Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1919-10-12

rotary, the licensee may appeal TO the
United States supreme court.
The foregoing is not complete an
alysis Of these bills, but think 1t
covers the matters essential to g cor
rect understanding of them To sum-
Marie: Licenses must be taken out
by packers, stock yards owners, com
mission men, dealers in butter ana
eggs to the extent Of more than $780,
900 per year, and publishers or market
papers which report prices. These
are all forbidden from indulging in I'M
fair practices. combining to eliminate
competition, acting in collision to in
fluence prices, or publishing false or
misleading reports. If found guilty of
deliberately violating the law, licensees
will be put out Of business by having
their licenses revoked, but not until
they have had full hearing before the
secretary of agriculture and before
the courts.
There is another section Of the bill
which seems to me to be of very great
Importance to stockmen. 1t provides
for an investigation of the supply of,
demand for. costs, prices and distri-
button of live stock and live stock
products. Under this section, stock
men might reasonably hope that after
time they would get the sort of in
formation which they have never yet
been able to get, and which is so nee
essary to them in the intelligent con-
duct Of their business.
The report of the investigations
made by the federal trade commission
seemed to show very clearly to the
open-minded man the need of more
regulation of the packing business
than we have ever had in the past
and these bills were drawn with the
recommendations of the commission il
mind. I think the members of the
senate committee are not set upon the
exact terms of either of these bills
but are trying to get at the very best
| law that will give US free and open
competition and get rid of the man!
abuses that have developed in the
marketing of our live stock. They
have sat in the committee room fol-
weeks, hearing the testimony of meI
who favor and who oppose such legis'
lation. I marvel at their patience, fol
much of the testimony is Of little
| worth, and quite wide Of the ques
lions under consideration.
OF course, the parties immediatel,
affected, the packers, commission mel
and stock yards papers, have beel
fighting this legislation bitterly. 1t il
a question whether ever before II
history there has been such an inten
sive and expensive campaign and a
such expense, to defeat legislation
The packers have spent huge sums o
money in advertising opposing thes
bills. The commission merchant
have sent out letters and printe
matter by hundreds of thousands 0
pieces to the men who ship to then
telling them that the shippers bust
ness is in danger, and asking them t
write their senators against the bills
The stock yards papers have been fu
Of articles and communications in op
position to such legislation. The dali
press has carried pages Of propagand
calculated to deceive the people as t
the terms of the bills. Even the As
ISOLATED Press, which is supposed (
be an unbiased distributor Of new
mas been grossly unfair in reportin
the hearings before the senate com
mittee. 1t has played up the packer
side and reported very little OF til
testimony favoring the bill. My con
fidence in the trustworthiness Of tn
Associated Press has been greL-'
shaken by the policy 1t has followe
in this matter.
People have been given TO under
! stand that the government proposes
take over and run the packing plant
and that the next thing will be
take over the farms. Farmers an
stockmen have been led to believe ths
the drop in the price of cattle an
hogs is in large part due to the agita
ton against the packers. Nothin
seems to have been left undone to be
fog the whole matter. A large nun
Der of individual stockmen have az
peared before the committee and or
posed the legislation. I was told thu
most Of these men took written state
: ments out Of their pockets and req
, them to the committee. and that the
: stopped at the most expensive hot
} in Washington. I was told further /
members Of the senate committee tn;
: when asked these men said that the
= had come down voluntarily and we
!. paying their own expenses. but TIL
= some Of them could not remember Il
3 amount Of the railroad fare and d
r not know the price Of the rooms tn,
!, were occupying. When questioned,
0 became clear that many of these m,
I had not read the bill and did not III
! derstand its provisions. 1 have
t personal knowledge of these matter
= but members of the committee did n