New-York tribune., 1918-06-30
proportion of the profits has had to
remain In TIM hta

proportion of the profits has had to
remain in the business in order to
finance operfNions and to maintain eff
cheney by the addition OF facilities and
improvements. This has been particu-
'iarly. necessary during the last year or
two because Of the increased volume of
business and the large stocks of meat
carried, due to war conditions and de-
mands"
Even with these larger profits it
has been difficult to finance our bust
ness at the extremely high prices pre-
gailing for livestock, labor and sup
plies, and we recently have had to is-
sue more capital stock for the sole pur-
pose OF raising more money
"The trade commission has made one
very serious error in the figures it pre-
sents, which gives the public totally
wrong impression of the recent profits
in the packing business and does the
packers n great injustice. The report
says that the FIVE large packers made
profit CT $140,000,000 during the three
years 1915, 1915 and 1917, as against
s19,00O,000 during the three years be-
fore the war, thus showing an increase
of S131 100000.
"The commission has compared q
three-year profit with one-year profit,
and the s19,0O0OOO should have been
S57,000,000, thus showing an increase of
S83 100000, instead of $131 100000.
This profit is not out of line with
the increase in sales due to the high
level of prices and increased output Of
meat products. There might be some
justice in saying that the packers had
preyed uponsthe people unconscionably
II 1T could be shown that their profits
had raised prices of meats to con-
sumers or lowered the prices of live
stock to producers.
Swift e. Co. are living up to this
regulation conscientiously. 1t should
be borne in mind that the profit limi-
tation applies only to the meat busi-
ness and that part Of Swift G. Co.'S
profit is derived from outside indus
tries which the government is not reg
ulating.
The reference in the Trade Com
missions report to extremely high sal
aries does not apply to this concern.
We are willing to defend the salaries
paid to our officials at any time, and
to prove that they are reasonable as
compared with those paid in other
businesses of equal magnitude and re-
sponsibility.
"Neither the statements that COM
mercial bribery has been resorted to-,
that fictitious values are put on raw
materials and that inventories have
been manipulated apply to Swift & Co.
we have developed as complete and as
scientific an accounting system as we
could, and we have nothing to gain by
fals1fylng our accounts. The insinua-
ton that the packers have made enor-
nous profits in hides and have manipu-
lated the price Of leather is also mis-
leading and untrue.
"In the first place, the large packers
have no monopoly power over the hide
market or the leather market, and
hence cannot manipulate prices. Dur
ing 1917 the supply of hides was larger
than ever before in the history of the
country. And the demand did not in
crease apace. AS result the prices
OF hides fell greatly during 1917 and
many hides were sold by the large
packers at loss.
Swift & Co. has not boarded hides
but has sold them as rapidly as the
market could absorb them.
Swift & Co. deeply resent the spirit
and the manner in which this report
has been issued. 1t was issued for
release at noon Saturday. a time when
the officials in many businesses have
closed their desks for the week and
are usually not on hand to answer
sensational and unfounded charges
tended to throw suspicion about an
essential industry which it is public
ly recognized has fulfilled tremendous
war demands from the beginning per
hiaps better than any other industry
in the country
ut is not fair to harass honestly