The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1920-01-09
Washington Letter.
is REMEDY WORSE THAN THE
EVIL?

Washington, Jan. 5.-The Republi-
can Publicity Association, through its
President, Hon. Jonathan Bourne, Jr,
today gave out the following state
ment from it's Washington Head
quarters:
at is a notable and significant cir
cpmstance that the country has fail
ed to enthuse over the success of At
torney. General Palmer in securing
adoption of his plan for dismember-
ment of packing companies handling
meat and other food products. The
country knows that no good will be
accomplished and that in all likelihood
the My material effect will be an in
crease in cost of handling goods, with
consequent increase in prices.
Whatever evils may be incident to
their magnitude, the packing con-
Germs have been an economic evolu-
tion and their present organization
contains more potentiality for good
than for ill. That every effort should
be made to cure the ills, no one will
gainsay. But neither will any reas-
enable man question the assertion that
every effort should be made to retain
the advantages of superior methods
attained by large operations under the
best of management.
"Let any man go into small
slaughter house and observe the filth,
waste of material and waste of labor,
as compared with cleanliness and
economy in the abattoirs of packing
houses in Chicago or Kansas City, and
he will not be in doubt as to which is
preferable. Let any man go into a
small establishment for the prepara-
tion of any kind of food--fruits, veg
etables, cereals, milk, butter, cheese,
or fish, and compare the methods with
those which obtain in a large estab-
lishment, and his Judgment will be
passed Immediately in favor of the
latter. Let any man compare the
cost, speed, dependability and con-
venience of marketing goods through
numerous small agencies with similar
handling Of the same commodities
through large concern, and his YER
dict will inevitably be in favor of
the latter. Public health, efficiency
Of labor, conservation of material,
public convenience, and economy of
I pFoduction are ali promoted by the
systems gradually built up by large
packing houses.
"That net earnings of packing COM
panies have been large in the aggre-
gate, is certain. They should be
large. Any man or group of men who
have the business ability to devise and
institute better methods of doing bus
mess, who have the enterprise to or
ganize large forces of men for more
economical handling of commerce and
manufacturing, and who are willing
to risk their capital in new adventures.
are entitled to reward in proportion to
the service they have rendered the
! public If, by their better methods,
they are able to do at cost of rs
cents work that previously cost dol
lar, under primitive methods, they are
entitled to considerable part of that
| saving of % per cent.
"This is not saying that they are
entitled to all of the saving, or that
they should be free to use in wrongful
ways the power that goes with con-
centration of business in the hands of
few. If their power has been mis-
used either to force producers to sell
at too low price, or to force con-
sumers to pay too high price, this
is an evil for which remedy should
be. found. 1t may be reasonably
doubted, however, that the producer
will get more or the consumer buy for
less as a result of dismemberment of
packing concerns.
$50 far as inordinate profits are in
volved, this evil, if it exists, can be
substantially met through the gradu-
ated income tax. If there are excess
sive profits in the handling of sd
stuffs, those profits are contributed by
all the people, and the excess will be
returned to all the people through
payment of the income tax to the
Federal treasury.
"But there is little reason to expect
that any good will come to either pro-
ducer or consumer through destruc-
ton of large business concerns in
which efficiency and economy have
been the secret of success"
! Congressman Volstead, Chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee, and
author of the Constitutional prohibit
tion amendment, is clearly of the
opinion that the amendment goes into
effect on January 18th the anniversary
of the ratification by the thirty-slxth
State. Some people have contended
that it should date from one year
from the date on which Acting Secre-
tary of State Polk issued his procla-
nation of the ratification, namely,
January 29th, Mr.. Volstead refers
to the action of the Supreme Court in
asking for briefs from the States of
Rhode Island and New Jersey, which
are ATTACKING tho validitv of fb, rat;