prob
ably would be impossible to gather the
desired data within time less than four
months and in response to a question
from Senator Hale he stated that prob
ably it would be impossible to present
complete report during the present ses-
sion Of congress
Mr.. Hale spoke I'm appreciation OF the
fact that there was a likelihood OF even
partial report during the pfasent ses-
sion.
These questions Will meet us at
home" he said. "and they win be agi-
tated in connection with the congressional
election.
81 trust" he added, "thdt we may
count on the committee supplying US
with much valuable material such as all
Of us may find desirable between now aud
next November"
Senator Bacon of Georgia deprecated the
suggestion OF the Maine senator lie had
not supposed the information Was 10 be
ELECTED merely for the purpose OF supply
ing election material Mr. Lodge said that
II there was politics in the cost Of living
inquiry he had not discovered the fact
Mr.. Clarke of Arkansas, one OF the demo-
! cratic members, objected 10 a request made