The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1919-02-07

given that final answer persona,,v ;,
any member of the federal trade com
Inasslon-to Commissioner Fort fo,
| instance. ~
Mayer could not remember.
Heney joked him gently about hi,
impaired memory, and when Nave,
rose to the taunt Heney asked wheth.
er Mayer recalled his last visit te
Commissioner Fort.
Mayer dropped that subject as
though it We're too hot.
There were men present who
chuckled, for they had heard of that
interview. 1t is supposed that Nav
er went to Fort to say something to
the effect that 'The packers arr
counting on you, governor" It is
supposed that Fort, without WASTING
breath on further discussion, to brin,
out what the packers counted upon
MN to DO or say or think, invited
mayer to get outside the office anc
stay out.
But why had Mayer told Armou,
not to show his South American ac-
counts to the federal trade commits
sion?
The reason, as Senators Gore, Nor
RS and Gronna pulled it from Arm
our, with Heney's assistance, was
this: Armour has claimed that he
made only s1,10O,O0O more in 1917
than in 1916, while the other big
packers increased their profits tina.
year many millions. Armour admit
ted that his company actually made
as much profit in proportion to bust
ness as the others in the Big Five.
He had simply quit reporting his pro-
fits from South America. On the 9TH
er hand, he had not stopped report
ing his investment in South America.
So he had told congress and the pea-
pie of this country, through lavish
expenditures in advertising that he
made a certain profit on American
business, when in fact he had made
that profit on only part of the total
investment. On the rest of the in.
vestment-th part invested in South
America-he had made an additional
$10,000,000 of profits. He had pub
ished a wholly misleading statement
of the profits, in order to make the
public and congress believe that be
was not putting an extortionate pri-
vate tax on the nations meat supply.
TRUST BLUFF FALLS APART
Once faced by the man who knew
something of the inside" of the
packing game, the Armour bluff col
lapsed, and the crafty side of the
profteer's nature was called into play.
He dared not deny, for example, that
the Big Five had for many years had
an agreement for sharing their joint
legislative expenses on basis Of
their percentage of beef handled III
the days of the "Veeder pool"
Heney read him a letter sent by
Henry Veeder to another of the
packer officials on August e, 1916,
relating to- these percentages. Veeder
stated that on July 80, 1919, "L. F. s.,
T. E. w. and A. M."-meaning Louis
F. Swift, Arthur Meeker & Armour
& Co., and Thomas E. Wilson, then
Morris & Co.-agreed
that the five big concerns should dl-
vide their cost of legislative wo1h and
litigation on this basis:
Swift 35.75t per cent, Armour
29. 1865 per cent, Morris 1883 per
cent, Cudahy 10 per cent, Sulzbefger
10 per cent. Armour admitted that
these were the old figures OF the d1vl-
sion of the beef buying among the
Big Five.
Then Heney made the multl-mli-
lionaire admit that the packers force
up the price of oleomargarine "ail
that the traffic will BEAR immediate
Nv behind the price of butter. Next