Mexico Missouri message., 1910-02-03
PACKERS SOUGHT
ENGLISH CHARTER
SCHEME TO FORM $5oo,ooo,ooo
TRUST WILL BE CORNER
STONE OF CHICAGO FIGHT.
HOW THEY SQUEEZE ST0GKMEH
Independent Bidding Is Farce-Psek-
ers Manipulate Prices Of Live
Stock Against shIppers--Re-
sulate Supply by Wire.

Chicago, Ill.-How the packing
interests of the country tried to form
a $500,000,000 trust, with an English
charter so framed as to dodge the
operations of the laws of the United
States, is the corner stone of the new
fight that is under way before
federal grand jury in Chicago. Four
years ago this idea for operating all of
the packing plants in America was
started on its way.
1t died a speedy death when at
torneys looked into the question re-
ported to the chief movers that an
English corporation, operating under
an English charter could no nothing
in America that a local corporation
would be prohibited from doing. Then
the National Packing company became
the sole reliance of the meat interests.
This New Jersey corporation, with its
offices in the Rookery in Chicago, be-
came the dominating influence in pack
ing circles. At its head has been
placed Edward TilGen.
The evidence will show that each
day, between 8 and 10 o'clock, the
operations of the buyers are mapped
out by them. A network of private
telephone lines, leading to each pen
and from each clearinghouse is
brought into service to tell each buyer
what he must buy, what he must keep
OFF of and how the days buying has
been allotted among the packers.
There is no Independent bidding of
one house against the other. AS an
instance of the daily transactions the
buyers from Armour's plant, from
Swifts and from the other component
parts of the trust were all assembled
one morning in the hog pens. Sud-
denly several of the buyers looked at
their watches and took keys from
their pockets. They opened boxes con-
tanning the telephones. A hasty con-
versation in each box brought the
orders for the day. Immediately every
buyer in the pen drew off except the
buyer from one house. They had been
ordered to let that house do all the
buying and not to make purchase of
one nOg at any price.
The result was that seller who had
brought hogs to the pens had them left
over until the following day. The hogs
must be fed, the men must maintain
themselves at hotels, and the cost of
\ siting for a rise in price was thus
made too great to warrant a fight for
higher price for the hog shipments.
Next day the price of hogs went
down and everybody bought. The
general programme was to limit the
buying, squeeze the price, and then by
concerted action stock up on hogs at
the reduced price just before "the law
of supply and demand" quoting the
packers, forced up the price again"
But whose supply? The packers.
And whose demand? Again, the pack
ers.',
So that, limiting and regulating the
supply and being masters of their
own demands, they made such prices
from day to day, and made such pur-
chases to fit in with the prices that
the farmer and stock raiser, now held
by the packers as guilty of maintain
ing high prices, were forced to get rid
of their stock in such a market as the
packers might make, and upon such
GIBBS of the price tide as might
artificially be made,
It will be shown before the grand
jury at Chicago that no price for live
stock has been paid at the Union
Stock yards without the direct,
positive order of the combination. 1t
will be show that buyers have idly
frittered away the day, with pens
bursting with cattle, hogs and sheep,
and then busily sought purchases on
days when there were no animals TO
be brought and no chance OF making
any extensive purchases.
Then, with prices sent over the
wires as of the day in which the
stock was short, the cattle raisers,
reading the notices. hurried their
stock in to get the benefit Of the ad-
vance, only to find that the mysterious
telephones had swept away the
phantom prices, and the hungry stock
was eating ats head off" as an in
ducement to fast sale and the new
and reduced rate.
In the showing It appears, beyond
doubt that there is less justification
for a high price on meat under the
latter-oay system for utilizing the by
| product than there has ever been since
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