The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-02-26
IND|CI MEkI IF
THE B[Ef IRU 7
TWNETY-oNE PACKERS AND SIX
BIG FIRMS CAUGHT IN
THE TOLLS.
c 'MBlNE IS CHARGE D
Paper Most Complete, and Declares
Packers Made Agreement Under
Which Monopoly Worked
at Jersey City.

several of them multi-milliona!res,
was indicted by the grand jury at
Jersey City today. charged with con
! spiracy In limiting the supply Of meat
and poultry. The maximum penalty
In New Jersey Is three years in
prison, $4,000 fine, or both.
The meat barons must successfully
resist extradition or come to Jersey
City for trial. Prosecutor Garven an
nounced tonight that he was for eY.
tradition in every case where the in
dividual is unwilling to face trial.
lThe defendants are:
III National Packing Company, Ar,
LfMour and Company, Swift and Com.
q pany, Morris and Company, Hammond
\ Packing Company and G. H. Ham.
mond and Company. J. Ogden Ar
mour, Watson Armour. Louis +.
Swift, Edward F, Swift, Charles H.
Swift. Edward Marris, Ira NJ Morris,
Arthur Meeker, Edward Tilden, L. A.
Carton. Thomas E. Wilson. Thomas
! J. Connors, F. A. Fowler, l.. H. Hey
man, James E. Bathgate. Jr., George
\ J. Edwards, Frederick B. Cooper, d.
d. Hartwell, A. A. Fuller Henry b.
/ Darlington and Lemuel G. Patterson.
/ The Indictment bristles In arraign.
ment OF the men named. also refers
I to divers others" as responsible The
latter however, are not specified. The
u list of names include representatives
OF the backbone II the packing indus.
try. The indictment is the climax
of the first concerted effort in the
east to fix responsibility for the high
prices of commodities.
Jersey City as cold storage center
Y wherein countless thousands of
pounds OF meat and poultry are stored.
proved a fruitful field for the investi-
cation. More than month ago the
inquiry started, storage plants were
\ inspected, and witnesses examined
N There was nothing dramatic in to-
days presentation of the document
which means that the trial of some
of the most prominent men in the
country charged, in effect, with
4 cheating the public by manipulating
the food supply.
The indictment charges that the
defendants "willfully, unlawfullt,
feloniously devising, contriying, in
tending for their own unjust, exces-
sive, immoral and unlawful profit and
gain, to injure, defraud, prejudice,
damage, cheat. impoyerish, oppress
the public by cornering and limiting
the necessary and reasonable supply
of meats and poultry for consumption
by the public, so as to produce an
| artificial scarcity In the supply of
1 said meats and poultry, and to great
| ly, excessively, extortionately en-.
! hance and increase the cost and price
thereof"
According to the Indictment an IL
legal agreement to thus control prices
was entered into by the defendants
on March l, 1908 when, 1t is charged,
meeting was held In Jersey Ci,y
whereat the defendants, "wilfully,e
unlawfully, fraudulently, extortionate-
ly" bound themselves to maintain
and exercise control over monopoly
Of the meat and poultry supply, and
arbitrarily and unlawfully increase
\ the price Of meat ami poultry and
not sell meat and poultry except at
exorbitant prices agreed upon"
The Indictment states that mere
driblets of the supply were put on the
/ market at stated intervals, In small
quantities agreed upon, thus to cur
tail and restrict the supply for the
/ purpose OF fictictiously. arbitrarily,
\ unlawfnlly increasing the prices 10
7 the public"
The defendants, it Is charged, we're
successful in keeping off the market
large quantities of meat and
poultry which. If marketed, would
have been sufficient to meet the res.
sonable demand. To carry out the
conspiracy. 1t Is charged, meeting
was held in Jersey City, December
IA. 1908 whereat the various directors
[ OF the Armour, Swift, and Morris cont
panies elected directors OF the Ma
tional Packing company. constituting
majority Of the controlling board.
The personnel of the directorate of
I the National Packing Company, indi.
! Gates how representative 1t Is Of the
\ great packing interests, while In turn
the company owns capital stock Of
the foil, wing:
Fowle Packing Company; st.
Louis . essed Beef and Provision
| Company Fowler Canadian Com
; pany; Lowler Brothers. Liverpool;
\ Omaha Packing Company: Hammond
Packing Company: g. H. Hammond
Packing Company: Anglo-Americap