The nonpartisan leader. [volume], October 07, 1918, Image 10

About The nonpartisan leader. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1915-1921

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
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^esurprised bur^fXonr^P^^! Sron^r
and theaters written
part of the money was paid and for what purpose.
At least two separate pools of this character
particiPated
in
to
the
In„19,17
for
*W*
I
1
J* Moxley»
paffs
pref?ent
big packers: First,
The Packers' Pool," limited in membership to the
Big Five and, second, "The Oleo Pool," the mem
bership of which varies from year to year, but al
ways includes Armour and Swift.
The Oleo Pool is composed of large manufactur
ers of oleomargarine, butterine and other similar
products, who are pledged to divide whatever as
sessments may be determined upon for their joint
purposes on the basis of their proportionate pro
duction of oleomargarine during the preceding
yuear-
example, the membership of
the Oleo Pool and the percentages used in collect
ing the joint funds were as follows:
Per cent
A. (Armour & Co.) 12.387
F. (Friedman Manufacturing company) 6.246
J. (John F. Jelke company) 32172
M. (Morris & Co.) 10481
Inc.) 11.563
W. (Wilson & Co., Inc.) 4.265
H. (6. H. Hammond company)
S. (Swift & Co.)
The general character and purposes of the Oleo
Pool are disclosed by the following extract from
a letter written by Alfred R. Urion, former gen
eral counsel for Armour & Co., to Henry Veeder:
„Jf
3.652
19.234
the following information to be disseminated
amongst those who are associated with us in Pennsylvania
oleomantarine. The source of my report you are famfl"a?
with. I give you letter on the subject received Satarire•
Hsve been given positive assurance by thp hu
that there will not be any suite
brought in this Btate during the
time named, on tinted goods, pro-
vided they are not too yellow that I
is to. say, you must not go to ex- I
tremes in color, but that the reg-
uiar run of tinted goods will be
all right. The wholesalers and
manufacturers should not go far
ther in spreading the understand
ing than td simply notify their
trade verbally that no suits will
be brought and that there will be
no trouble in their handling nat
ural tinted goods."
I have gone back to the party by
letter and asked to get a definite
statement from the big man, call
ng off the state agents from tak
ing samples and frightening the
trade, and have no doubt will re
ceive a favorable answer thereto.
The genesis of what we have
called the Packers' Pool, as well
as the basis upon which it is
operated, is told in the follow
ing letter from Henry Veeder
to W. B. Trftynor, assistant to
Louis F. Swift:
August 23, 1916.
Mr. W. B. Traynor,
Care Swift and Company,
Chicago.
Dear Sir: You asked me the
other ilay for certain percentages
•which -are generally known as the
"usual percentages." On July 30.
1918, S, A and TEW
agreed with and S & S upon
the following percentages to cover
general legislative and litigation
matters:
S 35751
A 29266
14988
10
SIS 10
89723
82518
16648
11111
44689
86582
18729
100000 100000 100000
Of course, and S were arbi
trary. The A. and figures are
the so-called old beef figures which
were based upon the volume of
beef business in 1902.
Sincerely-Tours,
This letter and agreement
contain a great deal more mean
ing than cursory reading would
indicate. In the first place, this
letter, as well as many other'
documents to be produced here
after, shows that Henry Veeder,
the agent of the former con
spiracies, is still acting as the
-joint agent for the Big Five, and
the custodian of their agree
ments.
,The purpose of this combina
tion, which for more than a
generation has defied the law
'illV-
1
bfe man
1
1
1S the
P°i
ln'
*Vi
from the official report of the federal trade commission on the packing trust. The further
B.y eai?s
of
sTorn
«nn ^foSiihaVei°r Vf'li*en Wng gainst them. At last we have a full, authoritative report of an^veXl
Washin^nn L°J nroti
SffiS^estigation of the packers. Failing at last the big special interesteTe now
trying to discredit the commission, but the farmers are resolved that this last desperate trick shall fail also.
and escaped adequate punishments, are sufficient
ly clear from the history of the conspiracy and
from the numerous documents already presented,
namely:
To monopolize and divide among the several in
terests the distribution of the food supply not only
of the United States- but of all countries which
produce a food surplus, and, as a result of this
monopolistic position,
To extort excessive profits from the people not
only of the United States but of a large part of
the world.
