Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-22
.ITSnlat'Cs .HTsnms Saturday Gnfay 134O1
MONDAY, DEC EMBER %, 1919.
Another Great Accomplishment.

N the credit of the Wilson sdministra-
xion-the dissolution of the Food Trust.
Against the determined campaign of
Attornev-General Palmer, faced with the
.prosprct of such fight rs the Standard
OIL Trust had ~ meet, and with no more
.,rnbability of success, the Food Trust
gracefully capitulated. The big pack
rrs'-SSwift & Co, Armour Co, Morris
4 Co, Wilson & Co, and the Cudahy
Packing consented TO withdraw
from all their rrtsil store connections and
suonfinc Themselves 10 their original
province Of the production Of meat, poul-
xrv- butter, eggs and cheese for the
sr-.ic
Thr results Of thus dissolution cannot
Eril 10 be Of material benefit TO the coun-
sT Their participation IN the retail
Kradr undoubtedly Was an incentive TO
4hr maintenance of the extraordinarily
hagh r,yiox for foodstuffs that aTc such
= bCryie-, upou the people. Through
thar cxtz7pvr connections with rrtall
sSc-Iers. thousands of whom arr dependent
ursr1 them Tor continuation IN business,
tt~v could establish retail prices IN their
onn retail storvs and cCarpCl all their
.sir~ rr~suu,crS 10 maintain the same
~sle- under threat of refusing TO scll
a. ttrzn + they did not comply. Of
<rur>e. they did not have TO cmplov
q. threat m 80 nnsny words but they
eruh curvry Il unTnistakabiy by actions,
., tha4 Their customer would not dare
a9y thr1n-
TIE situation produced by the sspars
Con of tbeee large packing concerns
fr1n the rrtsil business N foodstutfs
should speedily result N lower prices.
Tn~y are not likely. now that they have
hrs-a brought TO book. to endesvor 20
antnuc. by ooznbinstion or concerted
ncton, any campaign for maintenance
of high prioes- They vii sell 10 all
wholesalers and retailers ON equal terms
A-,d the Latter doing business IN an open
Geld, under the influence of competition,
may b, expected TO be content with fair
xru1tA instead of STRIVING by all means
IN their power to establish and rnaintain \
cuorbitant prioes. They cannot sohdly
unite for thus purpose, and competition,
<1ertforc, WIN brIng results.
There has been no great blare of trJrnn-
prss o~ bssung of drums by the agencies
of The Wilson administration over this
gratifying achievement, which may mean
% much to the people. But it IS one the
peprIe should ever bear In mind. In
far4, the Wilson administration has been
filed with great accomplishments 10
Spch an extent that Individual instances
fAil to assume the importance they really
deserve. Nothing that was accomplish
&c during the preceding administrations
of Taft snd Roosevelt begins 10 compare
N practical vslue with the Wilson ad-
minutration's simple act Of bringing
ehe Food Trust 20 terms and breaking
down It's undoubted purpose to secure
control of the food supply Of the entire
country. Yet il is accepted by q great
msiority Of the people as matter of
course.
Things were different under the general
trend of Republican administrations.
Trusts were encouraged and pro-
's~cted by exercise Of the taxing
power of the government, under
the guise of high protective tariffs. They
grew rich and powerful with the large
tribute they exacted from the people.
Under Roosevelt some violent assaults
were made against great industrial com
binations, but In a manner that threaten
ed to do more harm than good. The
violent procedure brought on financial
panic, and for awhile threatened a severe
industrial panic But the trust eombIna-
tsons continued IL power for years.
The var gave great impetus TO the
mndIous insistence OF aggregated capital
and large business interests TO combine
for profit through high prices, and there
is no telling to what extent their schemes
would have proceeded had it not been
for the Watchful care of the Wilson
administration The operations OF the
Food Trust could have spread into many
6elds, and given it control of food sup
plies and other products essential to
daily existence, with all selling agencies
for these products compelled to act as
agents of the trust in the maintenance
Of unduly high prices. But the scheme
has been checked in time, thanks to the
watchful guardianship of the Wilson
administration.