Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-01-17

uUUn U
 FIFTEEN MILLION
 ,,,st Issued Shows Business ln-
 Fpors Fpss s' of s2S6,O00,00O In Past EI Twelve Months
 c.;o,oo Jan. 16-Armour and
 on s,nsny,s annual report just st. issued sue
 Pmpaa"s record volume of $S61 ,OOO,-
 oweu s,. tbe fiscal year of 1918, com
 j U, with T 100000 in 1917, and
 rea ,oome m of $15,OO0,000. The re-
 # declared that notwithstanding
 aord r' pl high prices for the company's $
 cG,u dncts and a record volume, record
 oursfi nrofits were produced. The net
 aa pf for the fiscal year of 1918
 cOn O s15247,S37.S3, representing a
 4S,n H of 147 percent on common
 oeL ,o U after making provision for di-
 Dnds oen con m preferred stock. With the
 aerH aemt;on of s2,OOO,O00 paid in divid-
 ds .ep to common stock holders, the
 1.1 1ance of over thirteen millions was
 ;nvested in the business.
 The net profits represented a re-
 rn of 9 percent on the average net
 nj n;tal invested in all lines, but the
 aome p from the meat food business
 u;ted , by the government to 9 per-
 ntMfell to about half that rate.
 The net profit on total volume ,nited to 2.5 percent-was only 1.9 Pnt on each dollar of sales.
 "We are helpless in the matter of bducing prices," said J. Ogden Ar Sour head of the concern, in the Eatement. "They are high because of pe heights to which livestock and la br have gone. Our labor costs last bar were $2O,00O,00O more than the keceding year. The same number of bunds of livestock cost us in 1918 one undred million dollars more than in b17"
 Francis J. Heney, of San Francisco,
 ho was Chief Counsel for the Fed tal Trade Commission on it's investi- ation of the meat packing industry, bld the Senate Agriculture commit es today that Swift and Company, had packed" the food administration dollar a year men" who received hrge salaries from the company at he time they were serving the gov |fnment. MT. Heney who was appearing in upport of the Kenrick bill for govern bent regulation of the meat industry, |aid Food Administrator Hoover ought to stop him from making pub c letters criticising retention by the Administration of w. E. Priebe, while he latter was still in the employ of wift and Company.
 MI. Hoover, according to the wit less, appealed to President Wilson, laying that publication of the letters Vas hindering the food conservation |ampaign. MT. Heney said he was re- |alled from Chicago, where he was Forklng in the commissions investi- fatlon of the packers, and found on Pls arrival here, that the President bad advised the commission that 'he Dad no instructions to offer, but Poped that a head-on collision would De avoided"
 Many of the complaints against erlebe, the witness declared, charged mat he, through various orders, was Eorklng in the interest of Swift and company. Heney said he told MT. E|1oover, Priebe should be removed, but me flood administrator declined to |ake such action.
 Mr. Heney told the committee that p'ner employees of Swift and Com Pany' Who received salaries from the 'unpany while working with the food 'ha were Heyl, who had ,nalge of fixing prices on canned EEpods; Il. 5. Collins and F. s. Brooks. Iipsl I;ps .nd la1er tres resigned, Heney said. Col llls l1n oaa ana Heyl, he asserted, received Pig,voo %9 a. year from the company. lhe witness said that Joseph P. t;o Gtoston, head of the food administra- .h;a!s .1Gns meat division was a man of Iohs n,sn n. integrity. but was unfit for the 'JO gon ol regulating the packers" Mir. +Ia',ley Ia h:y sad MT. Cotton had admitted 'u u 1lm 1o1 that the profits of the packers '" c. !oia were "scandalous."
 ,os sWlft and Company's profits year ,eI;ole. ,eIore last i, were $47,OOO,OOO, "if you 1qieVe rh; the books;" said MT. Henev l,r., ilm,s, compared with $6,5O0, ,OOO a wear .ord;ag ,r.,g the three pre-war years, ac- 0lpailg pg to the witness.
 KenvpSy emep,ymg to questions by Senator Hsul'' Henssu Of Iowa, and others, Mr.. y nna sad, the commissions hear ,r rsa th nad been brought to a close soon act t'a,l as ma mad been planned because of pras;Ja a Ja Iunds, and the desire of the sarln asS,oent el that a report be made as 'aliy NY as possible. " ,omn,;+I +1Ilehey will appear before the again tomorrow.