The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-01-28
TRADE BODY UNFAIR,
SAYS SWIFT AGENT
Manager Charges Letters
Seized Told Of Incomplete
Transactions.
HE EXPLAINS WIRING on
Denies Practice Was Designed
to Force Lower Prices;
Defends Packers.
lie EXPLAINS WIRING on
specinl Despatch to THH suS.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27.--Unfairness In
presenting the result OF It's Investigations
OF swift & Co. was charged to the Fed
eral Trade Commission to-day by L. d.
H. Weld. manager Of the Commercial
Research Department of Swift & Co.
Mr. Weld declared that agents for the
commission had presented only one side
OF many matters in order to make Swift
4 CO. appear to be actuated by sinister
motives when these agents were aware
OF other letters in the same fles to which
they had the same access which would
have put a totally different appearance
TO the whole case.
Swift & Co never have had a chance
to present the true facts. Mr.. Weld told
the House Interstate Commerce Commit
tee.
The Federal TRADE Commission in one
instance" he declared used certain let
ters taken from our files to support a
statement made in its report and failed
to use other letters, which I had also
taken from the files. but which disap-
proved the point
These letters" he continued, relate
10 what is known as wiring on in cattle
shipments, where a cattle buyer at one
market wires tn another buyer at another
market that cattle had been shipped
from one market to the other. The ma
jority OF cases cited by the commission
in It's report are merely records OF COM
pleted transactions and are not examples
OF wiring on to prevent higher price
being paid for the CATTLE
Calls Treatment Unfair.
The Trade Commissions discussion OF
this particular matter is utterly UNI
fair" Mr.. Weld declared, and set forth
these specific reasons for saying so:
81. The practice In itself Is perfectly
legitimate and Is carried on in other
lines OF business.
-. Because OF complaints and sus-
p!cions Swift &c Co. has been gradually
stopping the practice of wiring on and
very little of 1t has been done since the
spring OF 1916. The Trade Commission
knew this. but has not mentioned it in
the report
80. In order to give the impression
that the practice Is continued to-day the
Trade Commission reproduced number
of kilograms and letters from Swift &
Co. s file which show cases Of cattle that
were forwarded from one market to an
other, the price paid at the first market
and the price paid at the second. These
communications with the exception OF
one prior to 1870 are not examples OF
wiring on at all-they are merely rec
ords Of completed transactions and were
sent after the animals had been received
and sold at the second market. There Is,
OF course. nothing illegitimate about this.
-. The Trade Commission claims that
the packer buyers at the second market
bid the price no greater and often less
than that offered the shipper at the first
market"
The company has copies OF commune
cations taken from the files by the COM
mission. Mr.. Weld said. showing that
higher prices were paid at the second
market than were bid at the first. hut
such communications the commission re-
Trained from reproducing
Denies Combination Exists.
THE proposed bill for the regulation
Of the packers Is based on the erroneous
theory that there is combination
among the five large packers to depress
livestock prices and to raise mea,
prices" he continued. The Fedora
Trade Commission has failed TO prove
that the packers have any such com
blnation. because no such combination
exists The case presented Is based
primarily on the fact that the percentage
of receipts taken by each packer a
the various markets remains very nearly
consistent from year to year
There is no agreement whatever con
corning. division OF the livestock receipts
and the percentages taken by the dit
ferert packers remain nearly the SAM
because OF intens competition an(
rivalry each packer watches the other
90 closely that no single packer is abb!
20 increase his proportion OF the bust
ness appreciab,y.
There are innumerable evidences o
competition which the Trade Commits
sion did not mention at all. Information
on which, however. Is readily availao
to the commission. For example. S"It
l. Co.'S profit on its cattle and bee
operations during 1918 netted a prof
c; only a small fraction of cent pc
pound for the beef and during the yea
ended June so. 1918. there wer
twenty-five out OF the fifty-two week
in which Swift & Co. either made n
money at all or actually lost none,
o. its beef operations