Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1917-12-29
SQUEEZING OF
LITTLE men IS
RECOUNTEDTO
COMMISSION
Federal Probe Into Packing
Industry Taken to Boston
Where Interesting Testi-
mony is Adduced.
by Review Leased wirel

by Review Leased Wire.l
B OS TON, Dec. SS-TesimOny
about the squeezing OF small dealers
out OF competition by the alleged
grasp OF the big packers upon the
meat. rendering soap and fertilizer in
E dustries 81 the country was given To-
cay by Witnesses before the federal
trade commission.
Francis J. Heuey. special counsel
for the commission, said the packers
: controlled the rendering business
+ from its collection OF butchers waste
f 20 the manufacture OF valuable BY
products. BY their methods OF gaining
control of meat scraps. fat and bone.
he added. the commission sought To
show that the man who bought 4 steak
/ or roast paid an unnecessarily high
price for his dinner.
Charge Sitting
I Witnesses engaged in the rendering
business asserted that the packers
/ stifled competition for the collection
OF waste products by bidding up prices
+ beyond the reach Sf the independent
{ dealers, by resOrting 10 the scheme of
giving short weight for refuse BY Civ
+ ing bonuses to retailers to break con-
tracts with competing rendering firms.
by fomenting asitatiOns against the
erection of new competing rendering
! plant and by dividing territory among
themselves by gentlemen's agree
mentS in which the trade of a man
opening a new butcher shop was sold
to the highest bidder. transactions in
which the butcher had nothing TO say
In New England. it was testified.
rendering companies which were trust
controlled. maintained fund TO pay
bonuses for the trade of retailers at
points where independent rendering
companies tried TO compete
Packers Name Price
/ Not only the rendering business but
even the corner store trade il meats
was sought by the packers. witnesses
declared. Large markets. they said.
were established in strategic position
in various large cities where packers
named the price az which meats could
be sold al retail These prices were
/ said 10 be below that At which the
small retailer could sell. As a result.
il was said. the neishbOring butchers
were closing up their stores in ever
increasing numbers because custom
ers were drawn to the larger stores.
Witnesses named the Mohican COM
pany, which has : chain of stores
throughout New England. as q specific
instance of this kind.
Many of the witnesses heard today
gave their version of being driven out
of business by what they termed the
trust" or of getting into the combine
in order TO live. Two of the witnesses
enlivened the session by voieins their
defiance OF the packers.
Stoekholder Called
Mr.. Heney called Edwin F. Martin.
of Brookline, a small stockhOlder in
the Chicago Junction Railways anc
I Union Stock Yards company of New
Jersey. which was absorbed by the
Chicago Stock Yards company. Martin
said that he was persuaded by Fred
erick II. Price Of Boston to give up
his stock for stock in the new concern,
which Price told him was controlled
by the Chicago packers. Martin was
reluctant to let his stock so. he said.
because OF the big surplus which he
thought would be divided among the
stockholders. but Price told him there
was danger OF the packers going TO
some other city if the deal did not
go through.
And no word was Said.- asked Mr..
Heney about the $S.OOO,0OO surplus
which evidence has shown went 10
Price and his associates"
Nothing replied the witness.
In other words" Commissioner
Murdoch asked. you were not told
that the melon was to be put on ice
L didn't find that out until later.
/ Martin answered.
independent Testffies
a E Keeler. a former independent
renderer. testified as to how the trust
wound up independent business like
an alarm clock" by paying bonus TO
customers Of independent concerns TO
break contracts. The retailers were
told. Keller said. that they Would be
protected in any lawsuit that might
result
In the midst of a tale Sf trouble in
building up a trade and then losing IL
when unable to compete against the
bonus system and soaring prices and
other inducements Offered by the
trust" agents. the witness stopped
short
Your narrative is not endeds~ ask
I ed Commissioner Murdoch.
"Oh. yes. il is" the witness re-
piled. My business ended then and
there