The Washington times., 1919-01-21

from the intestines of animals. Our
company was pioneer in this coun-
try In the manufacture of such strings
and 1t thus became possible for us
to market to advantage a by-product
or meat animals, which formerly we
had to waste or ship to Europe in
the hope of selling to string manufac-
turers there. We now sell this
product in foreign countries, which
field was until recently covered by
manufacturers in Germany and Aus
trla To make the story brief, the
marketing of musical strings led us
into the marketing Of the logical as
sociates OF musical strings and that
Is how we happen to have violin bows
for SALE
I'm our business we have need for
hundreds of millions of paper labels.
In fact our need for them was so
great that we entered into the busi-
ness of printing them and the Ar
mour Printing Works became a de-
partment of our business. We made
the works adequate to fill our own
orders even at rush times and so IL
became possible for us to sell labels
to outside concerns during part of the
year at least.
In similar manner, there is a de-
finite and logical relation between the
packing business and all Of the So
called outside lines which we handle
and for which some Of our competitors
would have us condemned. Our enter
ing into these various lines has not
been detrimental to the best interests
of the great consuming public. On the
contrary. the public has been tremen-
dously benefited. The quality Of goods
has been higher and the price lower.
AIDING THE GOVERNMENT.
AIbumen.
''The Nist of articles mentioned in
the testimony of Chairman Colver Of
the Federal Trade Commission to
as he puts 1t. is misleading in that
no one Of the various packing concerns
handles all the articles listed. A COM
parison between our catalogue and that
of typical wholesale grocery or a
mail order house would show that cur
products come nearer being related
than do those shown in the others.
Take for instance, the second item
in Mr.. Colver's list-albumen. Albu-
men can be obtained from blood. and
the Armour Fertilizer Works chem
lists worked out a method for so doing.
We were extracting a little albumen
from animal blood when the war broke
out. Now, one of the wars requisites
is the airplane and in the building of
airplanes a wood veneer is very gen.
orally used. 1t was essential that
this veneer be glued on so that the
dampness up in the clouds would not
cause 1t to loosen and send our avi-
ators hurling down to earth. 1t was
found that a glue which is impervious
to water could be made from aIbumen,
nj in ntrxr
producing. We Immediately increased
our plant capacity and turned the
product over to the Government, and
airplane production plans were not
stayed by lack of this special kind Of
glue.
'In May. 1917, at a meeting of the
chemical committee of the National
Council Of Defense in Washington, it
was developed that there was urgent
need for potassium permanganate to
be used in gas masks for the neutrali-
zation of toxic gasses and the chemi-
cal industry was asked to prepare
quickly for the manufacture of this
material as none was known to be made
in the United States.
Packers Make Markets.
"For example: At Fort Worth. be-
fore Armour and Company and Swift
and Company went there the total re-
ceipts of the stockyards the previous
year were less than 22I,O00 head OF
stock. Armour and Company and
Swift and Company bought the yards
and installed packing plants and the
market has now reached the point
where the total annual receipts are
3.54o.OOO head of stock, nearly 1000
per cent increase. There are prob
ably men in this room who can re-
hn -lo,
to Denver with a trainload of live
stock and could not sell a carload.
larger packing house coming in
there gave a market for live stock.
Jacksonville (FIorida) Stockyards.
at has been but a few years since
Armour and Company established a
packing plant at jacksonville, Fla,
and in connection Herewith, a stock
yards for the proper receipt and han
ding of cattle which might come
TO that market. Our attention was
directed there in this way. In 1912
and 1918 when we had a cattle short
age in the United States we bought
several thousand cattle in Georgia
and Tennessee and one day received
wire from kissimmee, Fla. offering
5000 head of grass cattle. / did not
know there was such a place and at
that time l doubt if anyone in the
packing business dreamed that there
were 5000 in the whole State OF
Florida that could be used for beef.
We finally bought the cattle in ques-
tion which we shipped to st. Louis.
This was our introduction to Florida.
Ownership OF Stockyards and Ad-
juncts Immaterial.
"My position relative to ownership
Of the stockyards is this: AS a packer
l am interested in seeing the yards
handled in the most efficient way pos
sible and it is absolutely immaterial
to me as to who owns them. Owner
ship by the Government implies red
tape and restrictions which cannot
help but add to the costs of the SER
vice-costs which must eventually be
borne either by the producer or the
consumer. Government ownership
implies, too, the abolition of the
private initiative and enterprise which
has made il possible to erect an ef-
ficient stockyards almost over night
when occasion justified ii.