Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-17
BR|TONS GOUCED
BY MEAT TRUST
VeSteys, With Strange Hold
on Market, Subject CT
Investigation.
BY JOHN GUNTHER.

o
Daily News.
LONDON, England, December IL
American exporters and British con-
sumers are beginning to get together
in the belief that there is something
wrong with the meat business in
England that meat at half Il dollar
pound is too high.
The meat trust" here has been the
subject of as many scare" heads in
the newspapers as was the "neat
trust" in America in the old days. A
royal commission has investigated
the subject, but results have been
slim and prices continue to soar.
American packers who do business
in England complain bitterly at
competition which they describe IS
both vicious and unfair.
II don't nina stiff competition
said one American packer, but | oh
jet to unfair competition. We arr
| holding our own deCently enough,
but the odds are against us-aHu
against the people back in Chicago
who have the money in packing
plants. We are bucking one of the
stiffest industrial combines that ever
existed. The royal commission d.I
not do much. / guess trust busting
mere is much like trust busting il
the States. 1t looks pretty in the
newspapers, but that is about all.
How English Control Trade.
THE British have a complete
vicious circle. Their great COMPANY
gets meat in South America, Aus
tralia, or even the United States. j,
ships most in its own boats l.
stores and packs meat at its OWL
produce stations and packing plants
! Then il sells meat at its own shops.
American and Argentine com
panies have been almost frozen out
of the English market The British
| build a low price of meat at Smith
| field market and high price at the
| retail dealers-SO that every one
loses. I should call the situation vel.y
dangerous"
| This American packer was refel-
ring TO a great British meat frlA
known as the Nesteys. The facts in
the Wesley case appear TO be "a
follows:
About so years ago two brothers i'm
! Liverpool. Wesley by name. started
a cold storage business. Ii was eff
/ ciently run and intelligently managed
I and il grew. Long before the war T.
/ became powerful, expanding to Anger
/ tina, to the United States and TO the
British dominions. When the wan
came il was a bonanza The price Of
me2t went up and so old Wesley stock.
AS a result, the EesteyS find them
| selves one of the half dozen strongest
| firms in the British empire The
own land, herds, plants, docks in
| Brazil, Argentina. Australia. New Zea
! land and Canada. They have their
own shipping line-the Blue Star
! Navigation company. They extended
their system of cold storage and pack
! ing plants all over the world Their
docks in Liverpool stretch u mile.
Buy Up Retail Shops.
Most important of all, they SLOWLY
began to take over a multitude Of Eng
lish retail Shops-so that now they
control about 3,00O-enough to give
them nearly complete control of the
retail as well as the wholesale trade.
They also control Smithtield market.
the London distributing center for
meat, and thus are their own middle
men.
! As a precautionary measure, they
| have broken up the original business.
as many American combines have
done, into a number of subsidiary
| firms. Both Wesley brothers are in
the peerage. They are among the
wealthiest men in England
They say that their expansion is
legitimate. Their competitors. includ-
Ing Americans. say that their competi-
| ton is destructive and vicious. When
| the royal commission appointed u
! look into the matter, under the lead
of Sir Auckland Geddes, reaches its
! conclusions, the Wesley control may
end.
On the other hand it may not.
Copyright. 1926: by Chicago Daily News