The Coconino sun., 1919-01-17
WHY MEAT PACKERS ARE NOW
 ADVERTISING so TREMENDOUSLY Y

sharks, trade papers, canneries and
 other marketing facilities. The con- trol of the market IS accomplished by
 the control of the very instruments by which marketing is carried on.
 It is to meet this situation that the
 recommendations of the Federal Trade Commission are directed. These rec
 ommendation have been widely mis-
 represented. They are not radical. They are not as radical as many have
 expected and advocated. They do not
 propose that the federal government
 take over and operate the packing houses and the entire distributing sys-
 tenn. They propose merely that the
 instruments and agencies of monop-
 oly shall be taken out of the control
 ot those who would profit by monop-
 oly. These agencies are the privaUe stock and refrigerator car lines, the ! stockyards and refrigerated storage terminals Ill the great cities. These recommendation have been considered by many farmers and producers or ganizatlon and have been approved by every such organization that mas yet considered them. Their adoption will | AAt AaS "ay tSSoSh efficiency of the packers nor then 1 utilization of animal by-products. | Nevertheless, 1t must be cIearly rec ognized that efficiency is not the is- sue. Even if 1t Were, is 1t likely that the highest degree of efficiency either has been or can in the future be main- tanned in an ldustry which has no real | competition and where control of man. agement goes so largely by inheri- tance? Other autocracies have before this made claim to efficiency which could not stand the test of competition with freedom and democracy. The pyramldlng net profits towering into many millions, and the silent, un- ceaslng extension of power into new fields here and abroad, are the answer to the advertisements showing the packers rolling dollars to the farmers, whose average net return does not equal the wages of the mechanic. Figures showing small profit per dol-- lar of sales or per pound of product are what we have a right to expect and demand in an industry handling as valuable material with as rapid < turnover and with as little aitera- ton by manufacture as are meats and other basic foods.
 But the issue is not one of effici- ency. The issue before the jury of the country is of economic liberty in America. 1t has been conclusively es- tabtished-indeed it can fairly be said to be admitted-that a combination in restraint of trade has existed be- tween the big packers. In a state ment issued by Swift & Co. on Aug ust IS, 1918, it is said: "The beef pools'-that is,--the arrangements whereby the quantity of beef that could be shipped by each packer to va- rlous large eastern markets-were discontinued in 1902" The Federal Trade Commission has found that in spite of changes in form, a combina- tion far more reaching and effective still exists. The question is whether , and in what manner effective compe- , tltion can be restored in an industry , in which community of financial in- , terest has once established a substan- , tial control, or whether practical mo- nopoly must be recognized and its op- , eration and profits be regulated In / the public interest. What laws shell ; DS PoSoSu anu illtdSu1cS SIldll ls be taken upon either hypothesis or up- Z on any intermediate one? in partic- , ular, can we have effective competi- , tion or effective regulation and con- ' trol of the marketing agencies of {, and distribution, live [ stock and refrigerated cars, stock z yards and refrigerated terminals and storage facilities, remain in the hands |, of those who already dominate the V of live stock and of meats ' in interstate commerce? Should not :, at least the specially constructed and ' equipped transportation and terminal ] essential to interstate com 7 merce in live stock and meats or other : food products be furnished by or in ', conjunction with the railroads to all :, shippers on equal terms, so that undue [ advantage over existing or potential d shall not be given to those i, whose financial resources enable them z to own and control these facilities as '. adjuncts to the packing business? q
 Respectfully,
 H. A. JASTRO,
 F. l., RTTRKE r