Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-16
FOOD PRICE FIXING
D|SCLA|MED BY ALL
Truck Farmers and Commits
sion Merchants Discuss
! H. C. L. Before Senators.
PROFITS; COLD STORAGE

Attempts of the Senate District sub
committee to obtain evidence that
dealers in foodstuffs, wholesale or
retail, agree among themselves to
ing before the committee have so far
proved unavailing. The good old law
of supply and demand rules in every
case. the dealers insist, and even the
s farmers who bring vegetables and
fruits into the Washington market
have so far disclaimed any knowledge
of attempts on the part of any one
to establish uniform prices. The mem
had complaints made to them private
ly that price fixing does go on, and
that the prices are fixed so as to give
the dealers as much profit as pos
sible
While the dealers insist that there is
no agreement fixing prices, their tes-
timony shows prices are quite uni
form on the same day for the same
grade of goods, whether sold by the
farmers, by the packers. by the COM
mission merchants or by the retailers.
Commission Merchants Heard.
The Senate committee yesterday
afternoon heard a number of the
commission merchants, dealing In
fruits and vegetables and then adj
the search for the elusive prof1teer
will be resumed.
1t was developed by the commits
sion merchants that the uniform COM
and that the higher price they OBJ
tanned for the goods they sold the
higher the commission they received.
Many of them testified that they also
bought some of the foodstuffs out
right and took the profit they made
themselves.
Truck Farmer Testifes.
John F. Roland. farmer with a
truck garden at Benning, d. c.. was
the first witness yesterday afternoon.
He said that he hauled his vegetables
to the farmers produce market and
sold for the best price he could get.
regulated the prices he obtained. that
the farmers looked around to see
what supplies were on hand and dis
cussed among themselves what the
probabilities were for sales. There
was no agreement fixing prices, how
ever. he said. He said that the farm
ers were forced to sell cheap when
the supplies were heavy and they re-
ceived much higher prices when the
supplies were small.
Mr.. Roland said he had about seven
teen or eighteen acres, of which thir-
teen or fourteen are under cultiva-
ton this year. Lack of labor pre-
vented him from planting all the
ground. he said. He testified that at
the end of last year. after he had
paid all his expenses, he had saved
just $200.
Farmers Free to Sell.
c. B. F'ill;us. market master at the
farmers produce market, told the
committee that between 400 and 500
farmers bring their produce to the
market to sell: that they come from
a radius of twenty-five miles around
Washington. and that they are at
liberty to sell to any one they desire.
whether wholesalers, retailers or ul-
innate consumers
81 never saw any attempt to regu-
Late prices" said Mt. Fillius. He told
the committee that the farmers COM
blamed this year of difficulty in OBJ
kaining labor. and that they could not
produce as much as they would have
done had labor not been so scarce.
The commission merchants who APP
peared before the committee were
Edward E. Anderson. R. L. Glove,
William ]. Leishear, James NJ. Payne,
William H. Harrison, William G.
Merrick Much of their testimony
was the same regarding commits
sions charged and methods of do
ing business One and all insisted
there Is no attempt 10 IN prices
Through agreement. They all have
delivery systems which, they insisted,
must be maintained, or they would
lose a large part of their business
For the most part, they said, there
had been no increases in their rents
for a number of years. Their labor
costs, however. have increased ma
terially. it was said.
Profits Disclosed.
William H. Harrison told the COM
mittee that his capital was $4,000. He
gave his gross sales and net profits
as follows: 1916, gross sales. $342,-
375.67, net profits. $14.911; 1917, $685.
49s gross sales and $25,S66 net profits
(from which an income and excess
profits tax was paid amounting to
S11.40O); 1918. $1.1S3.287 gross sales
and $2S,375 net profits (from which an
income and excess profits tax was paid
amounting to $13,549).
Mr. Carter, president of Golden & Co.,
testified that his company engaged in
the commission business, in the butter
and egg business, chicken fattening
and fish business. In 1917, he said, the
gross sales had amounted to $3,175,S17
and the net profits to $17.112.52; in
1918, gross sales, $4,919,429 and net
profits $23,349. He said that the per-
centage of the gross profits to the
gross sales in 1918 was 6.42, Of the
expenses to the gross sales was 5.95
and of the net profits to the gross
sales was AT. Expenses, Mr.. Carter
said, had increased very greatly.