Evening star., 1920-01-04
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

~ NE of the greatest legislative
battles ever waged in Con-
gress is pending-the fight
to put through the so-called
packers bill. for government regu-
Iatfon Of the meat-packng business.
Not since the davs' when the mana
gers OF railroads of the country
fought tooth and toenail to prevent
the clamping down of strict regula-
tion urDn themselves, have thera
been arrayed forces SO vast and wide
spread to contest legislation affect
ing any one industry as those re-
lated to the meat business of the
country.
When. little more than two weeks
ago. an agreement between the De-
partment of Justice and the big five"
packers was announced, divorcing the
packers ''perpetually" from control
and ownership Of public stockyards,
the retail meat business, and all 'un-
related lines" including the whole
sale grocery business, it was hailed
as victory for the government and
the people-the first big step toward
reducing the high cost of living, it
was said. The monopoly in food
stuffs, which threatened to control,
if it did not already control. the
American table. had been properly
scotched. 1t was believed that the
packers, by their yielding, had OBJ
tanned the right to continue undis-
turbed the business of meat packing.
butter. eggs cheese and poultry in
their own sweet way. That by plung-
ing into this chilly bath the packers
had come out immune.
Found Not to BE Final.
But now it appears that within the
next fe-r weeks. these hard d-hearted
members of the Senate committee on
agriculture will report out a bill for
the government regulation of the
meat-packing business. The X. ks
Senators Kenyon and Kendrick-con-
tend that the victory over the pack
ers has been only half Won Ever
since the Christmas holidays began
they have had their heads together
TO take the place of the measu pre-
viously introduced by them. And
they have the bill ready to submit
TO the committee on agriculture, of
which they are both members. What
is more, they have the assurance,
they say. that a majority of the COM
mittee will report out meat packers
control bill. Ss
The provisions of the new. bill have
been withheld so far from publication.
1t may be said. however. that the .au-
thors of the bill as it is redrafted
believe they have worked out a new
method of control which will do
away with criticism raised against it
by many business men in the past
who feared that the policy of gov
eminent licensing might be extended
to their business, too. 1t is their opin-
ion that the bill will be before the
Senate, in one form or another, dur
ing January.
The friends of the proposed legisla-
in the fact that the packers have
agreed with the government to get
out of related lines of business and
the stockyards. They say that the
packers saw the handwriting on the
wall They wanted to escape govern
ment regulation. which seemed inevi-
table, even more than they desired to
escape the suits brought against them
by the government on the ground that
they had violated the law. Whether
the packers have been able by their
action to forestall this legislation. re-
mains to be seen. There will be a
hard fight in the Senate before the
bill is put through, and an even
harder fight in the House. 1t IS De-
lieved. For the packers are by no
means friendless.
Demand Not a New One.
The demand for control of the big
packers is not new. 1t has reached
q climax under the spur of the high
cost of living. The American people
have come to believe that to a large
extent the high cost of foodstuns Is
due to monopoly and price fixing.
The packers conter' that their vast
business organizations have made it
noesibIe tn cell meats Doultry. eggs