The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-05
PACKING PROFITS FROM bY-PRODUCTS,
 WILLIAM ). MILES
Witness Concludes His Tes-
 timony-G0vernment Disappointed
UNIFORM TEST COST
 WAS A NECESSITY
Mass of Documentary Evidence Con sisting of Circulars, Letters and Statistics Introduced By
 the Government S

the Government Chicago, January 4-By-products 2 97 per cent of the profits in the pats ie business, according to figures givf- by William D. Miles, formerly genera ian- ager os the Armour Packing cont y of Kansas City. who concluded his testi- mony today in the trial of 10 Chicago packers charged with criminal violation oi the sherman law. lie gave the com pany's net profits for 1899 as $2o2,S75.1s in the dressed beef department based on the slaughter of 204,S90 animals An analysis of these figures showed that the company made but cents profit or dressed meat of each steer killed, while the fat of each animal yielded profit of 42 cents. The profit on hides was 3, cents a hundred, and IS cents profit was obtained from the glue manufactured iron the hoofs.
 The profit from the fat was IA times thai yielded by the dressed meat and the profit from the hides was nearly as much The money made from glue in the hoofs was six times as much as that made from the sale of the fresh meat, according to MT. Miles.
 Special Counsel Sheean spent severa hours in an effort to get the witness tC admit that these figures were obtained by bookkeeping methods devised by tho packers. but was unsuccessful. Arthur Colby, director and assistant sec retary of the National Packing com | tl. fa fourth witness when court reconvenes to- morrow.
 Documentary Evidence A mass of documentary evidence, con- sisting of circulars, letters and statistics bearing on the alleged agreement of the packers and the summary statements of total shipments, average price received and the margin of profits earned based on the uniform test cost alleged to have been sent out by agents of the defend ants were read to the jury today.
 The documents were inspected by Wit ness William D. Miles, former manager of the Armour Packing company at Kan sas City, and most of them were identified and their contents explained by him.
 MT. Miles reiterated that the sole obiec jof tli. Id aekeie ' ol was so con, shipments to prevent glItting of tine mar ket with fresh meat. He added that the use of uniform test cost was an absolute necessity.
 Counsel for the government was disap- pointed at the showing made by Miles, as it was expected that he would reveal i'm portant secrets of the alleged combination
 Witness denied that any agreement In regard to 'open' cities ever existed among the packers. A memorandum of margins and shipments to Baltimore and Washington markets was identified as having been written, by the witness, who admitted having telegraphed the informa- tion to q representative of the Armour Packing compahy in New York.
 Does the memorandum truly state the action taken at the meeting of the pack CTS pool?"
 Recollection Hazy
 Yes. so far as it goes, but my reeol- lection as to details is somewhat hay at this time
 Did not this action provide for the re- duction of the shipments of the Armour Packing company to these markets with the understanding that the deficit was to be contributed by two other members of the combination?'
 T only remember in a general way what the action was,' replied the witness.
 Miles said he had no recollection of any packers meeting in regard to dressed beef in 1903. and that he should have went to Ebert Hubbard to stop forgetting.
 Did these words as used in the state- ments and as sent out by the commission have anything to do with the price charged for the meat by the branch houses2"
 Not at all," said witness.
 Was the margin the cipher used to ex- press in dollars and cents the price at which the meat was to be soldr'
 Defense objected, but was overrued by the court.
 The word margin. as used by the pack CTS did not indicate in dollars and cents CT in cipher the selling price of fresh meats. MT. Miles said.
 CrOss- Examined
 On cross-examnation MT. Miles said the system involved fin the term test coast had been used by the packers since 1887.
 The witness said the amount realized from the saie of the dressed meats never eoualled the cost of the live animals. He said profit was made on by-products.
 Were telegrams in regard 10 the price ever sent except on Tuesday,"
 "They were sent every day in the week as conditions affected. the price of meat
 Every packer often overshipped his maximum percentage, the witness said. This. he declared indicated desire to develop business in certain territories. Overhead shipments were usually made in profitable territories.
 The net profits of the Armour Packing company from 1894 to 1902, were less than sl head on car cases, of slaughtered animals, and this included all profit of by- products, MT Miles said. In 1899 he said the net profits of the company were S202 ,S57. IS on 204,S20 cattle slaughtered On redirect examination Attorney Shee- an questioned Miles on the profits of Armour on oleo. The witness said this product was included in the net profits.
 The witness gave summary of the ne. profits of the Armour Packing company for 1sa9. divided as follows:
 Oleo and other oils, s8f,275.21.
 Dressed beef. s6,558.SS.
 Hides, $15051 n.