The Washington times., 1918-12-22
REPORT CHARGES
|. PACKING COMBINE

A mass Of evidences alleged 70 proFo
the charges OF the Federal Trade
Commission that the ave big packing
interests are one gigantic combine,
controlling the meat industry Of this
country and the markets Of South
America, has been submitted TO the
President by Chairman Colver.
Hundreds. OF letters. kilograms and
private papers Of the Swifts, Arm6urs.
Morris. Wilson and Cudahy interests
submitted clearly substantiate the
commission believes, the following
conclusions:
aThe Big Five packers are In agree
ment for the division OF live stock
purchases.
~The companies exchange eonhden-
tial market information and jointly
employ persons to obtain II.
aThere Is Joint contribution to funds
expended under secret control to IN
fiuence public opinion and Govern
mental action.
sSwIft, Armour. Morris and Wilnon
control shipments OF meats from
South America 10 the United States
and other countries.
The five companies act coilusively
In the sale Of fresh meats.
Two or more OF the i've interests
have Joint ownership or representa-
tion in los concerns"
bay ss.4 Per cent.
Tables OF the commission show the
so-caIIed big Five" purchases So
per cent OF all the meat animals
sold in this country.
The percentages OF the alleged
combines purchases at the principal
markets follow: Chicago. I6-5: Kan
sas City, O9.I: Omaha, 100: 81 Louis
T3.s; New York city. al; St 10
seph. Mo-, oo.S. Fort worth, 100:
ST. paul. $40: Oklahoma. City, 100;
Denver, 100; and Wichita, s3.7.
sAn elaborate system Of private
telegraph wires-With several thou
sand messages cent each dsy-en-
able the Chicago packers TO maintain
close contact with activities q. all
centers,s the report says, -and the
centralized buying system Govern
every market and country buyins
station"
Private papers, with code nemes
for the big packers. the Commission
said. showed that all were in close
touch with each other regzrdins
their sales and purchases Wilson 4
Co. employed two men At Kansas
City to gather information for ne
.Rie five" and the cost was then
urorated, the commission charges
After alleging that for years the
hackers have maintained the same
percentage Of purchases, the report
ssrhe packers have one ready ez-
PLANTATION for these uniformities--
namely, uniform plant capacity But
this explanation fails. In Denver. for
example, where the Armour plant =
not equal in capacity to that Of swift
q Co. the purchases percentages are
practically equal
stock purchases forms the essential
basis Of q system By which the pack
ers. relieved OF fear Of one another'a
competition. are able to nx the price
to the producer and the conscmer-
Hnve InferaafisDi1 FssL
In regard to South American con-
troll, the commission asserts;
~Our Documents show that an M
ternational meat pool was entered
into by the Swift. Armour. Morris and
Sulzberger interests with certain
foreign eolIntries,in Jtne ma that
this agreement covered the Importa-
ton OF nts4tsto he United States and
Europe. and that the consultations re
suited in large profits.~
Equsily dangerous. the eommisgioa
believes. is the packers delsrmina-
tion to control the ret5Al market
SAt Los Angeles there o. an egree-
ment between Wilson, Cudshy, and
flve fairly large local companies on
meat prices" the report says Eat
Tacoma, Wash, the Union Meat Com
pany-the Swift, Armour, and Norris
interests-is in a selling pDlee agree
ment with the Frye, Gardens, and
Barton packing companieA Inde-
pendent packers Of Phiiadelphia
closely follow the Big Five quota
tions-
At .Cincinnati ten local packers
have . price agreement similar to the
one at Los Angeles. and the same Il
true at Detroit At Madison, Wls..
the big Five" have taken turns cut
ting prices to drive the Farmers' Co
operatives, Packing Company out Of
business Following Aprfl. 1917, Cud-
ahy. Swift, and Armour tried to force
the Ogden and Utah packing COM
panies, at Salt Lake City, out OF busi-
ness by price cutting.