The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-19

of even the output of houses that are under United States inspection.
 There are about 270 packing concerns, besides those operated by the five largest that are under federal inspection. and hundreds of local houses that are not subject to inspection. All large cities have packing houses that compete direct ly with the five largest Some of their representatives appeared at the hearings
 E Washington and stated that they were prcspering. and that there was fair and open competition in the industry.
 T have publicly stated that we have no serious objection to being relieved of our interest in refrigerator cars and stock
 yards. But we have pointed out that it is decidely questionable whether any efficiency or benefit can be gained by
 such procedure. We would also call at
 tention to the fact that during the re- cent hearings, no evils, needing correc- ton have been brought to light in con
 necton with packer ownership of these facilities.
 T quite agree with MT. Hoover that there is no reason for the government to take over the branch houses of the packers, but I do not feel that suffi- cient consideration has been given to
 the question of handling other products than meats. Swift & Co. handles only a few such products, and they are dis tinctly related to our business, either as byproducts of the packing houses, or as
 goods which can be economically handled
 through our extensive distributing organ iZation.
 DANGEROUS PRECEDENT 1 T hardly think that the government ! should assume authority to dictate what products any business concern may or
 may not handle There is not only no nl, rta i,, Vryit
 the packing business, but it would act as | Il dangerous precedent which might be 1 extended to au other industries. l Ut is a little difficult for me to recon 1 cile MT. Hoover's criticism of the fact | that the large packers have eliminated middlemen and gone direct to the re- tailers with the general opinion that mar l keting should be as direct as possible , from producer to consumer I think ! it will be conceded that if we have eliminated unnecessary middlemen thl. l has been to the advantage of the public at large.
 l Since there is no monopoly. the
 facts do not justify the statement that
 as time goes on this efficiency cannot 1 fail to diminish. and, like all monop- l olies, begin to defend itself by repres-
 sion rather than by efficiency As i long at the large packers have to use 1
 with each other and with hundreds of l smaller concerns to earn their profits l of only two or three cents on each dol ] lar of sales. there is no room for a 1 falling off in efficiency.
 "However, I welcome such sincere 1 and disinterested views as those ex- l pressed by Mir Hoover. The public anC our legislators need to understand our business much more thoroughly than | they do now before they are in po- sition to undertake restrictive regula- tion. Swift X Co. has voluntarily ap- peared before congressional commit tees to give such information as is
 desired. We have nothing to conceal All thatpwe want is an opportunity to | get the facts before the public and
 when this has been accomplished, we
 shall rely on the sense of fair play
 of the American people and shall abide by their verdict"