Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-04
M'LISS TAKES PEEP INTO
MEAT TRUST" INQUIRY HEARING
By M'LISS

The spectacle of pack Of meat
trustees" fighting over the bones and
suet that almost every American house
wife pays for and then let's her butcher
chuck under the counter was displayed
when Uncle Sam turned the spotlight,
for the edification of all. on the Phila.
delphia branch of the meat trust
No housewife was present
There was present, however, a man
who before the investigation is over
will doubtless prove himself to be one
of the best friends an economical house,
wife ever had.
Francis J. Heney Is conducting the
investigation, which is under the direc-
ton of the Federal Trade Commission.
and Heney hates a CRATER like a Belgian
hates a German. Heney, who was shot
by bought" juror when he was re-
sponsible for sending Abe Reuf and
Mayor Schmitt. political grafters of San
Francisco, to jail; Heney. who got
the Infamous oregon land grabbers
and sent them up also, is the same
Heney who sat in the Federal Building
today.
He sat comfortably while those repre-
sentatives of the so-called meat trust
twitched nervously. Little crinkly lines
OF HuITOT Tduldtcu iioii p'N> NsN''
which twinkled behind spectacles as he
handled the witnesses with kindly.
paternal air J. Franklin Fort, former
Governor of New Jersey, was the presid-
ing member of the commission
HENEY's QUICK ACTION
with a suddeLness that showed what
mastery preliminary work had been
done by the Investigators, Mr.. Heney
by the testimony he extracted from the
witness, tore aside the veil Of mystery
in which the meat trust" has shrouded
it's activities and showed the menacing
power that such commercial octopus
can acquire.
Captain w. S. Allen, of the firm Of
NJ. l.. Shoemaker, Ire. needed little
prodding to tell what he knew of the
workings of the American Agricultural
Chemical Company which. it is alleged.
would have been successful in forming
in this city one Of the most dangerous
combines" of the rendering trade in
the country, had the Shoemaker Com
pany rot put up such a stiff fight as to
attract the attention of the Federal
Commission.
It is almost necessary for the av-
erage woman to attend one of these
hearings in order to understand that
the byproducts of the meat she buys
these days at such fearful prices are of
enormous value. She doesn't realize that
powerful businesses are built up around
stun that she characterizes as waste
and refuse-bits of bone and suet. 1t
hasn't been brought home to her that
the precious glycerin, necessary for the
making of the high explosives with
which we are going to win the war, is
made from this waste.
Mr.. Heney. through Captain Allen.
developed those points. But he brought
out particularities as well as geneSalities
The Captain. who said he has merited
his nautical title by reason Of having
been a sailor twenty-five years ago,
has a nose and brow like Julius Caesar,
and he proved also that when stuff
which ought to have been rendered unto
him was rendered unto the meat trust
he knew where and how to look for the
reason why.
| Captain Allen told the story. with fire.
quent quest t'onings from Mr. Heney. of
| how the Shoemaker company had its
back against the wall trying to COM
pete against the American Agricultural
/ Chemical Company and the Brown
I Company. which the former organiza-
ton ''bought out"
He told of the endeavor to punish his
company for its refusal to come into
the Combine" and behave itself~by re-
iucing prices to minimum. SO that the
retailer would Suffer and the combine
could fatten and grow even richer. He
restified that they took hundreds Of GUS
toners from the Shoemaker firm by of-
| fering them unprecedented prices for
j bone and suet. He recounted conversa-
| stoc. that he had had with K, J. MUIR
phy. representative. OF Brown = Co. and
y isior ! e ~ Anorjcan Agricultural
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