New-York tribune., 1917-07-20
Company Headed by Muni.
tons Chief Made SIS, ,000,-
900 in Bacon
Government Will Act
Cost Of Living Report Reveals
Spectators Hold Enor-
nous Supplies

lFrom a Special Correspondeu, Of Tie Tnounel
Ottawa, July ia thorough irvesti-
CATION by the government of the prot
iteerinC in Canada will soon be under
way as the result of the sensational re-
port made by W. F. O'Connor, the Cost
Of Living Commissioner. The report
which revealed the vast profits made by
food spectators and cold storage men,
has stirred the country.
The most serious charge made in the
report is that the company headed by
Sir Joseph Flavelle, head of the I'M
perial Munitions Board of Canada, made
SIS, 100000 in 1916 as the result Of the
spectacular jump in the price OF bacon.
Another packing house and cold storage
concern, Matthews Blackwell, Ltd,
which shared with Sir Joseph's com
pany a monopoly of the bacon industry
in Canada, according to Commissioner
O'Connor cleaned up $l,50O,OOO during
the same period. These two companies
sold 140,OOO,OOO pounds of bacon out Of
the 151 ,OO0,O0 pounds sold by the cold
storage plants of Canada.
Profits Almost Doubled
In 1916 the Flavelle company ex-
ported, principally for use of soldiers
fighting in France, 95,OOO,OoO pounds of
bacon. This they sold at margin of
profit of sos cents a pound, aggregat-
ing s4.s9s 900. The year previous the
company exported 57,0O0,0OO pounds at
g. margin of profit of 1857 cents. In
1914 the company sold 14,OO0,OOO
pounds, at a margin of profit of 3.O6
cents.
"There is no evidence of correspond
ingly increased storage or other costs,
observes Commissioner 0'Connor, COM
menting on the jump in price for 1915
ever the previous two years. Then he
asks: "The margin of 3.67 cents was
sufficiently satisfactory and profitable
in 1915, so why not in 1852"
Canada is waiting to hear the an
swer. It is not satisfied with Sir Jo-
seph's general denial in his telegram
from Sturgeon Lake to Sir Robert Bor-
den, Premier, characterizing the O'Con-
nor report as a curious admixture OF
untruths, ignorance and malice.
Made Millions in Eggs
The Flavelle company made millions
moro on ham, eggs, cheese, etc, and
one firm, the Burns Company, made a
profit of Is cents on each dozen eggs
it sold, and it sold them 100000 dozen.
The government. organ, THE Journal
Press" of this city, predicts immediate
government action, and some regard the
charges made against the Flavelle and
Matthews Blackwell companies as
actionable under the anti-monopoly or
anti-combine law, which has never been
enforced.
This action is likely to be two-edged:
pal yaking in the nature of sweeping
investigation OF cold storage plants
and food prices generally and diver
sion of the huge profits made by the
food spectators 10 the Golfers of the
public treasury.
The O'Connor report also declares
{ that the excessive quantities Of beef,
ham, bacon, mutton and lamb now held
in cold storage are being held by specu-
lators, and that the prices of these
meats should drop forthwith. The ac-
companying figures, based on returns
sent by two-thirds of the companies
of Canada, show the amount of the
chief food products held in cold stor-
age on July of this year and the same
day last year: