The Irish standard., 1910-02-19
DOES THE MEAT OCTOPUS HOLD
THEM PlAclDLY IN ITS
. = .TENTAcLEs7
THINGS LOOK QUEER IN CHICAGO
v. s. District Attorney and Federal
Grand Jury viii Find out.-Apoio.
oetic. Toastmaster Of, the "Food
Purveyors'" subpoenasd.

dependent meat packers? II so, who
are they and what do they think Of
their brethren? II not, why not!
These are some questions District
Attorney Edwin w. Sims, his assist
ants, James H. Wilkerson, Oliver Il.
Pagin and Elwood Goldman; his chief,
Judge X. NJ. Lands, and the federal
grand Jury for the northern district Of
Illinois have set about solving.
The banquet Of the food purvey.
ors," held at the La Sale hotel, and
= full page defense of the packers by
two supposed Independent packers,
printed as an advertisement in Chi.
cago newspaper. have attracted gov.
ernmental attention. 49,,
He'll Open Throttle Wide.
The apparent publicity moves In.
duced Futile Reformer" Sims to open
wide the throttle of his powerful en-.
CINE Of investigation.
The new policy of a thorough in.
ovestigation of all of the packers, of
the relations Of those of international
reputation with petty local concerns,
was signalized by the calling before
the grand Jury of James Scanlon Agar,
president of the Western Packing and
Provision company, former president
of the American Meat Packers asso.
citation, toastmaster at the Food Pur.
veyors' banquet and author of the phil.
anthropic advertisement in defense of
the packers.
The zest and snap with which the
investigation is to proceed was indi.
Gated by the fact that more than fiji.
teen witnesses gave testimony before
the grand jury during the day, more
than were heard in the first two weeks
of the investigation.
Probe stIrs Things a Bit.
;. Not only the big packers and the
Independents felt the electric influence
of the. prosecutors in the federal
building. The activities of its vide
spread agents startled another class
of men with the knowledge that they
are to play a part in the fight for low
prices Of food products.
Aside from showing incidentally
that the same. men and methods that
destroyed the independence of the
New York Butchers Dressed Meat
company had been used in a vain at
tempt to gain control of Schwarzschild
& Sulzberger, the status of independ.
ent companies has not been gone into.
It is now practically certain, how.
ever, that the prosecutors will attempt
to show that large proportion of the
supposed Independents, firms which
trade upon their alleged freedom from
any connection with the big three, are
In reality as completely dominated by
Armour, Swift and Morris as are the
constituent companies Of the national
company g.. r. Il
1t is said that as long as no one is
in the market but buyers, big packers
and "harmonized" independents, the
market is strangely dead. There is no
fierce competition, but an amicable di.
vision Of the available supply, and a
united effort to hammer down the
prices. But when an independent buy.
or comes into the market he has to
fight for what he gets, with the result
that prices shoot suddenly skyward.
1t is expected that some unattached
buyers may be induced to tell which
Of the Independent" firms have this
effect and which do not.