To secure these ends the combination and its
constituent members employ practically every tried
method of unfair competition known to this com
mission and invent certain new and ruthless meth-"
ods to crush weaker concerns.
SHORT WEIGHTS PART
OF PACKER EFFICIENCY
The early strength and rapid growth of the Big
Five waa stimulated by the extortion of rebates
under one disguise or another and special privileges.
Among other well-known methods of unfair com
petition used by the big packers of which the com
mission has evidence may be mentioned the fol
lowing:
Bogus independents.
Local price discriminations.
Shortweighting.
Acquiring stock in competing companies.
In addition to these recognized methods of un­
A FIND IN 1930
ftUAS 111
Hotwbusr
"N\
I KNEW HilA
WELL,tJMA'»«0
^ebof dammng proof woven around these industrial brigands.
themselves, there is absolute substantiation in this report of the charges which
a?d intrusted to men in whom he had confidence. For two years lobbyistsin
W
lU^er ^rtoonistW. C. Morris has here taken a good idea from Shakespeare's "Ham
aeainnt I "ifi™ and working people of the cities have won their fight1 average, daily prte*..
testimony, market reports of various kinds
fair competition the Big Five also employ a vicious
system of rotation in price-cutting. This consists
in each of the Big Five, or as many as happen to
be represented in a given territory, arranging to
cut prices in rotation, a day at a time or a week
at a time, so that the burden, distributed among
the big packers, will seem light, but will fall with
crushing weight on the independent competitor.
These, big packers who aim at world monopoly
persistently stoop to the commonest of commercial
frauds—shortweighting. They shortweight the
livestock producers in the sale of grain and hay at
the stockyards they shortweight the retailers on
their shipments of meat they shortweight the gov
ernment and, to make a complete job of it, they
shortweight one another. Here is an amusing ex
ample of the last-named practice in the form of an
extract from-a letter written July 6,-1917, by Ar-
Neenah Gheese & Cold Storage company to
its Mineral Point (Wis.) branch, giving instruc
tions with reference to Cudahy's demand for a
weighmaster's certificate on his order:
il J°? have n°t an official weighmaatcr.
fellow that looks like one and furnish him with hlanW:
if necessary yourself* It is hardly nrrpmnrH tn )I«M
riow considerably this practice of ahortweight
lng may affect the retail price of -meats appears
from a single example, selected at random from
several tests made in the presence of the com
mission's agents:
7i
y^nptj-
BARREL OF PORK BUTTS PROM
ARMOUR CO.
gross
Tare
Net
JS*
.1
4
W%
Weight in pounds
1
Marked Actual
287
21
266
284"
29
255
Here were 11 pounds of pork
which the retailer ~is forced to
pay for because lof the inflexible
rule of the big packers that
shipments must be accepted at
stamped weights under penalty
of having credit cut off. The
cost of these 11 pounds had to
be distributed, in some way over
the selling price of the remain
der and collected from the con
sumer. ••••..-
Foremost of packer practices
in evil results^ is the manipula
tion of the livestock markets
manifested primarily in violent
and unreasonable fluctuations in
livestock prices from day to day.
This constitutes tlie greatest"
grievance of the livestock pro
ducers against packer control of
the markets. How seriously.
these market fluctuations are
regarded by livestock producers
is expressed in the following Hst?
statement of E. L. Burke, vices
president of the 'American.
tional Livestock association:-
m-
'act Is .that beef production
v--.
corn lielt has become the
P???. hazardous and uncertain
'egitlmate business, that a roan can I/,:
SJ*"?® 'n: Outside of gambling
ob
the New
change I know of
nothing to compare with It."
Probably the wont thing the
^ejler has to contend with to these
violent fluctuations. The plausible
contention is made hy tiie packers
that the rapid advanees are an off
set to the declines, but such is far
from the case, as fully three-quar
the cattle are bought on gs#
the heavy receipts, reduo
ing the avejage cost far below the
average. daiV^prie'es.