The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-08-13
OF
STORAGE IS
PROVIDED IN
SENATE BILL
M'Kellar Resubmits Measure
Framed in 1913 Proposing
Federal Regulation of Cold
Storage of Food.
PACKERS ARE ACCUSED
(By Associated Press)


WASHINGTON. Aug. 13.-Appro-
priations aggregating nearly one mil
lion dollars with which to help carry
out the presidents suggestions for
reducing the cost of living were asked
of congress today by the commerce
and labor departments.
WASHINGTON, Aug 13.- Federal
regulation OF cold storage Of food was
urged in the senate today by Senator
McKellar, Democrat, of Tennessee. as
certain means of reducing the cost
of living and as the only remedy for
the most outrageous piece Of profit
eerng that can be imagined"
Speaking In support of this bill, first
introduced in 1913, and now as rein
troduced before senate interstate COM
merce subcommittee considering high
cost OF living recommendations Of
President Wilson, Senator McKellar
said If the bill had been passed in
1913 he felt sure the present condi-
tions as to excessive living cost would
not exist.
The meat packers were charged by
the Tennessee senator with using cold
storage facilities to fix food prices
1T is being used by the packers"
he said, "for the purpose Of controlling
prices. AS used by the packers it pre-
served in seasons Of plenty and per
m1ts them to withhold such large
quantities Of foodstuffs from the mar.
ket as to make a season Of scarcity at
any time they see fit and thus they
increase the price to the consuming
public"
Opposed by Packers.
;r;D y
| lar said 1t would limit the time foods
could be held in cold storage and has
been vigorously opposed by the
packers.
| Heretofore I have been unable to
get any action on this BILL" said Mr.
McKellar, but I am constrained to
believe that under existing conditions
we will get action at this time My
bill does not fetter cold storage In any
way but 1t regulates it so that the
people can get the very best benefits
out of it."
Citing recent statistics Of the Fed
Grad Trade commission Of food held
in cold storage Senator McKellar said
they showed vast increases over the
amounts stored last year He com
pared retail prices secu1 ed from the
manager of the senate restaurant,
showing large increases in price, des-
pite the increased supplies In storage
Some middleman," said Mr.. Nc.
Kellar, 'is making 66 % per cent
profit on eggs alone. The only pos
sible way in which these prices can
be manipulated is through the med
ium of cold storage. Put a limit on
the time in which these goods ca n be
held and the packers will be compel
led to SELL
Monopoly on Eggs
Eggs particularly, the Senator as
serted, are monopolized. "They are in
the hands Of the most giant monopoly
there is in the world" he said. THE
at which they are sold Is out Of all
proportion and they never will come
down until eggs are stamped and
| regulated"
Present cold storage practices also
are q menace to public health, Sen
ator McKellar decla red, asserting tha,
meat and poultry often are held toe
long in storage. Chickens, he assert
ed. are killed and stored without re
moval of their heads and entrails
which conduce to quick putrefactior
after they are taken from storage.
STORED EGGS SEIZED
CHATTANOOGA. Tenn, Aug. 13.-
Eighty.four thousand dozen eggs
stored with the Atlantic Ice and Goa
corporation here for the account o.
Morris and Company, Chicago, wers
seized today by the United States dis
trict attorney. Seizure was made
under libel proceedings in the fedora
court, which charged that the egg.
were unlawfully stored for the pur
pose of unreasonably increasing
prices.
H0ID-IIp MAN Trims