The Elk Mountain pilot., 1918-02-28
TRUST EXPOSURE
Continues to Show Packers Alb
!. solutely Callous

ers) have proven themselves unfaith.
f1l to their trust" No said ut smother
time. Mr.. HsAey refrsined from
asking him vsAt moro they could do
that would prove them -unfaithful
to their trust"
Mr.. Magivny also put in the record
his esavictioa that middSemen who
buy cattle from 90 farmer to sen to
anotAer (ths regular spectators In
stocbsrs and feeders charging COM
missions both w.ys) arc Necessary
to the trade" but that commission
men who buy from the farmer to sell
to the packers arc -useless middle
men" aad ought to be pat out Of
businasa He said all small operators
are oaiy "pifi,ers" any way and that
the real men Of the beef business are
the big fellows"
Ths testimony showed how Swift
4 Co.'S stoekyards at South st. Paul
tried to get all other small indepsn-
dent packers into the yards. where
all tlss stock slaughtered would have
to pay toll to the beef trust railroad
going in and all the bacon, hams and
. dressed beef, etc, shipped out would
do tho same. Swift 4 Co. men told
| how they had tried to get the inde-
pendeat lseMIllan Packing company
in st. Paul to abandon its plant and
60 into the yards. They offered Nc
Milan $4,000 for his old plant. which
was worth $4,000 and promised to
let him have just enough Of the hogs
received to keep up his present ca
paeity.
F. No "citizens' committee" offered to
help Mcmillan enlarge his plant, and
| no one offered him . bonus. although
they gladly paid bonus Of 81, 900. 900
to Armour to help him tighten the
beef trust collar on the Northwest.
In addition to this, they had the
nerve to ask Mcmillan to subscribe
to this bonus to help his competitors
crush him out
Some retail meat dealers added to
the story Of avariee by which the
beef trust hungrily tried to lap up
for itself the iAst drop Of profits in
the meat business. The distributing
houses refused to sell hams and ba-
con unless wrapped in heavy paper.
and they charge for ti,s paper At the
price Of these costly products. One
retailer said he could sell smoked
meats for zh cents . pound less II
hs could buy them without the use
less paper. A sheet Of this paper
was Pot in the exhibits. When spread
out by Hsney and held up It looked
like . country school map Of the
world Sold at bacon rates It added
lOss eshts TO the Wholesale cost Of q
6-pound strip Of bacon. This paper
which costs, witnesses said, not oyer
SIX cents per pound Is sold at the
rate Of lz cents. Dealers said thsre
is no good reason for wrapping
shoulders, butts, and hams PACKED
in barrels. but that they could not
buy them anv other way. and after
paying these fancy prices had to pay
to have the rubbish hauled away and
burned ~ garbags,,
Other dealers told Of being forced
to buy fish adorned with . coating Of
Ice. and With CHUNKS Of Ice stuffed
inside them, and how wtsn they pro-
tested, thsy were solsmnly told BY
ths fish eonpany's representative that
the fish was greatly improved in quail
ity II . half pound coating Of Ice
went along with It. Ono dealer
summed up the profiteering in FISH
this way:
"Psopls are trying to b patriotic
and save meat ~ the food admins
tration hes asked, but ~ soon ~ this
was discovered the price Of fish was
raised = per cent. Pike that was SELL
ing for two OF three pears back st
eight cents . pound 10 now selling ut
l6 to H."
Dealers said that thsir profits hsvs
steadily decreased % that while they
ere now being forced BY the nsat
trust and the big fisheries companies
that have no competition. to pay
much higher prices. thsy have been
unable 70 raise retail prices . like
psresntags.
A number Of retail dealers told
how The different distributing houses
study thsir markst and esnd Just
! enough meat 20 that all Of them to-
gethsr i,sver overstock It. They
couldn't do this without consulting
and deciding upon The amount each
would send, but all the dealers were
q unit in testifying that they had
never known an overstocked market.