The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-01-21
GLOOMY VIEW
|. BY ARMOUR eco.
If Pending Regulation Of the
Packing Industry Is
Carried Out
MANY, ACTIVITIES
WILL BE AFFECTED
J. Ogden Armour Told the
House Interstate Com
merce Comm. To-day

Washington, d. C., Jan. 2l.-J. Ogden
Armour, president of Armour & Co., told
the House interstate commerce commit
tee to-day that pending legislation to
regulate the meat packing industry was
''reactionary" and part of it probably I'M
constitutional, and warned Congress that
IF monkey wrench is thrown into the
gears of this business" its effects would
be felt in many other lines of industry,
IF the ability of the packing industry
to function properly is impaired, he as
serted, at will affect the livestock indus
try and it, in turn, win affect corn prices.
Wheat will then be drawn in, and so will
bread, and so will labor, and so will
everything that has for its basis the
wealth produced by agriculture
"The theories on which pending legis-
lation is based are not constructive, they
are not progressive. They are reaction
airy. They would disrupt the great man
ufacturing and marketing machinery
which half century of enterprise has
evolved and the results would be detri-
mental not only to the leading industry
of this nation, but even more so to that
portion of the public which produces and
to the entire public which consumes
food"
Regarding the possibility of govern
ment ownership of stockyards and other
adjunets to the packing industry, Mr..
Armour said:
EsClyuparc n IN bxy tba rtnx.orr,,,nrg ;,,,,,1foe
red tape and restrictions which cannot
help but add to the costs of the service,
costs which must eventually be borne
either by the producer or the consumer.
Government ownership implies, too, the
abolition of the private initiative and en-
terprise which has made it possible to
erect an efficient stockyard almost over
night when occasion justified it. The
government, you know, does not make
up its mind very quickly on such mat
tiers, as is evidenced by the years-old
controversies over the building of post
offices or such comparatively trivial mat
tiers as to whether cities should have'un-
derground mail chutes"
Profits made by Armour 3 Co, Mr..
Armour declared, represent return of
less than two cents on every dollar of
sales, The margin of profit in the pack
ing industry is the smallest enjoyed by
any industry of national consequence.
Gross volumes of sales by his company
in 1918, he said, totalled 1861 900, 900,
compared with $575 100000 in 1917, but
the net income was at the rate of 0 per
cent on the average net capital invested.
He added that the 400 per cent stock
dividend in 1916, whereby the capital
stock was raised from $4,000, 600 to
$l00,O00000, was made possible by rein,
vestment during preceding years of II
per cent Of the aggregate earnings.
The high price of meat Mr.. Armour
said, was the real reason why President
Wilson ordered the meat packing inves-
tigation by the federal trade commission.
Within the past four years, he said, the
price of live hogs had increased 245 per
cent and costs of labor, clerical help and
fuel had doubled.
As only 10 per cent of a hog is edible
and the remaining 30 per cent of by
products have not increased in value as
rapidly as the live animal, he said. it
could be understood why bacon to-day
costs three times what it did four years
ago. He added that prices of live cattle
and sheep have advanced at a pace with
that of hogs.
Charges by the commission Of collision
among the five big packing firms to con-
troll prices were denied by the witness,
who asserted:
armour & CO. are not now and have
not been for many years a party to any
pool, arrangement, agreement or combi-
nation for the control, regulation or lin
itation, or restriction of the purchase of
livestock or the sale Of any Of the prod
ucts or by-products thereof"
Mr.. Armour declared that there was
keen competition between his firm and
Swift, Morris, Cudahy and Wilson, and
denied that there was any combination
among the packers to fix prices.
Regarding the charge of outside lines"
by the packers, he declared the Armour
company had undertaken the sale of
many lines which it does not manufac-
ture only because of the demand from
their customers who could not obtain
satisfactory service elsewhere He de-
MED that his firm had entered or intend
ed to enter the retail business, or that it
was interested in fish and vegetable can
neries.
Armour & Co., the witness asserted,
owns no livestock cars and only sufficient
refrigerator cars to handle its own goods.
CRUISER PUEBLO IN.