Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1916-12-15
GOVERNMENT PUSHES
FOOD PRICES PROBE
PRICES DROP SLIGHTLY AS WAR
ON SPECTATORS Is OAR.
RIED FORWARD.

Nationwide federal grand jury in.
vestigations into the high prices of
fuel and food were undertaken this
week by the department of justice.
Grand juries have instituted action
in New York, Chicago and Detroit,
and similar action will follow in Mil
waukee and Minneapolis and on the
Pacific Coast A federal grand jury
called in Seattle this week will go
over evidence gathered by federal
agents during the past two weeks.
Meanwhile the "cost of living" has
begun to drop. Advices from all sec
tions of the country to the depart
ment of agriculture and department
of justice indicate this fact. The re-
duction in prices. while small. is
general. Officials believe that it will
be continued.
Evidence of Conspiracy.
They believe the cause to be the
announcement of the government
that criminal prosecutions of food
price manipulators are certain. Off
cials of the department of justice
claim they already have concrete
evidence of conspiracy against big
board of trade dealers, middlemen in
almost every line of food supplies and
others. Concerted action is planned
against these persons. The agents OF
the department of justice, operating
under the orders of United States
Attorney Anderson of Boston. who is
in charge Of the special investigation,
already have turned in reports which,
1t is stated, show general conspira-
cies to manipulate prices.
This information was presented to
President Wilson and he directed
that immediate prosecutions be un-
dertaken.
The chief obstacle in the way Of
prosecutions is the desire of the ad-
ministration that those persons who
have been active participants in the
alleged conspiracies shall not gain
immunity by being summoned to tell
Of their operations before a grand
Jury. This has proven a knotty
problem, but the officials say that
they are fully confident that it can
be solved.
Cars Sidetracked.
Much Of the evidence so far
amassed deals with the holding up
Of coal cars. refrigerator cars and
the like. These cars have been held
idle on sidings at various points
while a scarcity of products has
forced prices skyward. Department
Of justice officials insist they will be
able to show that in certain instances
at least these cars were held as the
result of a conspiracy between deal
ers in the big Eastern cities and the
men who had control of them.
So far as embargo legislation by
congress is concerned, 1t is agreed by
administration leaders that there is
no chance of its being successful II
directed against food products simply
to keep down prices. Even though
the house should pass any such leg
islation, the administration is in con-
troll of the senate and would kill It
in a hurry.
Two startling discoveries have
been made in the federal investiga-
ton into high prices Of food in the
Chicago district. They were:
That the egg supply Of Chicago is,
and has been for months, controlled
by four men: James Wetz, self
styled "egg king Of America" H. M.
Eichengreen, c. B. Ford and Louis
Richter.
That several storage warehouses,
anticipating Just such an investiga-
ton, have been keeping a duplicate
set of books, one of actual transac-
tions, the other for any investigators
who might come around.
Hold SOC. 900 Gases.
The Investigators for the govern
ment checked up on the eggs stored
in Chicago and report that the "big
four" as they are known in inner
circles, control approximately b0O,-
900 cases, each containing 30 dozen.
The information regarding the duplf-
cate storage books accidentally was
who mentioned 1t casually.
Comparison of prices today and
two weeks ago. both wholesale and
retail, show that the battering which
the high cost of living has received
during the last two weeks at the
Continued on Page Eight.