The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-05
Y Finance, ,RealE Estate and Insurance

The advantage of the big packers through their concentration stations in the corn belt lies 70 degree in the way in which railroad tariffs are made
 As to their great buying power and control of market prices by the Big Five, the report further says:
 'As they buy most of the animals slaughtered at the 12 great markets, their ability to determine from day to day the general level of livestock prices Is incontrovert tible. That they do determine 1t Is generally recog- nized by livestock producers and commission men and this Is con- frned by correspondence from their files. The big packers through their centralized buying system determine the general lev1ei of prices each day at Chicago before the market has opened and send out the orders to their buyers at the different markets as to the prices to be paid. The local buyers for the different packers go into the market at the same time and assume the same buying attitude"
 The report presents numerous let ters from the packers files indicating collision among the Big Five in buy Ing, ueIeEI1llIdtiOl cL pIAC aAid llidil- ipulation of the markets.
 Why and how they dominate in the manufacture and distribution of meat products is summarized as follows:
 ''Of the meat trade in the hands of interstate slaughterers in the United States, the five big packing com panies have more than 73 per cent. of the total. Of the meat trade of both interstate and wholesale local slaugh- terers they have more than 6T per cent. of the total.'
 In addition to the superior ad- vantages over the independents in the buying of livestock, the big packers obtain cheaper credit, buy supplies for less, get better transportation fla cilities and services through their control of great tonnages of ship mentS.
 The big packers ownership of re- trigerator cars-uhey own 91 per cent. of all beef refrigerator cars-and their development of car-route and branch house systems is such that the small Independents opportunity of widening his field beyond a purely local business Is much restricted; and the big packers, by extending their ownership into the outlying areas of lIle lnuuSlIy "lIOlcsS1lV 4iOo'S'' consignment houses. and hotel-sup- ply companies), have so restricted the general markets that the small indeDerd entS in many cases can dis pose of no surplus products over the local demand unless to the big pack CTS themselves. This has made pos sib1e the invasion by the Big Five of fields not related to the products and by-products Of meat packing
 ''The pure-tood act has been con 'strued so that the meat packers arc permitted to sell their wrapped meat products at gross weight instead of net weight, while all other food products ip package form are sold -t net weight"
 Through their control of the SUD- ply of meat throughout the country the big packers have the prices ot dressed meat and packing-house products so well in hand that, within certain limitations, meat prices are made to respond to their wishes.
 Notwithstanding the special ad- vantages which the big packers ob- tain and in the face of the subor- dfnate position of the independent packers, 1t is not demonstrable that they are more efficient than the m medium-sized and larger independ- ents''