Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-15
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

! 900, 900 a year, of which more than 10
per cent Of food sold Is meat,-over
three and a half billion dollars of meat
in chain stores.
In the Midwest there Is Q great chain
store system known as the KrogeI
Grocery and Meat Stores and so enor-
nous has It's trade In meats become
that the company has purchased three
| big packing plants. Yet the Big -Four
| Packers are forbidden to meet that
competition upon its own ground
Chain drug stores and chain candy
stores maintain many factories Of then
own without being accused Of con-
shutting "monopolies."
Not only are there gr"at systems OF
chain stores-groceries nd meats-but
| now the chain stores are becoming or
one monopolistic company buying ur
and operating several originally indie
pendent chain systems. At least one
such combination is familiar here In
Washington.
There remains n Washington, how
ever. lively competition between the
rival chain systems, so that prices are
kept down. but II is alleged that In
some places where system becomes
freed from competition. the prices are
boosted to ALI that the traffic will
bear"
The entrance Of the big packers into
the general field Of food supplies will
doubtless lead to keener competition
than any chain stores have realized
| in the decade of their development. II
Is represented that it will not be the
policy Of the packers TO fight the In
dividual meat dealer for he is the pack
er's direct customer, but they are out
for a full share Of chain>stor profits
~
What effect. the entrance Of the Big
Four into the handling Of vegetables
and fruits. whether raw or processed,
will have. remains to be seen. At the
| time Of the consent decree" In 1920,
| they had contracts with cooperative
vegetable and fruit growers, especially
of the Far West, by which they mar
keted nearly all Of the crops Of the
! building up a great export trade.
It is stated that the packers own all
of their refrigerator cars and that when
! they hang carcasses Of meat in such
cars there remains a waste space be-
meath the carcasses, which can be
packed with cases of fruits and vege-
| tables, so that all cost of transportation
Of such fruits and vegetables is elm
mated. The shippers pay the same
freight charges for hauling the car OF
meat along as they do when the crew
ices are filled with other products. This
| enables the packers to underSell all
competition by their saving of freightS.
The facilities Of the great packers for
marketing abroad cannot be equaled BY
small dealers, the result being that
American vegetables and fruits find
their way all over the world through
the trade mark already identified with
| American meats.
Whatever may be the outcome Of. q
lively fight for trade, between packers
and chain groceries and mail-order
houses, few will contend that organized
business will ever go back to the days
Of small independent dealers, or small
independent producers, any more than
wagon making in the village shops will
drive out Henry Ford automobile and
airplane manufacturing in mass pro-
duction. There are too many, and too
obvious, economies In mass production
to let the Village blacksmith" claim
preference in the future.
The same trend is apparent in mass
distribution, including direct contact
between the farm and the city dining
room. Only last week, the broadcasting
radios carried an announcement of a
great mail-order establishment that
hereafter the company would pay trans
portation on every purchase to any
destination, and now another mail
order firm proposes free service in re-
pairs and supplies for all automobiles
bought from the firm and falling in
need within 20 miles Of the city, with q
moderate charge for greater distance.
In the production OF foods the indi-
yidual farmer retains his independence
at present, except for the rules Of his
own cooperative organization. But he
Is making as efYicient use of the
"squeaP as do the packers, for he Is
calling upon the Government to organ
i've the sale Of his SURPRISES abroad.
The farmers, too, are recognizing the
need Of cooperative organization for
marketing, whether upon grain ex-
changes or through large companies.
The day zn0sne when the i00-Acfe
farm, viii no niger compete with tho