The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-04-04

|
! interests are all so closely inter-re
lated that we stand or fall together
commercially. In the inception of tn
! packing industry conditions wer'
, vastly different. Time was in tn
memory of many of US when fresl
| meat was almost unknown from
| spring to autumn, In millions o
! homes. In other cases the famil.
/ butcher sold fresh beef on Saturday
only in hot weather, and this was thu
,, rule in many good sized towns. a
that; towns where you couldn't dis
cover a pork roast or chop, from
spring till fall. We all know this t.
be true. 1t was the era of picked
smoked and dry sailed provisions 70,
| half the year, outside of the principa
! towns and trade centers. There were
, no refrigerator cars, no branch houses
with coolers and no daily routed cool
er cars to the ends of the continent, il
our grandfathers' days. Nor would
there have been to this hour, but fol
the initiative and ambition of the mer
who founded and fostered and toileC
to build UP this world-important in
dustry, and in whose steps the pro
gressive men in the trade in Europe
have followed.
A Matter For Protest
And SO widely is this truth recog
nized, and so important have the op
erations Of the packers become, that
the simple announcement of the pro-
posed closing down of any branch
packing plant, or the shutting the
doors of any branch house anywhere in
American, would meet with irme-
date protest. 1t would result in the
calling together of the Chamber of
Commerce, or other active local body,
and even be taken up with the state
legislature, if necessary. Represen-
tative bodies in various cities are con.
stantly offering Armour and Company
everything from free sites to large
bonuses as inducements to locate and
this is also true as to their competi-
tors. st. Paul recently offered such
alluring inducements that the Arm
ours are now investing millions in
that city, where great plant is being
built. st. Paul is becoming one of the
best meat producing centers in the
country and you can readily imagine
what impetus to the growth of live
stock this plant will give and what it
will mean to the entire North West
We intended going reminiscently in
to the early days of the packing in
dustry and to talk Of the pioneer
founders, many of which we had the
pleasure of meeting in their later
years. The life stories of P. D. Arm
our, Of the Cudahy brothers, of the
elder Swift and of Nelson Morris,
founder of the Morris plants, would
be an inspiration to many of the
younger generation, and would COM
prise a number of volumes that would
be worthy of long preservation Some
time. perhaps. when both time and
space permits we shall briefly sum-
Marie the notable events and chang
es which have made the American
packer world figure and the pioneer
in introducing, not only canned and
cured meats, but other American
products to civilization at the end OF
the earth.
For the present it will be sufficient
to state that, so far as the writer's in
vestigation and personal knowledge
goes, no packer has grown rich by
charging a large profit on 4 small out
put, but by working on the smallest
on the largest possible output
and production. The by-products have
been a very large source of income
and are become an important and ne
cessary factor, of benefit to the world
The comparative loss of value in the
production of meat in the early days,
would now be appalling and would ad-
vance the price of everything in the
line beyond all reason, today.
EDITORS NOTE: The third and
chapter of this series will
be printed on Saturday. 1t relates to
the early days of the industry and to
present contrasts.)