The Washington herald., 1918-08-09

land, New Zealand, is included. ask
ing that information secured by the
Federal Commission be forwarded to
the minister of agriculture, indus
tries and commerce of New Zealand.
"as the operations Of the American
meat trust are Of very great interest
to the New Zealand stock raisers as
they are very greatly alarmed over
fearing that they propose to get con-
of the world"
Meat substitutes, such as fish,
poultry, eggs, milk, butter. cheese
and all kinds of vegetables oil pro-
ducts are also shown to be In con-
troll OF the Big Five.
Canned fruits and vegetables, It
Is further demonstrated, are in
cluded in their monopoly. Armour
and Company increased their can
ned goods sales from s6,50O,0e0 in
1916 to $4,000, 900 in 1917, whereas
the combined sales OF these products
of two of the largest indepen-
dent wholesalers. Austin Nichols
Company and Sprange. Warner and
Company amounted only to a little
more than s6.o0o.o00 in 1917.
Big Rice Drive.
"Armour's drive into the rice
market in a single year Is perhaps
the most striking instance of the
potentialities in this direction.
Early in 1917 Armour and Company
first undertook the handling Of rice.
and in one year sold more than 16,-
100000 pounds of rice, thus becom-
ing at a single move, on the state
ment of the vice president Of the
company. the greatest rice mer-
chant of the world During this
period the wholesale price of rice.
increased 65 per cent"
Great holdings in the grain business
are also shown to belong to Armour
and to James A. Patten of Swift and
Co.
The Big Five are also shown to
have an important influence in cloth
ing the military and civil population
Of the world
Manipulation of the market by
boarding immense quantities of hide
and Leather Is shown. In the last
year when leather was In such inn
mense demand. enormous quantities
hOdAuCu lOE lne PURPOSE
OF Initiating the price so that, to quote
their own correspondence, I'VE were
forced to pack them in our cellars and
outside in the open, but have reached
the point now where we have no place
to go with any more"
The methods through which the
monopoly controls the market Of the
world Is then taken up. By railroads
control Of rolling stock Of the sy..
TENS, refrigerating cars and other
necessary conveying properties. thev
prevent all competition.
The evidence Of the combination
the American live stock pool, and the
proof on the conspiracy are eacn
taken up in turn, as well as the
international pool and many other
startling revelations of the cut throat
methods Of crushing competition en-
ployed by the Big Five.
Manipulate Market.
Violent fluctuations of the market
caused by manipulations of IN.
market by the monopoly, to secur,
raw material cheaply are shown. The
hardships on the producer who may
easily lose thousands of dollars on the
sale Of his years product are also
discussed.
Under the topic. Business Ethics OF
the Packers. the conclusion Is arrived
at that they have attained their
dominant position primarily as a re-
suit Of unfair practices and Illegal
methods. The fact that they have
50 generally resorted to unfair
methods In meeting competition dis
credits their claims to superior en-
cheney"
Entru,t . thrift-.rr.na - . .,..