New-York tribune., 1912-03-01
BEEF TRUST WON FIGHT
3 suIzberger Tells How He Bore
8rInt of Battle for Years.
PARTNER SOLD TO RIVALS
onnosed Trust in Conferences
r. end in Market, Says Veteran
New York Packer.

chicago. Feb. 2s.-over the vigorous cb'
- ~ the defence. the official minutes
- weekly meetings of the board OF d.
~ the National Packing Company
wv reaS 10 the jury in tho packers trial
, bv Barton Corneau, government
counsel. ..,,...a
attended on different occasions by ].
,ss.r ns Armour, Louis F. Swift. Edward F.
u's,,, Charles H. Swift. Thomas J. Con-
Arthur Meeker, Edward Tilden, Louis
t1svnan. Francis \. Fowler and Ed
n, Morris. defendants in the case
o.. minutes showed that at the meeting
Nav s 1903. the method OF arriving at
". cost Of beef in ST. Louis was discussed,
-, no action of record was taken.
Tha Government pointed out that the fol-
tag 6ay Swift & Co. ordered a change in
~ method Of fguring the test cost
obyase that frequently appeared in the
,,ru,es was: The business OF the COM
- was formally discussed, but no action
osrecord taken.
r.rdinand Sulzberger, Of New York, sew
..,,-,Uo years old. a veteran of the pack
40 Industry. declared on the stand to-day
~, he had fought the beef combine
- since ne started in the packing tusi-
s,s.-,n 1868. and had borne the brunt CT
- combined attack of the allied interests.
rt fopebt the other concerns at every
-. declared the veteran when asked If
~ he'd sought agreements that would pro-
,oct his territory
I'VE held many conferences and ! OPP
in no
'nsrse, lost many battles. l received
v.rv scars. and my power was weakened
~ the failure of those | considered loyal
to me"
rbs6 he described some Of the compro-
,oi,s. he was forced 70 enter into when he
to,nd himself on the defence before the
s,u.d interests Of the industry. With the
.gssn Of battle stin in his eyes. he told
~ he had been brought into the confer
Kcss In 1900 when the Needer dream for
"a Aoo 0oo. 600 meat combine was being
,lsoned His company was to be merged
with the others.
The moment the scheme failed and he
saw there was a chance for him to operate
alone Sulzberger declared. he again took
,be field single landed to fight for business
against the Armour, Swift Morris and
Cudahy interests.
we mad, al the money we could. We
charged high prices when we thought We
could get them, and we lowered our prices
when business became slack. Yes, / changed
my plans often ] varied prices TO suit the
needs Of the moment often ] changed my
wtclt plan Of business at night when my
cdnpetito,r were 7sleep and ! thought
c6yid get an advantage over them
lie then told how Frederick Joseph, vice
president Of scvhwarzschild q Sulzberger
had sold his interest to Edward Tilden and
Louis /. swift, his most bitter rivals. This
interest was sufficient to prevent him from
carving Oh the business as he desired.
Joseph was discharged ana reorganiza-
ton effected In W ch Tidcn and Swift got
non-votnr stock. Sulzberger declared that
ne used the same general methods Of COM
putting costs and selling prices as those de-
scribed bv employees of the allied concerns.
He declared. however, that lie never fig
ured on q fictitious basis by disalloving
Credits 10 bis beef department for hides and
o'h-- bvrfodNrts of cattle