Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-01-08

Once Denied, Now Fully Proved
Bankers Own Wilson 4 Co. Directly
-more Proof Of Buying and Selling
Monopoly -0roanized Consumers
Fight Trust-La Toilette Fights for
People on Taxation-Flays Reae-
tIonaries Of Both Parties.
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
Washington, D. CA month or
more Of hearings upon the Sims bill
for government ownership or regula-
ton of the stockyards and the live
stock marketing facilities of the coun-
try is in prospect. The federal trade
commission has just issued the second
part of its report on the Big Five
packers, and the members Of the house
committee on interstate commerce
are reading with bullying eyes the
the story told in the "Black Book" OF
the secret conferences of the supposed
ly competing meat kings, and OF the
hlgh-handed robbery OF one of these
royal families Of beef and pork-the
Sulzbergers-by q gang of New York
N0ANOAo Al AVo6U0 Will lilo 0WlxI"
Armour crowd. This report serves to
add to the interest of the hearings, as
the committee members may now be-
gin to ask intelligent questions.
Congressman Dewalt Of Pennsyl-
vania has been the first member Of the
committee to indicate anxiety lest the
packers be done wrong. He wants
the packers to get a chance to tell
their side of the story. Chairman
Sims assured Dewalt that the Swifts
and Armours and Morrises and Cuda-
hys and Veeders would be welcome.
They will have to answer a few Ques-
tions, of course, and it is not to be
expected that they will escape without
challenge to show up the letters that
the federal trade commission was for
hidden by the federal courts to remove
from the Veeder vaults. If the pack
ers are ready to tell what they know
| about some Of those letters, the coun-
try will get some startling informa-
| ton concerning the political agents Of
the Big Five.
FinancIers on Inside.
In this second section of the report
on the packers, the federal trade CON-
mission finds that "The acquisition of
control of Sulzberger & Sons Co. by
powerful American bankers, with its
| transformation into Wilson & Co.,
| Inc, is of Importance in its bearings
| upon the history of the packer food
combination and the tendency toward
| further monopolization of the food in
| dustries of the United States and
other surplus food-producing coun-
| tries"
It traces the development of the five
| big packing family fortunes-Armour
| Swift, Morris, Cudahy and Sulzberger
until the financial difficulties Of the
| Sulzbergers in 1915 gave an oppor-
tunity for the bankers to seize control
Of the firm. In June of that year con-
tracts we're signed with the banks by
the SulZbergers that gave the bankers
control of the management, and also
the privilege Of buying one-fourth OF
the stock at 5 cents on the dollar. In
March, 1916, the bankers squeezed
their victims further, so that new con-
tracts were made, giving 60 per cent
of the stock to the Wall street crowd
at about this price, and changing the
name of the concern to Wilson & Co.
The Sulzbergers remained merely
minority stockholders.
1.-THE five New York banks thus
identified with the packing combina.
ton, through this control of one OF
the corporation in the combination
were:
| Kuhn, Loeb &. Co.
Guaranty Trust company
| "Chase National bank.
| William Solomon e Co.
"Hallgarten & Co.
| 1.-THE history of the Wilson deal
with original documents published in
the following pages, is significant In
that it shows that the monopolistic
power of the packing combination is
fortified by the entrance into it of a
powerful banking group"
Monopoly Proved.
The larger part of this section OF
the meat report is given over to
documentary proof Of the develop
ment and present existence Of the live
stock pool, and evidence of It's effec
| tiveness in dividing up the business
among the Big Five packers, and to
| evidence Of agreements In other lines
of business. After some rs pages OF
evidence as to the livestock pool, the
commission says:
| IL IL UUt1OuS LudL lie AN0SIOCA QOOl
is not only an automatic regulator OF
the business of each of tho companies
which participate, but also secures
substantial uniformity of prices paid
by each for livestock, and consequent
ly of the prices at which dressed
meats are sold.
"In brief, the prearranged division
of livestock purchases forms the es
sential basis Of system by which
the big packers are relieved of all
fear OF one another's competition, and
acting together, are able to determine
broadly not only what the livestock
producers shall receive for their cat
tie and hogs, but what the consumer
shall pay for his meat"
Consumers League In Fight.
Because the commission has def
nitely shown by its investigation that
the consumers are robbed quite as out
rageously as are the producers Of
livestock, the hearings on the Sims
stockyards bill are to include some
testimony by Mrs. Florence Kelley OF
New York, general secretary Of the
National Consumers league. Mrs
Kelley has for score Of years been
conducting struggle in congress and
in the legislature of the various
states in behalf OF women wage-work
ers, to secure eight-hour laws, mini
mum wage boards, prohibition of night
work for women in factories, and IL
general to make life more tolerable
for the women In industry. The
Consumers league is league Of per
sons who agree that as consumers o.
Industrial products they have mora