The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 16, 1918, Page 14

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If you are interested in the co-operative elevator system let us help you and advise you. : ey The only way to keep in constant touch with the Equity Co-Oper- - ative Exchange 1s to subscribe for.the Co-Operators- Herald ] ns a price list of our mail order grocery department also. Give us your next order or shipment.. WS Es EQUITY CO-OPERATIVE EXCHANGE IMPERILING CATTLE SUPPLY Kansas City, Mo. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: In this age of conservation, why permit the packers to kill 100 to 200 pound calves by the wholesale, ‘and kill good, thin, well-bred stock heifers and steers weighing 300 to 500 pounds ? . : If we stop to think of the waste and loss to the livestock interest, it looks as if the government is as wasteful as it was 50 years ago when it permitted the white man to go out on the plains and kill the buffalo for pleasure or for a profit from the hide. - There can be no excuse for this kind \ of commercial waste. = Only money-mad profiteers would ' do, or permit to be done, something so un- doubtedly harmful to the food supply of the future. It looks lame for a government to allow_this practice. The Big Five packing houses and profiteers are trying to persuade the . ; Nebraska raiaes many herds ;)f good cattle suéh as aré shown on this Leaguer’s farm. And Nebraska is one of the leading states in the fight for government ownership of the packing monopoly. allies to accept beef that will weigh less than 485 pounds in the carcass. This is merely a scheme of the said profiteers to get more profit on their beef. If the government accepts this light beef, it not only licenses, but also permits the packer to go ahead and exterminate and waste the cattle supply of our nation, all for the sake of a little more money to the ones already “fat from. their past profi- teering. ; The 'government would indeed do well to stop the ‘slaughter of veal calves, stock calves, stock steers, and thin young-cows. The packers are killing all the old emaciated cows, cancer-eyed cattle, thin bulls, cripples, ‘and big jaws for canned beef, which is bad enough, though this may be the packers’ idea of national conserva- tion. Yet we, who are in the place of the consumer, still maintain that 435-pound beeves are not ready, and should not be allowed to go to the killers, if we propose to conserve a- sufficient supply of cattle to do our part in feeding the world until each country can again stand on its own feet. A STOCKMAN. A FRIENDLY TOWN _ ‘Granville, N. D. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Inclosed find a clipping from the North Dakota Leader, wherein the St. Paul Dispat¢h says Thief River Falls is disgraced throughout the nation because it voted for the League. But I think that city has put on a crown that will be seen and appreciated by the whole United States in a day that will shortly come. I would like to see that city thrive. I would like to hear that the farmers 40 miles around rode into that city like ants to a prairie ant mine so the merchants would have to send in double orders for goods and show the state the difference between autocracy and democracy, and show the. Twin Cities how to vote this fall. I think that city has done wonderful work in the right way. I think any city that fights the League farmers" iz fighting its own trade and will make the farmers start trading places of ~their own. -The right thing ‘at. the: right time availeth ‘much, D. P. SENGER. v ; Fargo, “is” liable to "Thirty Years of'Packing House Graft - =N (Continued from page 10) ers. This is the situation at Fort Worth' and Denver, Even if there should be no further" -collusion or' communication between the two big packers, it must be ob- vious,that there will be no truly com- petitive purchases. Each buyer may come into the market with a different idea of what the different grades of cattle are worth, but only a few sales will be made before each will- know what the other is offering, and they will come to a common price. In a freely "competitive market the com- mon price would tend to reflect the true market value, because the low bidder would be required to meet this - price or be left without a supply to keep his packing house running. But in a market where there is an agreed division, the natural law of the mar- ket is turned topsy-turvy, and the common price inevitably becomes that offered by the low bidder. Thus, even without - any collusion = beyond the agreement to divide purchases, the market price which the producer re- ceives for his livestock is bound in the long run to be THE LOWEST PRICE WHICH WILL KEEP THE PRODUCERS RAISING CATTLE, HOGS AND SHEEP AND SENDING THEM TO.THE STOCKYARD. But the Big Five are not content to trust simply the inevitable tenden- cies of such a market. They must be sure of their control from the minute the market ‘opens until it closes. Their buyers. are all instructed in advance from Chicago just what they miust buy on the basis of the estimated re- ceipts; the buyers for the big paekers are held back until one, two, or even three hours after the market opens, and then all go out into the yards to- gether. By telephone and telegraph the buyers keep in constant touch with Chicago throughout the day, so that if the receipts run -heavier or lighter than had been estimated, or if any other contingency arises, proper adjustments can’'be made, which: will be in line with other markets and with the activities of other packers. Throughout the’ entire market day‘ “each big packer knows exactly what the others are doing in all the mar- kets, and at the end of the day, the end of the week, the end of the month and the end of the year the purchases -of all are checked up, so that if any of the five has' bought more or less than his share, or has bought “out.of line,” ‘the others may administer the - proper measure-of correctjon. ~If, for ‘ - example, a packer buys léss than hig’ ~share over any considerable period, he haye "his: percéntage re- . fied with the conditions at St. Joseph, 7 ~.same volume of business as the otheérs: _again the packers”are _not ‘content not ordinarily content simply with a general approximation to the agreed division, but insist on dividing even the small bunches of animals.. Here, for example, is a letter written-by - Louis F. Swift to Alden B. Swift, at - w.lo a time when he was apprehensive that 7 the cattlemen might become dissatis- A where the Swifts control the local : ; stockyards: 3 i X < i September 12, 1914. Mr. Alden B. Swift, A Swift & Co., South St. J seph, Mo. S Dear Sir: Will be glad to have you advise me if you -think our cattle buyer at St. Joseph is all'® right and is doing as well as Mr. Stemm did. A £l Also if you notice any differ- ence in Morris® cattle buying. Awaiting your reply, S Yours respectfully, : LOUIS F. SWIFT. P. S. Has our new plan of not insisting on dividing all the small . ¢ bunches of cattle given-any snap to the market? A The agreement among the Big Five. for the division of livestock purchages provides not only for the' division at each market on which two -or . niore of the Big Five are represented, ‘but also for the division of all the live- stock which they purchase for the country as a whole. Thus, so far as the big packers are concerned, each knows in advance that his packing - house_ is assured of relatively the and that he will be able to buy :his livestock at the lowest price that will keep the producers.in the business and induce them to ship their animals to market. S AR ~This alone would be sufficient to insure that the dressed-meat: p : of all the big packers would be proximately the same. But: ‘simply " with' Iong-run” results. Not only is there’constant. interchange of information regarding “margins” “test costs” at headquarters in cago, but in the different si tricts, the district managers-inspet one another’s stocks and exchange’ formation regarding. margins, ev if they do not in all distri such regular meetings as_our agen have discovered them participating in - at Los Angeles and Tacoma.