The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1915-11-25
HOG MARKET CONTROLLED
BY PACKERS SAYS EDITOR

the packing companies held the con.
trolling interest and practically all of
the buyers had been driven from there
but few local butchers who were own
ed by the meat trust and simply acted
as dummies for the deception of the
selling public.
Oh. yes, Mr.. Daughtrey, the Kansas
Cfty stock yards were investigated
but 1t took a joint commission from
Doth the Kansas and Missouri legis-
latures (the Kansas City stock yards
are located on the state line between
the two states) to get at the
facts, and then 1t took a fight to
finish in both legislatures to defeat
the lobby of the great meat trust and
get laws passed in both states that
would convict them which ever side of
The line they crossed to- The state au-
thorities were then able to catch them
"a goin' and COMM and after they
had issued innumerable circulars Just
as the Portland Union Stock Yards com
pany Is doing, telling the public how
Independent of the meat trust they were
and how they were being maligned and
prosecuted by harsh and uufeeling lot
or newspaper critics, among them the
present editor of the signal, they Just
simply walked into court and acknowl-
edged they had lied for years and that
II the prosecution would cease they
would sever their relations with the
packing trust and would be GOOD. They
may need Investigating again, but they
came so near to losing their charters
to do business in the states of Kan
sas and Missouri before, that it is safe
to conclude that they are being care
full even now.
1t has been openly charged that the
Union Meat company. which is sup
posediy just a branch of an eastern
packing concern, owns a controlling In
terest in the Portland Stock Yards
company. If this is so it is high time
the Oregon state government put its
legal machinery in motion to dissolve
the trust. A little investigation will
enable them to learn how Kansas and
Missouri dealt with a similar sttua-
ton, and the quicker they take drastic
measures looking to the relief OF the
hog raisens of Idaho and Oregon, the
quicker will justice be done one of our
greatest industries.
The contention of the Signal is that
every shipment of hogs to the Port
land market should bring as much
as the same shipment would bring
in Chicago, and the producer should
be given the difference IN freight
rates. Mr.. Nelson, who received the
letter from Mr.. Daughtrey, Informs
the Signal he sold his hogs at $4,000
less than he could have secured for
them in Chicago. This being the
case the hams and bacon sold by the
packers to the consumers II sWeiser
should be CORRESPONDENCE over than
the Chicago hams and bacon or Mr..
Nelson has been robbed One need
not know the intricacies of algebra or
geometry to figure this out; vt is a
simple problem in proportion, and either
the Union Meat company or the Port
land Union Stock Yards company, or
| both, have received Mr. Nelson's por-
taon.
| Hogs from this section have topped
the Omaha market within three months
and hogs from this section have top
| ped the Kansas City market within
three months and hogs from this Sec
ton have topped the Chicago market
within three months This being the
case the question OF the difference in
quality has been settled, and there
seemingly DIS no justice in the claim
that the product of southern Idaho is
inferior. II the Signal is correct in
this, and the evidence shows the pric-
es of meat products from the Port
hand packers are as high as the pro-
ducts of the Chicago packing houses,
notwithstanding the great difference in
cost of transportation to and from the
eastern market, then the Signal Is
right in it's claim that both producer
and consumer are being robbed by our
philanthropic neighbors at Portland.
The editor of the Signal may not
measure up to the ability of the edi-
tor of the Live Stock Reporter as a
manipulation of market quotations, and h
may not possess the inside informa-
ton which Mr.. Daughtrey possesses.
but when every hog raiser in this ter
ritory is complaining of the losses he
rs suffering. and hundreds of carloads
of hogs are being diverted to the San
Francisco and eastern markets because
4 OF the better prices offered. he feels
certain 1t does not take special training
or even any particular amount of gray
matter to figure out that there II
something wrong at Portland. The Sig
nal has no disposition to he unjust, bu
the very life of this community depends
upon the prosperity of our farmers ana
stockraisers and the newspaper which
fears to take up the cudgel in thei
behalf Is certainly an impotent facto
In the lpbuilding OF the country
Weiser Signal.
JOY 6U56LINo OVER.
Little ten year old Irma Vincent