Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-01-23
ARMOUR AGAIN 0N STAND IN PACKERS
 INVESTIGATION
Says He Drews Modest Sal
 ary of $25,0OO a Year.
SUGGESTS CENTRAL
 SHIPPING CONTROL
Admits Company Insists On Equal
 Division of Cattle Market

Washington, Jan. 22.-Two congress sional committees were occupied again today in hearing witnesses wno were questioned concerning evidence brought out at the Federal Trade Commissions meat packing inquiry. The committees have under considera- tion legislation providing for govern ment control of the meat packing in- dustry.
 J. Ogden Armour, President of Ar mour and Company, continued his tes- timony before the house interstate commerce committee. He said his salary was $25,O00 year and had never been any higher; asserted that Armour and Company, would welcome means to enable livestock producers to market their animals, at price based on the cost of productions; sug- gested a central control of livestock shipments as possible means of ob- taining this, and renewed his opposi- tion to a pending bill to empower the government to take over control of adjuncts of the packing industry. Be- fore the Senate Agriculture Commit tee, Thomas F. Logan, was questioned again as to his activities in Washing ton for Swift and Company, the Standard Oil Company, of Indiana, and other corporations, and his friend ship with Joseph P Humility, Edward N. Hurley, and other government officials.
 Probable Effects of Bill.
 Congressman who questioned MT. Armour paid especial attention to get ting his views on the probable effects of the pending bill. MT. Armour said he thought the bill probably meant ultimate government ownership of the packing industry, and that if the bil, were constitutional, there was no lim- , it as to how far the government might reach out and invade the realm hither- to occupied by private industry. As to how cattle buyers determine prices, Mir. Armour admitted that Armour and Company insisted on an equal division of cattle offered at mar. kets where there were only two pack ing plants, such as Ft Worth and Denver, but the witness said there was no collision, that the purchases were made on bsis of plant capacity.
 "The steadiness of purchase per- centages is not strange, because . variance of even 100000 animals might make difference of only one percent" he said.
 Defends Wiring On.
 MT. Armour defended the practice of wiring on" whereby a buyer who failed to obtain cattle which the grower insisted on shipping to another market for better price, notifies the company's representative at the new market of the price he offered.
 Foreign business of Armour and Company, was said to be entirely di- vorced from the parent corporation because it was desirable to have the companies operate under the laws of the country where they were located.
 The South American plants made $10 100000 last year, MT. Armour said. Virtually all of the South Amer ican meat has been shipped to Europe and MT. Armour though there would be little of it sent to this countryin in the near future, especially if a free market is opened in Germany, which the company hopes will result from the establishment of new gov- ernment there.
 No Figure Juggling.
 Charges of juggling figures were resented by the witness. He said that reports of transferring prices to make one department of the business show better results than another was "child's talk"
 MT. Armour criticised the federal trade commission for alleged unfair ness in conducting it's inquiry. Dis cussing in detail recommendation by the commission, he declared:
 T think the commission made lot of foolish suggestions that won't work. Anything that is hardship to the packer is bound sooner or later to manifest itself in hardship to the con- sumer or producer"
 Levy Mayer, counsel for MT. Ar mour, will tell the committee tomor- row why he thinks the pending bill is unconstitutional and will be followed on the stand by Louis F. Swift, Presi- dent of Swift and Company.