Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-12-19

artihcially control the ultimate price
which the consumer pays for meat
and meat products
| Must Control Substitutes.
The investigation demonstrated
that even with a practical monopoly
of the supplies in the country
the price could not be con-
trolled by the defendants without the
control of substitute foods. To &C
complish this purpose the defendants
availed themselves of the advantages
at hand in the auto trucks, route
cars, branch houses and storage
warehouses owned or controlled by
them. The control was extensively
and rapidly increasing. Yearly great
numbers of competitors abandoned
the contest and quit business or sold
out to the parent corporations or
their subsidiaries. Unless prevented
by this decree, the defendants would
have within the compass of few
years controlled the quantity and
price of practically every article of
food found on the American table.
Enormous Growth.
In the IS years from 1904 to 1919,
Swift & Co., Armour & Co., Wilson
& Co., Inc, and the Cudahy Pack
ing company, according to their fin
ancial reports, grew from a net
worth of approximately $92000,000
to a net worth of approximately
$479, 100000, but in this same period,
they paid in cash dividends $l05,-
100000. Only $S9,0000O0 of their
increased worth was represented in
capital. Though always asserting a
very low rate of profit on sales the
FIVE parent companies have grown
so rapidly that their combined net
profit for 1919 has equaled nearly
the amount of their total sales in
1914. The sales themselves in Is
years have increased until for the
fiscal years, 1918, they reached the
vast sum of $3,200,000,000, This
was realized from meats, sub
stitute foods and unrelated lines as
hereinabove set forth. In stating
these figures, account has been
taken only of profits and sales to
the parent companies and subsidi-
aries included by them upon their
books. No account has been taken
of the many corporations which are
owned or controlled by the same
family or financial interests as own
or control the parent companies.
Other Vast Profits.
TN addition to these profits, there
have been other vast profits, diff
cult for ascertainment, realized by
the individuals by virtue of either
their personal control of other pack
ing houses and slaughtering COM
panies, or their interests in stock
yards, terminal railroads, rendering
companies, cattle loan institutions
and banks, and other corporations,
all of which corporations have their
inception and depend for their pros
perity upon advantages or privileges
growing out of the interlocking
control of the stock yards and stock
YARD appurtenances.
"The parent companies, or the in
dividual defendants and their fam
lilies, maintain and control 574 cor
porations or concerns, including l3l
trade names. They have a signih-
cant minority stock interest in IS
others, and an interest of unknown
extent in an additional SO. Thus,
the total number of concerns in
which they have control or inter
ests is some 762. Practically all of
these companies, however, come
under the jurisdiction of the court
through the naming of the above
mentioned defendants.
Organize Many Concerns.
"In the years that have passed,
the parent companies have acquired
or organized many other concerns
and have maintained them so long
as they were useful for their pur-
poses. When no longer useful, these
concerns have been merged into
that of the parent companies or
into that of other subsidiaries. The
total of 762, above stated, therefore
falls far short of representing the
numbers of concerns that corporate
and individual defendants have &C
quired or have organized in further
ance of their general scheme and
plan of action already explained.
I'm 1916, the business of Armour
& Co. in canned fish, vegetables and
sundries, canned and dried fruits,
fruit preserves and grape juice,
amounted to $6,396,O3676. In 1918,
two years later, the same company's
volume of business in these same
items was $30,820,000, over six-fold
increase. While part Of this in
crease of business may be attributed
to the increase of population and the
consequent increase of consump-
ton, the greater part thereof was
acquired at the expense of COM
petitors.
Unrelated Commodities.
"Of the corporations which have
been acquired by the parent COM
panies in recent years, the large
number are concerns manufacturing
or selling these substitute foods or
unrelated commodities. This fact,
together with the increased activities
of the parent organizations them
selves in these lines, indicated a we'll
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