The Washington times., 1913-11-29
M'KEL[AR MEASURE
HITS FOOD DEALERS
President Wilson Backs Bill to
Prevent Price Boosts BY
Cold Storage.
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CONTINUED from First Page
r-c6ucts shall be broken and the con-
tents sold by items. then the seller
hall state the information required on
= tag attached to the item before de-
livery. And the container from which
it is sold shall be kept in plain view
Of the purchaser or produced upon de-
rnsn6
Violation OF this clause of the bill is
rpnishable by a fine of from 500 to
5000, OF by Imprisonment from six
months TO ten years.
1t is tine contention of Congressman
Mcclellan that it has been a common
practice to remove food products from
storage during the holiday seasons and
lien retGrn them to storage If they
are not sold. The bill specifically pro-
hjbits the return Of any goods TO stor-
age after they have once been with
drawn. without reference to the time
they lave been stored. 1t is provided
also that goods frozen in storage must
- sold in q frozen condition.
The antitrust provisions of the bill
are particularly drastic and, in the
opinion Of Mr.. McKellar, will prohibit
any buying or selling agreements.
Penalty Provided.
ANY agreement, express or implied
verbal or written says the bill, be-
tween persons or firms engaged in buy
ing or selling cold storage products. or
IN the cold storage business, by which
articles of food are TO be stored for a
longer or shorter period. or are to be
sold or withheld from sale for the pur-
nose of affecting the purchase price or
selling price" is prohibited.
The penalty for violation of this
clause is a fine of from $1,000 to $1,000
and imprisonment of from one to ten
years.
Provisions as drastic are included to
prevent fixing the purchasing price or
selling price of cold storage products.
or In any manner interfering with the
ordinary rules of competition
Trade agreements whereby any ter
ritory in the United States is to be di-
vided up between interests dealing IN
tood, are expressly prohibited. The pen
atty for violation of these two sections
Is the same as for the first. with a
maximum fine of $4,000 and imprison-
ment of ten years.
Gives Proper Check.
In order to give a proper check on
the business, the bill provides that
packers Of meat, poultry. butter. and
eggs. and all cold storage houses must
furnish to the Government daily state
Inent Of goods on hand and receipts and
deliveries and any firms refusing to
make such report shall be subject to a
fine OF from 800 to 3, ,D00 for each Of
tense, and NAV be imprisoned for a
term not exceeding five years.
That meats are often ''doped' in Or
der that they may present an appear
snce of freshness, is the belief of
Congressman Fowler. an Illinois Dem
ocrat, who has enlisted in the CAM
pafgn for an investigation of the high
cost of living, the cold stora ge
tr1sS" the packers combine. and kin
dred opics.
Mr.. Fowler, who says he has always
been accustomed 10 fresh meats, as
serts that he has several times been
rrade I'll since coming to Washington.
and that he can trace the Illness to
chemically meats. He is collect
ing Information to lay before the House
Judiciary Committee when il turns its
attention to the Beef trust and the
cold storage trust