Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-06
WOMEN TO MAKE WAR
ON H|CH LIVING COST

| UN HUH Living CUSI
| Continued from First Page)
| 3, 1918. the Federal Trade Commission
| sent back to the President it's sum
| mary report~on the meat-packing in
| dustry. At last the housewife could
| begin to comprehend what was the
| matter. According to this report. the
meat business of the country is under
| the control of five corporations
| namely, Armour & Co.. Swift & Co,
! Morris & Co, Wilson & Co. and the
| Cudahy Packing Company. They also
| have a control similar in extent over
| the principal meat substitutes. such as
eggs. cheese. poultry, milk, butter.
| fish, and all kinds of vegetable oil
products; within recent years they
have gone into the breakfast food
business. the canning Of fruits and
dealing in rice, sugar, potatoes, beans
and coffee.
The final straw is the story Of rice.
Just as Mr.. Hoover told our house
wife to cook rice instead of potatoes,
Mr. Armour went into the rice market,
and in 1917 he sold 100000 pounds
of rice. That was the year that the
wholesale price of rice went up IS
per cent.
At the congressional hearings which
followed this report during December:
1918, and January and February OF
1919, the Federal Trade Commission
! further presented figures based on the
, reports of the packers themselves.
which showed a total profit of $685.
! $4,000 for the year of 1917. as against
| $1S,715,000 for the year of 1912. The
| total sales of the packers for the year
J If the housewife was not fully
aware that something terribly was
wrong before the report of the Fed
eral Trade Commission and the sub
| sequent hearings before two commit
| tees of Congress, the situation since
| trary to expectations, with the end OF
! the war prices showed a tendency to
! continue to climb. In February, 1919
! food had increased IS per cent over
| 1913; in March it fell back to IS per
| cent over 1913, but in April it rose
| to 81 per cent, and in May it was
again IS per cent above 1913.
Overstocked With Meat.
On June II, 1919. the New York
| Times printed a news story to the
| effect that. according to statement
made by the packers. they had 100,-
| 900, 900 more pounds of meat a month
| than people were buying, and tina,
! they didn't see why people did no,
! buy meat again. now that the war is
over and the supply plentiful. Our
! vertiEement to Dear Folks: Please
| buy our meat. And she began to
! doubt, with good reason, the state
! ments continually made by the pack
| ers that they did not control meat
| prices, that they are in keen compe-
4 hnt no a
| according to supply and demand.
| This is the situation in a nutshell
! Just as the women OF our country
I are about to issue forth from the
| home with ballot in hand our gov
| eminent has laid bare the evils which
! exist, and it is only by knowing the
! evils that remedies can be applied
| The place for the woman has been
| the home, and in that home her chiei
! concern has been the question Of food
! so that great things can be expected
| from women who will now be released
from the trying yet instructive
| drudgery of securing the ballot. and
! who can turn their thought and at
| tention to seeking remedies which
| will be remedies and not makeshifts
| And the women are organized and
| ready for action.
| A report of the investigation OF
| the Federal Trade Commission and
the congressional hearings was made
last March to the National American
! Woman Suffrage Association in st
; Louis. The League of Women Voters
| which is an outgrowth of the big ma
| tional association. and which is made
| I'D of the largest group of voters II
| the United States, appointed a com
| mittee on food. which should have
chairman in every state OF tn
Union. Mrs. Edward r Costigan
chairman of the legislative committed
| Of the Consumers League of the Dis
| trict. was made the national chair
| man of this big committee on food
Mrs. Costigan attended the hearings
at Congress last winter. and she Is II
| search of all available data in THU
country and abroad, so that whel
the annual convention Of the sur
! fraeists takes place next Februar.
! she and her committee will have {
definite program to present
/ Housewives League Active.
The National Housewives League
has become very active. In Baltimore
the Women's Civic League, headed by
Mrs. Francis K. Carey, is this weeA
assisting the War Department to dis
pose Of some Of its surplus stocE
which is stored in Baltimore and II
making the practical demonstration
that there are avenues of distributor
available other than those provided BY
the meat packers.
| Mrs. Florence Kelley. the genera
secretary Of the National Consumers
League. was the only person last win
ter during the two months and a hall
of the hearings who spoke in behalf
of the consumer. Mrs. Kelley ex'
presses the consumers and the WON
EMS point of view in the following
statement in answer to an article b.
MI weld of Swift & Co.:
.sMr. Yields complaints OF unfair
ness are like an echo OF voices from
the packing houses quarter of {
century ago. The published results o.
every NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. or state
or personal Clike those which wer'
the foundation of Upton Sinclair's thu
Jungle)-have all been decried as thu
Federal Trade Commissions report i!
now denounced as unfair. The fac
that throughout the whole quartel
century every application Of publicit.
was followed by improvement in thu
conduct of the industry in Chi
cago, suggests that there must hav'
been truth in the published state
menta ."
For the present undue importance
n - tho M Ching industry tina cAnSum