Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1916-04-06

WASHINGTON, April 5.-Despits
the soaring prices of meat, neither
the producer nor the packer is profit
ing greatly, according to testimony
given today by representatives Of the
respective interests at the house ju
dietary subcommittee hearing on tho
Borland resolution for a federal in
vestigation of the packing industry.
Answering declarations of produc
,,hI;.. ;,. reJpina
.er. vice
president OF 4,in,vul seclared
til. last Wees nis firm lost approx
ma, ely $4,000 Gil their total sale, il
t.. United SITES. His statement
y, ,tradicted th::i of John Lande-ggin
? h'g cattle ruiso, of Amarillo, Texas
who insisted that in spite Of large
sales, he had only broken even" in
his business the last three years
Edward l.. Burke of Omaha rep,
resenting the American National
Livestock association, told the com
mittee that higher prices we've in
evitable in the face of decreased cat.
tie production.
Mr.. Landergrin, who said he once
made an unsuccessful attempt as a
member of an independent Texas
packing company to compete with the
five large firms that control the bulk
OF the business in this country, vas
positive in his declarations that the
packers were making much money.
They tell us they are making only
from 60 cents to $l15 on each steer
he said. "Well, maybe so, but we
think they have left out something
in their calculations and something
besides the liver, too. Possibly they
have left out front quarter or a
hide; and because we are not satisfied
with their statements and the STATE
OF affairs in which we find our bust
ness, we want an investigation"
DO you find your business profita-
ble?' Mr.. Meeker inquired
"We find it uncertain" Mr.. Ian
dergrin continued 1--WE haven 1
made any money in the last three
years. 1t was a close shave last
year The year before we lost the
money"
Rehearsal by Mr.. Landergin Of how
he was forced to hold shipment of
caltie in Kansas City yards for three
days on declining market, and then
finally sell at loss Of more than
$l4 a head, drew out Mr.. Mooker's s
statement: Failure by producers to
regulate shipments is one of the great
causes of complaint against packers.
he said "Oftentimes more cattle come
to us than can be sold. The ship.
per seems to think that we can get
rid of them somehow.
"On all the beef that Armour &,
Co., sold in the United States last
week. think it was about 2i.oh0
cattle-We lost from 25 to 40 cents
a hundred pounds. If we handled
$4,000 our loss was about $50 600
'If you lost money on be.,f, how is
it that you have piled up a surplus
of $9S,000000?" asked Judge w. IL
Wallace of Kansas City.
Mr. Meeker replied that he did not
maintain that his cOmlan. was op'
Grating at general loss, but that on
ly with the aid of receipts from by
products was it able to show a gain
''In my Judgment Mr. Meeker con
tinued. beef has gotten so high that
it has curtained the consumption of
meat and. therefore. we are forced
to sell at loss. We have not sold
out within 20 per cent of the beef we
shipped last week.
''The selling price of beef last week
went down 6 cents lower than it was
the week before and yet we had to
pay more for it. We sold it as high
as we could sell It. We cannot force