The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 11, 1918, Page 6

§ O N b b e Ol =t kS ex 03 .. N 0% S M- W W R A} The Crooked Deals of the Big Packers How They Tried to Head Off the Goverriment Investigation— Attempted to Use Public Officials and College Professors—Corruptxon Shown BY RALPH HARMON OR nearly two years the packers prevented the investigation that is now letting day- light into their dark and crooked ways in many big cities of the United States. If they had had their way the Federal Trade commis- sion would never have got a chance at them. They first tried to prevent any investigation, then tried to name the bodies who would make the investiga- tion, and then tried to name their own friends and lawyers to help the investigators, when both the other plans failed. They got up a big slush fund and the “big five” packers contributed to it on a fixed percentage basis. The burden of the expense was divided thus: Armour, 29.26 per cent, or $4,398.90; Cudahy, 10 per cent, or $1,600; Morris, 14.98 per cent of $2,247.45; Swift, 35.75 per cent, or $5,362.65 and ‘Wilson, 10 per cent, or $1,500. This has been brought out in hearings at Washington in the last few days. 7 They got in touch with men outside of congress and had them use their influence on senators and congressmen to prevent or to change the direction of the investigation. They promised law work to firms with which senators and congressmen were connected. They contributed to campaign funds of some who were friendly. They got reports on the attitude of members of congress, and devised a system of telegrams and letters to come to them from many parts of the country. They called the roll as it were, every once in a while, and the corre- spondence disclosed last week by the investigation is full of the names of senators and congressmen whom the packers had definitely lined up for them. They planned to use the United States bureau of markets to inaugurate an ‘“educational campaign” for their own benefit. One of the friendly influential men the packers consulted with was Senator Wadsworth of New York, a strong reactionary booster of Colonel Roose- velt., Another man they counted on as friendly was Charles J. Brand, chief of the bureau of markets, the man who devised the federal grain grades that have proven so acceptable to the grain combine and disastrous to the farmers. Still another was E. Dana Durand, formerly chief of the census bureau and now head of the department of econom- ics at the University of Minnesota. Mr. Durand made a report to Swift & Co., in 1916, the testimony showed, indicating how certain members of con- gress would stand. Later he edited a Looklet pub- lished by Swift & Co. in defense of the packers. DOCUMENTS THAT PROVE . CORRUPTION OF TRUST This is just an outline of what the packers did. Let them confess it in their own words in the truth- telling letters that they did not suppose would ever fall into the hands of investigators and reach the public. Here is the report of a beef trust lawyer to Swift & Co., showing how guilty they knew themselves to be: “I believe the situation to be serious and recom- mend that everything be done in every direction to head off the present movement. We believe that as it stands today, nothing could stop criminal prosecutions.” Here is a letter to Senator Wadsworth. Senator ‘Wadsworth, besides being a reactionary politician, is one of the stockholders of Swift & Co., Mr. Heney The Leader herewith presents the sec- ond installment of the evidence brought out by the federal government’s probe of the packing trust. If you want to -know how the packers seek to use the government and the political machin- ery of the United States to help them oppress the producer and consumer, you should not miss this article. Learn how the packers tried to prevent this government inquiry, because they fear- ed it would bring out criminal evidence against them! Learn how they tried to use the bureau of markets in the gov- ernment agricultural department ; learn how they used a professor in the Uni- versity of Minnesota! The packers are in politics. This shows it. They at- tempt to use, and often succeed in us- ing, the people’s government for their own diabolical purposes. Does this constitute an added reason for farmers to get into politics—not to corrupt gov- ernment or get illegal gains through special privilege, like the packers, but to restore the government to the people and drive the money changers from the temple of government? said, according to lists the commission has discov- ered: “This will introduce Mr. R. C. McManus, general attorney of Swiit & Co., who needs some advice and perhaps some help in connection with a matter which is pending in congress. shall be grateful for any favors you may grant him, I am, yours sincerely, “L. F. SWIFT.” A letter ‘written in July, 1916, by Arthur Meeker, vice president of Armour & Co., to F. E. White, confidential man handling politics for the beef trust, shows how slick the packers were in their effort to stampede congressmen into preventing investigation. The letter follows: “We all agree it necessary to flood the judiciary committee with telegrams from all parts of the country, especially from districts which its members represent, protesting against the Borland resolu- tion, (the Borland resolution was.the one calling for the investigation) on the ground that the investiga- tion will destroy present satisfactory conditions.” BUREAU OF MARKETS SUITABLE FOR PURPOSE Here is another letter, showing how the packers intended to use a government bureau, and make the people pay the expense of an “educational cam- paign” favorable to the packers. This letter was written to L. F. Swift by R. C. McManus, general attorney for-the beef trust: “It is a foregone conclusion that it is expedient to have some governmental publication or bulletin deputed to disseminate the information needed to carry out our purpose. I believe the bureau of Assuring you that I markets is the best part of the government to do this work. “Fundamentally, the department of agriculture is controlled by agriculturalists, and courts popularity of the farmers. Consequently it is not natural that the farmer would expect that he was being given information favorable to the packers.” In their search for persons of influence, the big packers let Cudahy into their plans because “Thomas Creight, attorney for the Cudahy com- pany, has' influential friends in Washington, and I believe he could be of considerable help to us in the work we are undertaking at this time,” said Mr. McManus in a letter to L. F. Swift. The Cudahy company is a tail ender in the “big five,” and only got into the combination because its attorney could pull the political wires that the beef trust wanted pulled. . Things were apparently going pretty well with the packers’ plans. Although they had not been able to head off the investigation entirely, they still had hopes of turning it into a channel that would be favorable to them, according to another letter of Attorney McManus to L. F. Swift. Me- Manus said he believed the packers could have the investigation made by a congressional committee or by the bureau of markets. The congressional committee, of course, would be open to political pressure at all times. The bureau of markets would be a blind in which the public at that time would have full confidence, as shown above. -Mr. Swift didn’t intend to overlook any bets and so he told his lackeys to have both kinds of investigation started the same time. Since they couldn’t head it all off, the more the merrier. They thought there would soon be conflict of authority between the two sets of investigators. They knew the bureau could not compel anyone to testify, and it would give the packers a good “example” to show the public how badly official investigations got tangled up.’ The more contradictory these two investigations could be, the greater would be the beef barons’ victory. HOW THEY INTENDED TC USE DR. DURAND In their attempted use of Mr. Durand, the beef trust was careful not to expose Mr. Durand to the suspicion of the public or show that he had been friendly to corporation interests all the while and was being used by them. This matter was carefully discussed by the political pilots of the beef trust and reported by McManus to L. F. Swift in the following words, taken from a letter written in March, 1916: “Mr. Wilson thought it quite possible that we may be charged with having subsidized Durand while he was in the government service and kept him under cover for just such an occasion. Mr. Wilson thinks if we decided to have the committee call Durand we could give some friendly committeeman a little preliminary education on the subject and a set of questions and facts which he might draw out from the witnesses.” Don’t miss the clever point of this letter. They would give “some friendly committeeman a little education” so that he would ask questions that would bring answers from Mr. Durand, calculated - to allay the suspicions of the public that Durand had been “kept under cover for just such a purpose.” Mr. Durand later declined to be a party to this plan, but his friendship for the beef trust was such . ‘General view of South St. Paul. Mlnn., the center of the paeklng Induotry for. the Northwest, ahowlng Swift & Co.'s plant, yard: company and connected lndumles. 7 o PAGE SIX the yards of the St. Paul Union Stock- S e P L= { 4