Republican farmer., 1919-07-18

great moment
 Here again the selling organization Of the packers. built up in connection with their meat business, assures them almost certain supremacy ir any line of food handling which they wish to enter.
 "Armours drive into the rice market in a single year is perhaps the most striking instance of their potenttallties in this direction. Early ir 1917, Armour & Co. first under took the handling of rice, and in that one year sold more than 16,000,O00 pounds of rice, thus becoming at single move, on thc statement of the vice president of the company. the greatest rice merchant in the world During this period the wholesale price of rice increased 6 , per cent. Even the oldest and most strong
 ly established wholesaling houses find that line after line of their merchan- disc is being absorbed by the pack CTS branch house system. First the packers encroached on the handling of butter, eggs and cheese, then on cannot goods, and on various kinds Of package goods; and now are han ding increasing quantities of rice, coffee and other staples.
 "In 1917, the Big Elves combined
 sales of meats and all other com
 modities totaled s2,127. 900; in 1918 they were over S3,000. 900. DOMINATE MEAT INDUSTRY. Commission figures slaughtered S2.2 per cent. of all cattle slaughter | ed by interstate slaughterers; S6.4 1 per cent of all sheep: 76.6 per cent. 1 of all calves, and 61.2 per cent. of l swine.
 As to both cattle and sheep" the report states, the percentage of con- ! trol by these five concerns constitutes a monopolistic position, considering i the harmony with which the five work together in their purchase of animals and the eXtensiveness of their dis | tr1buting systems. These combined percentages of control indicate a po- i tential degree of influence over the
 price paid to the producer and over the price paid by the consumer suf- ficient if exercised, to account for a large share of the suspicious and complaints that have arisen over the meat industry
 ! The explanation of the SIP per i cent. slaughter of hogs lies the re- port points out, in the nature of the products. The advantage of the big i packer to utilize byproducts most tIllClSllIS naS less scope In hOS ! slaughter because only some 10 per i cent. of the live hog goes to by pro- ! ducts as against 20 per cent. of cat 1 tie. Also. the big packers lose the i special advantage of their highly de- Veloped refrigerators and private car | line systems, since cured hog pro- ! ducts do not require refrigera ton in i shipping. For these reasons, the re- port stated, nearly aIl the indepen- | J IL
 ! their interstate trade to cured hog 1 products; and in fresh meats do 1 principally a local business. | Including besides all interstate i slaughterers, all wholesale local or l interstate slaughterers, the Big Five i percentages of slaughter in mum bers 1 of head are: Cattle, 74.5; sheep, 1855; l calves, 62.5; swine 56.9
 'The ability of the large packers | to undersell the small slaughterer l locally" says the report, lis a potent 1 weapon, even if unused, to keep him | from undertaking any aggressive cam paign to increase his business. The i branch houses and 'peddler car 1 routes of the Chicago packers cover l the country with such a network that | the local slaughterer realizes that he | cannot maintain himself against their | distributing system if he should at l tract their unfavorable attention by 1 progressively trying to increase his 1 volume of business. The local packer l though able to compete in the local 1 market, fears to exert his full powers i His strong tendency is to come in l under the umbrella of big packer | prices and to content himself with d 1 modest share of the nearby business 1 Evidence this point and on com 1 petitive conditions generally is given
 in other parts of the report" 1 Average monthly holdings of non- i perishable meats during 1916 the re- i port shows, were for the Big Five as ] gainst all other interstate slaught-
 CTS: of frozen beef; $50 per cent; l smoked ham and bacon, 64.1 per i cent; dry salt pork. 69.s; pickled 1 pork, !0.5; total meats from swine | TOO.
 ! CONTROL GREAT PACKING 1 CNNTERS.
 1 The Big Five control interstate ! slaughter a the 2 packing centers- 1 Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, st. ! Louis, New York City, St Joseph, | Fort Worth, St Paul, Sioux City, Ok iahoma City. Denver and Wichita | was during 1916, 94.4 per cent of cat | tie; 89.1 calves; 94.3 sheep and | lambs; and S1 swine
 1 'In the Chicago market the | largest in the country-the Big Five | slaughter S7.1 per cent of all cat 1 tie slaughtered there for interstate i commerce; 93.6 per cent. of calves:
 96.5 sheep and lambs) and 67.3
 swine" the report states. "In the re-
 maining II cities they have a7.6 per
 1 cent. of the total cattle slaughter"
 CONTROL OF STOCKYARDS.
 Receipts of live animals at stock
 1 yards controlled by the Big Five
 l packers. including Chicago as dom
 1 mated, as against receipts at inde-
 ! pendently controlled yards durin g
 1916, were in the following per-
 ] centages: of cattle, S3-1; sheep, 7S.1; | calves 7SS; swine, 74.4; horses and
 mules. SAG; total all animals, TIP. | HETEROGENEOUS
 TRANSFORMATIONS.
 The Big Five on December 31. 1917
 owned 93 per cent. of the 16,60O re-