Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1918-07-05
u. S. Report Declares Meat Pack
erS "Have Preyed Upon Peo-
Pile UnconsGionabIy."
TRADE BOARD NAMES FIRMS
Flour MiIIers, Coal Mine Operators and
Steel Interests Also Accused of
Huge Profiteering Operations
in Filling War Orders.

the conclusion that prOf1teering exists
among American industries at the pres
. cDt time, due in part to advantage
oelng taken Of ''war pressure for
heavy production" and In part to Sin
ordinate greed and barefaced fraud"
the federal trade commission an
nounced in report sent to the SEN
ate. The report was submitted in re-
Spouse to resolution asking the COM
mission to furnish the senate with all
figures and information relative to
profiteering, in order that steps might
be taken to remedy present condi-
tions.
Big Packers "Prey Upon People,"
The report declares that unprece-
denied profits are shown in survey
of the packing industry. In this con-
nection it is said: give meat pack
erS, Armour, Swift, Norris, Wilson and
Cudahy and their subsidiary and affili-
ated companies have monopolistic con-
troll of the meat industry and are
reaching out for like dominion in 9TH
er products. Their ,manipulations of
the market embrace every device that
is useful to them, without regard to
law. Their reward expressed in terms
Of profit, reveal that four of these con-
Germs have pOcketed in 1915-1916-1917
$140,000,000. However delicate def
milton is framed for 'prefiteering,'
these packers have preyed upon the
people uncOnScionably."
Heavy Profit by Flour MilIers.
Other outstanding features of the re-
port, each supported by extensive data,
are:
The heavy profit made by the low
cost concern under a government fixed
price for the whole country.
The heavy profit made by the flour
millers.
The trade tendency to increase and
maintain prices against the forces of
competition.
The report is based on cost find
ingS by the commission for the war in
dustries board, the food administra-
ton, the fuel administration and other
executive departments of industrial
surveys and through enforcement of
laws against unfair methods of COM
petition. The products investigated,
and which the report covers, are steel,
copper, zinc, nickel, sulphur, lumber,
flour, canned milk and canned salmon.
Salaries and bonus paid high officials
also were the subject of inquiry.
Price fixing by the government, the
nrf hos cd IN a
market from running away, but
at the same time it strengthens the
stronger factors in industry in their
positions and enriches them by profits
which are without precedent"
profits Are IndefensibIe."
While the price of flour has been
stabilized by fixing price for wheat
and maximum margin of profit for
-four the report show that profits in
creased from an average of IL per
cent on the investment for the four
years ended June 80, 1916, to nearly
80 per cent in the year ended June 80,
1917. "These profits" it is stated,
''are indefensible, considering that an
average profit of one mill for six
months of the year shows as high as
So a barrel" Many millers exceeded
the government maximum for profits
and to that extent "the profits were
larger and in general, in fact, were
very great"
investigation in the coal mining In
dustry reveals, in the opinion of the
commission, that despite government
price fixing, large margins of profit
have been made. Ranges in the cost
of production in field having the
operators to make small margins OF
profit and others large margins, the
bulk of the production enjoying the
large margin.
In the oil industry large profits are
now being made in fuel oil and gas
oline, the industry being one where
the law of supply and demand still
operates.
Huge Profits in Steel.
Steel companies made abnormal
profits before the government fixed
price for the product, and it is shown
returns. Profits of the United States
Steel corporation are estimated at 24.9
per cent in 1917, as compared with
1915 per cent in 1916 and So per cent
in 1915.
In practically every one of the other
industries covered by the report it is
shown unusually heavy profits have
been made in the last few years. Alb
normal salaries are also shown to
have been paid executive officials.
Trade practices contributing in adj
dition to profits to higher prices to
consumers are noted as failure to ship
goods or refusal to accept goods on
a falling market, commercial bribery,
and the tendency Of manufacturers to
maintain resale price.