Evening star., 1923-03-29
PACKER MERGER.
NOW COMPLETED
Armour Absorbs Morris & Co.
in S27.45O,OO0 Trans
action.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, March 29.-Absorption OF
Morris & Co. by Armour Il Co. today
was an accomplished fact. six months
of negotiating. the final three weeks
Of which saw virtually day and night
conferences, ending last night, when
approximately 100 interested per-
sons signed the documents Of trans
fer and Armour & Co. issued a state
ment which marked the reduction Of
the big five" packers to four.
Officially Morris Il Co. was pur-
chased by the North American Pro-
vision Company. a subsidiary OF Ar
mour q Co. of Delaware, a recently
formed subsidiary Of Armour Il Co.
of Illinois. for approximately s2f.4oO.- :
900. payments TO be made in cash and
stock.
With the liquidation of Morris &
Co, Armour & Co will have total as
sets of approximately S530,000,OoO. ac-
Cording to available balance sheets OF
the two concerns. In 1921 the aggre-
gate sales of the two We're approx
Inately $3.50, ,000,U
or the purchase price. approximate
y S7,750.000 will be cash: $4,000, 600
par value preferred stock of Armour
tS Co. of Delaware. s9.0U0,000 par
value preferred stock of Armour IL
Co. of Illinois and S10.100,00o par
Go. of Illinois.
on the papers completing the alb
sorption the name Of only one wom-
an appeared, that Of Mrs. Francis
After signing she hurriedly departed
from the smoke filled conference
room.
Armour Signs First.
J. Ogden Armour, chairman of the
board. of Armour Sc Co. signed first
and within an hour was en- route TO
California for a rest.
Less than fifty years ago the parent
organizations of the two concerns
were operating on only a small scale
In humble surroundings. The merged
concern today counted % plants and
"96 branch houses scattered through
out the world. Officials of Armour g.
90. said the bulk OF Morris s Co.
volume would be retained and mesAed
with the Armour interests.
Regarding the protest against the
purchase made by Secretary of Agrt-
rlent declared that IF this results in
u hearing or court procedure, we will
gladly cooperate with the govern
mrpt IN securing the presentation nf
All information and data necessary to
- proper and final adjudication"
circumstances, supported by buSi-
ness judgment and sound, common
sense, indOrseS the wisdom Of the pur-
chase of the Morris assets, and emf
nent counsel have given assurances OF
Its legality, the statement continued.
attention was called To a report to
Congress by Secretary Wallace to the
effect that the combined Armour and
Norris business would total only
about 10 per cent of the trade in meat
foods. and only about @3 per cent of
the business done by packers under
federal supervision. Secretary Wal
lace had admitted the statement said,
that the purchase was not in viola
tion Of the packer and stockyards act
VIII Save Millions.
Comoining the business. the state
ment continued. will save millions of
dollars i'll administrative and operat-
ing costs through elimination OF
duplication of operating units. The
working machinery will be made to
mesh, the statement said. and added
that the bulk OF Morris volume will
be held
Armour & Co. Mr.. Armour
said. expect TO be in the market for
larger quantity of live stock than
has previously been required by Ar
mour II Morris combined and VOL
ume Of sales of Armour & Co
Is expected to exceed the former ag-
gregatc Of Armour and Norris The
buying and selling organizations OF
both concerns will be retained with
this end in view.
Mr. Armour also announced the
conlpany'S intention OF adding to its
directorate business MEN not pre-
viousiy identified with the packing
interests and iinancierS representing
fne investing public, which. he said
had recently purchased Armour se-
-'uvities torAIing $4,000. 600. 1t was
also announced that Il finance COM
n,tttee OF which Samuel McRoberts
Of New York. president Of the Net
Kepolitan Trust Company, is to be
chairman. Is to be created. Other
members Of this committee will be A.
II. Wiggin. Arthur Reynolds, F. Ed
son White and Philip D. Armour.
fhreo members constituting a voting
trust, the body to have control of
certain of the companys stock owned
hy tie Armour family. which it is
planned to sell. plans also being In
mind fer selling stock to employees
OF the company.