The Washington herald., 1919-01-22
ARMOUR DENIES POOL
OF PACKERS TO RULE
MARKET CONDITIONS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.
Labor and fuel costs have also gone
up. he pointed out
Charges of excessive profits werc
denied. In 1918 Armour's profits, he
said has been Is cents on each dol
lar of sales as compared with 81
in 1917.
Recalling that on November l.
1917. the Food Administration limit
ed packers profits to per cent on
the capital invested in meat-pro-
ducing lines. Armour declared that
only about One-half of this allow
ance actually was earned.
Charges Unjust, He Says.
The Federal Trade Commission. "
| he continued. has failed completely
to justify its charges of unduly
large profits.
During the last eighteen years, in
cluding the war period, the earnings
Of Armour & Co. on the actual in
Vestment and appraised value of the
business averaged SO per cent, OF
verything-including all our by-prod-
ucts and all our associated lines"
'Side-lines" pay the bills. Armour
said, in explaining the policy of push
ing by-products. The same sales or
ganization can be used and factories
and employees can be kept busy in
of-season periods. Soap, violin strings,
soft drinks and perfume are legitimate
side-lines for packers, he contended.
Referring to the pending bill which
would take refrigerator cars out OF
packers hands. Armour declared tha,
he had lost money on refrigerator
cars for the last six years, but that
they were essential. They are sub
| ject to the Interstate Commerce Com
mission. he said. adding that he failed
to see any advantage to the public by
| government ownership of them.
Ready to Sell Interests.
Armour said he considered owner
ship of stockyards immaterial as
long as efficient service is rendered.
defending present packer-controI
AS a packer, I am interested in
seeing the yards handled in the most
efficient way possible. and it is alb
solutely immaterial to me as to who
owns them" he declared.
Ownership by the government
implies red tape and restrictions
which cannot help. but add to the
I
tirely willing and ready to at once
relinquish my holdings upon being
allowed joint compensation.
Some of our critics charge that
our interests in stockyards and ex-
change buildings give us a club
over the head of the commission
man who must do our bidding or
be relegated to undesirable offices
and pens. Such charges are utterly
untrue"
Admits Pools In Old Days.
Existence of pools in the days
when they were common was ad-
mitted by Armour
The business of Armour and
Company is conducted in accord
with the highest and best business
ethics of the day. A generation ago
when pools and combinations of
various kinds in railroads and in
every kind of business were common
and of everyday occurrence, were
ethical and supposedly legal, we
were then sometimes a party to
them; but when new legislation or
new interpretations of existing leg
islation made such pools and COM
binations improper, we absolutely
CtdStu 10 Dt parties 10 any Oh tnem.
Price agreements as to lard substi-
tutes were not a result OF "collusion,' -
Armour told the committee. They
were fixed by the Food Administra-
ton to stabilize prices, he explained.
He went into detailed explanation
of the famous "50-5O'' letters which
the Federal Trade Commission took
as evidence of a working agreement
in Denver between Swift and Ar
mour.
Armour denied there was such an
agreement in a criminal sense.
When Philip D. Armour wrote from
Denver that everything here is on
a $3.50 basis" he meant, witness
said. that the division was about
equal on a natural competitive basis,
a continuation of an even start each
concern had in 1912, when the Ma
tional Packing Company was split by
the two big packers.
The 400 per cent stock dividend was
merely a bookkeeping transaction,
perfectly honest and legal in every
respect" according to Armour. TT
merely gave each stockholder five
shares of stock where formerly he
held one, the value Of which was equal
to the FIVE which replaced it"
Armour will appear before the COM
mittee again today.
While Armour was before the House