The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-10-17
THE PACKING INDUSTRY

reason why Is LndL IL - easy ~ pei
ceive that it is one of the most essen
tiaI industries in the country, and the
measures some ill-informed and i'll
advised people are trying to apply to
to it would cripple or break up other
Industries, without, as we can, see,
any benefit in return. If the entire !!
country worked with the skill and in
dustry of the packers, everybody In
the country would be well-to-do, for
everybody would have something that
everybody else wanted and was able
to pay for. and if you will look at that
proposition carefully you would see
that it is a practical Utopia. and that
is the only Utopia that ever will
stand. The worth of the packing in
dustry was fully proven in the war.
Without it. America could not have
performed its~mighty task near so
well, and if it had won at all it would
have been at a much greater expense
of life and treasure. 1t is foolish for
any one to say the packers want to
enslave or impoverish the country-lt
| is to their greatest interest that 1t be
prosperous and thrifty.
| In connection with this subject, you
should study out the following infor
nation and answer to yourself the
questions:
Where is the packing industry?
Only the suggestion is needed, and
subconsciously the imagination pic
lures the answer-Chicago.
Who are the packers? =
Again the impressionable magma
ticn, faithfully following the chan
nels which have influenced it since it
first began to function, seeks the an
swer in Chicago and remains focused
on a few men.
And we admit that Chicago, taken
by itself, is the greatest meat pack
ing city in the world. Figures COM
piled by the bureau of markets in
disputably prove it. But these same
Figures prove the following:
That Chicago, of the SO major mar
ket cities for live stock. handled in
1918 only Is per cent of the cattle, ~
per cent of the hogs, and % per cent
of the sheep.
So there are other markets? And
these other markets, combined, re-
} ceived a total of 80 per cent of the
: cattle, 80 per cent of the hogs, and 7S
1 per cent of the sheep? The bureau OF
y markets answers, Eyes"
!, Where are these other markets 10
s Gated? They are situated in the pro
ducing centers-in your own South
e They are supported by packing plants
e rendering plants, fertilizer works anC
t various other manufactures facilitat
: ing the slaughtering, packing, pre-
t serving and otherwise efficiently tax
ing care of the animal products tina
southern farmers have grown. Their
is such plant in your own territory.
r And did it ever occur to you tina
?, this same plant pays taxes into tn
exchequer of the state? And that thi
plant employs your fellow citizen:
l. develops an industry, and assures tn
n public of a constant supply of food a
h all seasons of the year? Does tn
t. South need these plants? Well see.
,r Government estimators assert tina
ID Oil January l. 1919, about one-thir
i of the cattle and hogs on farms
is the United States were in the south
B. east, middle south and southwe:
t. states. The actual percentages al
le 28.8 and 29.1.
~ The receipts of the fourteen liv
stock markets of the South in 191
a, were 3,370,271 cattle (includin
calves), 2.188,019 hogs and 779,8s
~ sheep. Of these amounts, "a per Gel
= of the cattle, 65 per cent of the hog
g and % per cent of the sheep we
slaughtered at southern points.
E Isn't that something to thir
3 about?
q Some of this live stock was handle
by locally-owned packing plants. Son
: was slaughtered at plants in the di
trict owned by the big packers. S
H we again come to the query, "Who
the packer?"
e Swith & Company is owned by mo
= than 10000 shareholders. Nearly on
third are women. Thousands a
. employees. And at the Swift plant
* Jacksonville, you will find the
4: Swift & Company employe-sharehol
W ers.
u Wherever Swift's organization e
& tends, there is found this cooperate
x: combination: a local plant, supportil
" the local commonwealth and beil
" supported; developing the local indu
- try and trade, and thereby aiding
X its own development; giving stimuli
Y: to greater production and. as a resu
W increasing its own volume; furnishil
& employment, and being furnished Wi
4: labor to increase the development
81: the industry.
=. The packing industry lies at o
= doors. Our people are engaged in
=: They own stock in it. They sha
u: the benefits of taxation upon it. Tn
": all consume the food that is ma
G possible by this industry. Thereto
- all are interested in any blow tn
x: strikes at this industry.
W 1t will be the soundest kind of bJ
g mess sense that will cause the ave
80 age citizen to study the possible
u: fects of the Kenyon bill and simil
N legislation on an industry so close
" all of us-particularly the farmers
- this county.