The daily morning oasis., 1919-10-05
DEPARTMENT STORES AND PACKERS.

THE whole complaint against Cne pdCkeio oO la
seems to be that they are too etflclent ana lile
L main kick is from the wholesale grocers who
claim the hackers enter their fields and undersel
them.
This is a queer complaint in an investigation SUP
posed to be for the purpose OF reducing the cos0 o.
living Commissioner Culver OF the Federal Irae'e
Commission in his testimony says:
"When the packers have found their customers
buying something besides the meat they have to sell
or it's by-products, they have gradually commenced
to get into the business of supplying the other
things.
oWhen they have themselves been large buyers
Of given commodity they have gotten into the prod
uction of that article and gone into competition with
theinr former purveyOrs.
"When they have found substance which has
become to some extent substitute for meat prod
uctS that have gone into the business OF making ana
selling that substaoce.
Suppose they put the wholesaler out OF bus
mess" Senator Kenyon asked, and "sell products
cheaper to the consumer and develop efficiency OF
supply, is that not sound economic principle which
is being worked out?
'Their utilization of every possible animal pro
duct and by-prOduct' he said, ARE economic ana
desirable activities
It seems as if the packers by extending their
business into different fields and underselng COM
petitors have made lot of enmes who after
their scalp on the ground they are too big.
The fact that there is such keen competition
between packers and wholesalers would seem to give
the lie to the statement that packers have eliminated
competition.
The people of this country are interested in
just two things relative to the big packers.
First do they constitute trust in restraint or
trade? Second are they food hoarders and profit
eers? In either of these two cases we have laws to
punish them and if they are guilty they should be
punished
But the idea of putting private industry on the
rack and passing laws placing it under political dict
alton because it is bigi dangerous precedent to
establish in free country.
No one has yet suggested doing away with de-
partment stores and yet large department store
is exactly similar institution to of the large
packers. In theory the modern department store
ought to all other stores in the town out Of bus
ness The wholesalers dislike the department stores
for the they do the packers because the
big stores and the big packers buy and sell direct
and can undersell the wholesaler who is middle
man. This is simply business and the people profit
by it.
If the packers are going to be regulated merely
because they are big and sell too many commodities
it will be only another step until the department
stores are regulated on the same ground as they
will be just much public utilities as the packers.
Ii being able to undersel competitors through
enlargement and efficiency of business, has be-
come crime, the chief end of proposed regulation
would apparently be to do away with keen compet
ition, thus forcing up prices.
The foregoing is one of the stock arguments
such as literary bureaus employed by the big packer
and other profiteers flooding all the newspaper
offices of the country
And it gives away the whole business. 1t argues
that the big concern gets in and rims out the small
er account of its increased proficiency and eff
ficency That is argued to be beneficial to the gen
eral public.
But is it beneficial to the general pubic to have
control of all production and supply drifting into the