New Britain herald., 1917-12-24
ANSWERS ARMOUR
QUOTING RECORDS
Heney Points Out Seized Letters
Alone Reveal Packers Interest

Washington. Dec. 24.-Francis j.
Heney, special counsel, in charge of
the Federal Trade Commissions in
quiry into the packing industry, last
night issued a statement in response
to the statement issued at Chicago last
night by J. Ogden Armour, head of
Armour & Co., in which the latter de-
MED that any effort had been made to
cover up information sought by the
commission, and asserted that the
commission, and asserted that the
commissions examiners had had full
access to the records of the company.
Mr.. Heney said:
II do not propose to enter into any
personal controversy with Mr.. Armour
or any other Of the Chicago packers in
regard to any Of the matters which
are under Investigation by the Fed
eral Trade Commission. The fact re-
mains, however, that the schedule
which was filed with the commission
by Armour & Co. does not disclose
ownership Of any interest i'm the Chi
cago stockyards or any Of its sub
sidiaFtes; and the government did
not secure any information to that
effect until its agents seized certain
correspondence between F. H. Prince
and J. Ogden Armour at Boston q
few weeks ago. This correspondence
had been carefully hidden away In q
safe deposit box in the Old Colony
Trust company.
ut must also be remem bered that
1890 shares Of the Chicago Stock
Yards company stock. which included
Mr.. Armour's, were carried in the
name of F. r. Pegram, who did not
own a single share, and who before
the hidden correspondence was seized,
attempted to mislead the government
by reporting to the commission that
his books did not show to whom the
stock belonged. 49,.
1T may be pertinent to call at
tention to the fact that at the time
Mosely & Company, the Boston stock
brokers, were acquiring control Of the
holding company Of the Chicago Stock
Yards and Terminal Railways for r..
H. Prince and j. Ogden Armour the
Chicago newspapers published a story
to the effect that it was rumored that
Armour, Swift and Morris were be-
hind the deal. Representatives of
each of the big packers denied the
truth Of the rumor, and the treasurer
of Armour & Co. wrote the following
letter to Prince:
Oct. II, 1910. /
Mr.. F. II. Prince, % State Street,
Boston, Mass.
Dear Sir: The information in
the inclosed clippings from the
Chicago papers came over the
ticker yesterday, and some of the
reporters came in here to ask
all knowledge OF the matter.
Very truly yours,
FREDERICK w. CROLL
Under the circumstances the pub
lie can Judge for itself how much
credence should be given to press
statements from the office Of Armour
& Co.
"Mr. Armour seems to minimize the
importance to him of the Chicago
stock yards deal. In this connection
1T might be pointed out that until! a
400 per cent. dividend was declared by
Armour & Co., last year, its total
stock capitalization was only $40, 0OO,-
900, whereas the properties of the
Chicago stock yards, Of which Armour
and Prince secured control, are con-
servatively estimated to be in excess
of $47,OOO,O00 in the company's own
circulars issued to bankers as a basis
for the sale of its bonds.
"In the Chicago stock yards deal
Armour and Prince secured control OF
500 acres of land in the heart of Chi
cago, and over 800 miles of railroad
tracks connecting with thirty-fouz
railroads that enter Chicago. Five
| hundred acres OF this land had i'm
provements upon it belonging to the
| big packers which cost in the neigh
borhood Of 100000, and the stock
yards proper has a daily capacity OF
$4,000 CATTLE $4,000 sheep, 100000
hogs and 5000 horses. The other SOC
acres are devoted to manufacturing
uses, and more than two-thirds Of Il
has already been built upon. The
great mailing houses of Sears, Roe.
buck & Co., Montgomery, Ward & Co
| and other large concerns are located
| there.
I'm connection with this manufac
turing district the Stock Yards com
pany handles close to 80, 900 loaded
cars per year. It owns over forty To-
comotives and over 800 other locomo
tives are almost daily in use there, ant
500 engines Of other roads use 1t!
tracks daily. The Stock Yards com
pany and it's subsidiaries handle TIKI
entire business Of the stock yards an6
the packing houses, and the latter
business there exceeds that of an,
other city in the world. The streets
running through the Stock Yard:
company properties total a length o.
twenty-five miles"