Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-08-19
.COLvER DESCRIBES MEAT
PACKERS TRADE ABUSES
Declares They Have Made Rcfrigcra-
tor Cars Travelling Whole.
sale Groceries.
GOING INTO MANY OTHER LINES
Commissioner, While Praising Utili-
cation OF By-ProtiuctS, Says Much
Mooted Efficiency of Great EStab-
liShmcntS Is NoncXistcnt.
Bv Associated Press.
~ tSJJJSI.roN A

IBy Associated Prcss.l
danger as seem by f shd E.aers Trrhs
Commission in The eutranre OF the
packing industry into lines of bust
ness beyond the packing Of meat was
described bv William b. Coiver mem
per Of the commission. today to the
Senate Agricultural Committee
In rs opening hearings ON the Ken
Son OIL TO divorce ownership OF the
h:ockrards and refrigerator cars from
the packing concerns OF the country
and to regulate by license their opera
ton; the committee was taken over
nuch oil the ground Travelled by the
commission in its Investigation OF the
packing industry.
The refrigerator car and their use
ferrins to the five big packers, was
not in itself a bad thing. But the.
nave turned the rcfriEcrator ear into
= travelling wholesale grocery. ped
ding AT every city in the country
every day almost everything that pco-
pie eat
Going Into Other Lines.
nave found their customers buying
something else besides the meat thev
live 10 sell or its by-products. they
nave aradually commenced TO get into
tnc business of supplying the other
things. When they have themselves
been large buyers of a given commod-
ny. ihey have gotten Into the produce
ton OF that article and gone into com
petition with their tormcr purvevors
When they have found a substnncc
which has become to some extent a
substitute ;or meat products. they
have gone into the business OF maxim.
and selling that substance
Extreme Instances OF the tendency,
,he commissioner asserted. had turned
. .at packers to hotel operating when
they had started only TO sell soap. To-
ma kinS tennis rackcts because gut
Strings went Into such articles, and to
selling soda fountains because beef
fsn~
suppose they can reach out. nut m.
Wholesaler out of busincss' Senator
kenEon member OF the COMMITTEES.
asked at ono point OF the inquiry. sell
products cheaper to the consumer In
these unrelated lines. develop efficiency
OF supply. is not that a sound economic
principle which is being worked out"
Mootcd Efficiency SoncIi.tcnt.
I'm tho first place. cannot accent
any any Pr pre- on which YOU put ,he
much talked-of efficiency of the pack
crs does no; exist. The overhead alb
Sorhs great deal in these great CON
Germs
The packers control OF meat supply
through to the retail establishments In
, nngiand th%ir dinicpitiei with Aus
large combinations. and the question
of their responsibility through con-
trol of leather prices in the high cost
OF shoes were all touched upon by Mr.
to!vcr. who said some credit. however.
was due the creators and executives
VI tHt INDUSTRY.
Their utilization OF every possible
animal product and by-product and the
extensive ramitication necessary to
accomplish this" he said. are economic
and desirable activities. The refrig-
orator ear in itself is a good thing.
though the common carrier should OWE
II. Their profits arc not a point, the
commission emphasized, though the
advertised claims of low profit on
sales o. fresh meat should be scruti-
nizcd very carefully and considered In
connection with profits on other things
like hides. where the turnover OF
money involved is slower"
Enter Into buying Pools.
Turning 10 the livestock producers
side Of this question. Commissioncr
tolv.r charged that The five large
pack nc companies had entered con-
Staniiy into buying pools through
which they Wee able to take. day by
day anf year By year. 3 constant pro-
portion Of the cattle offered for sale
at the principal marketing points in
the United States. thereby precluding
buying contests which would force up
price on the industry's raw material
Control Of the industry during the
war by the food administration the
witness testified. had not been an i'm
portant facto-. hut il had demonstrated
that the companies could operate
prohtab!y Under license.