Republican farmer., 1919-08-15
FIVE CONCERNS HAVE CONTROL SAYS KENDRICk Power of Leaders In Beef Packing Industry May
 Be Shorn CONGRESS HAS
 REME EDX BILL Does Not Want Feeding of Nation Placed Tn Hands
 of Few

The history of the packing industry in this country during the last twen- ty five years has been a story of un- certainty to the producer, of steadily m mounting costs to the consumer and of multiplying profits to the packer
 Only the producer who was for tunetely situated so that his losses were low has been able to withstand the pressure of conditions. Hundreds, If not thousands, less fortunately situ- ated have gone to the wall.
 No man needs to be told that during this period the price of meat for the table has been increasing year by year. It is true, of course. that the cost of living has been advanced in every direction, but the reports of the Department of La bor sh ows that the price of meat has advanced out of all proportions to the prices of other foodstuffs.
 While, except for certain perIoos Of prosperity, the producer, on the one hand has been waging a hard fight for success and the consumer. on the other, has found it increasingly diff cult to supply his family with meat the middleman. the packer, has been growing enormously rich Poor's Man ual for 1918 shows that Armour-s profits increased from s6,02S,196 in 1913 to s21.293.564 in 1917; that Swift's profits for the same years in creased from s9,25O,0OO to s34,65o,- 900
 In 1914 according to the United States Census Bureau, the meat pack ing industry was the largest industry in the country The value of it's pro- ducts in that year totalled more than one billion six hundred million dollars, i,,o million for the iron and steel indus try, the next in size. J. Ogden Ar mour told the House Committee Interstate Commerce a, few months ago that in 1918 his company alone did a business of ss610G0.000, and Swift's sales, one of the packer attor- neys from Chicago told the Senate Committee on Agriculture, totalled more than s1,o0o, 100000. S
 How has the business grown up and how does it come that a few 'big packers hold the dominating posi- ton in this industry that they have to- day?
 The answer is to be found in the numerous investigations and prosecu- tions which have taken place in the last twenty years and in the adm1s- sions of the packers representatives before the Congressional Committees this year. It may be summed up m single phase: Pools and combinations in restraint of trade" Explaining the documents which were found in his vault by the Federal Trade Commis- sion a year ago, Henry Veeder, attor- ney for the Swift interests. told the Senate Committee very frankly about these old combinations, so that there is no dispute about the facts
 At least until the year 1902, the packers were in combination among themselves to monopolize the market It was during this period of growth that they were enabled to gain the ad- vantages and the size that now give them the mastery of the food business of the country They control the stockyards and they control the refri- gerator cars By their ola poors they crushed competition and by their pre- sent ownership of the marketing and distributing agencies of the country, they maintain supremacy.
 It is only of incidental importance, therefore whether they have absolute ly abandoned all their old practices, as they claim, and are actively com peting among themselves, or whether, as charged by the Federal Trade Com mission. they still manipulate the livestock markets and defraud both the producers and consumers
 They do control the industry today because of the advanta ges which they gained in the past.
 As have repeatedly stated, I have no desire to punish anybody for the sins of the past My interest all lies in the future, and that is why In the bill which introduced at the last ses sion of Congress, and which is now before that body again in slightly diff ferent form, 1t is proposed that the big packers be deprived of the ownership of the stockyards and that refrigera- tor cars be made common carriers to be supplied on equal terms to any shipper who makes reasonable de- mands for them. I am convinced that if the packer Is stripped of the ad- yanta ges which he now holds, com petition will be restored in the food business of the country and in the flu ture no mans table need go without meat.
 The s1bstantiate this view let me re- fer to the testimony of J. Ogden Ar 1 171our at the Congressional hearings 1 Responding to several different in ! quiries propounded by Representative | Sims, then chairman of the House ] Committee on Interstate Commerce
 Mir Armour asserted that '-there are | a great many independent packers in | the field and they all make more mon l ey than we do," that "the little packer i doesn't have the expense of the big | packers" that while the little packer | makes a greater percentage Of profit 1 than the big packer his profits are 1 not so large in the aggregate as the | big packer will make" Finally, In ex- | pIaintng why. in his judgment, these | being the facts, it is not in the interest | of the government to stop the growth | of the big packers and encourage the | little ones who do business at so much less expense. MT. Armour declared: That won't work out. The smaller | packers have a local sphere or a linn
 ited territory only and when they go l beyond this. their range of expense in- | creases beyond the pro rata unit that
 exists within their limited territory. | And upon a national basis the small | packers expenses would increase and 1 would be at least as big, if not big | ger than ours-probably bigger-be- | cause of our great widespread volume
 of business, our very efficient system 1 aF df~tr4h,1tion and the oonaocuent