The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 12, 1920, Page 11

Figures Show Packer Agreement Business Divided by Fixed Percentages for Last Fifteen Years, Colver Testifies 2 Washington Bureau, Nonpartisan Leader. TTORNEY GENERAL PALMER entered into his agreement with the big meat packers and publicly announced that he would not prosecute them for violations of the anti-trust laws after he had evidence that for the 14 years from 1902 to 1916 the per- centage of the whole livestock produc- tion of the country bought by each one of the Big Five had not varied more than 1% per cent. This was the testimony of William B. Colver, member of the federal trade commission, before the house committee on agriculture, which is considering the Kenyon-Anderson bill for regulation of the meat packing in- dustry. “I have a little table of percentages here,” said Mr. Colver to the commit- tee, “that never has been published before. » “It was among the figures of calcu- lations submitted to the attorney gen- eral showing the percentages that ex- isted between these five large packing concerns in 1902 and later.” They were: Business in 1902 Per Cent Swifti S ey v wa s 35.7561 Armour . ... 29.266 Morris ..... ... 14,983 Cudahy ............. ... 10.000 S. &. S. (Wilson) .......... 10.000 Then Mr. Colver quoted the figures for 1916 on.the total purchases of cat- tle, sheep and hogs, for the Big Five, thus: Purchases in 1916 Per Cent ............................. 36.562 ... 29.84 .. 13.86 - 9.29 10.49 ~New York Farmer “Penny Library Post” Gains “That shows,” commented Colver, “the variation from 1902 to 1916 was 0.77 per cent in the case of Swift, 0.58 per cent in the case of Armour, 1.12 per cent in the case of Morris, and 0.22 per cent in the case of the Cuda- hy-Wilson figures; and that variation is even smaller when you take in but- ter, eggs and poultry and add them to the meat.” The total sales of the companies, covering all their domestic and for- eign business in all commodities, were, in 1916: Sales in 1916 Per Cent SwiftfistesoNarie 36.0 Armour ... 30.1 Morris ... ... 13.8 Cudahy .................. 25,84 S. & S. (Wilson) ......... 11:9 Here 'were the+ive big meat packers, running a race for 15 successive years. They must have been racing, competing, trying to get ahead of each other, because they said so, at great expense, in advertisements in every newspaper in the country. And, marvelously enough, during all these fifteen years they were unable to change their relative positions in the race more than 1% per cent! With this definite information of the coincidence that they always took the same share of the livestock of this country, even though they were un- der a federal injunction against any combination in restraint of trade, the attorney general declared that he would not prosecute them. FIRST CORN PLANTER It has been called to the attention of the Leader that the photograph in "the March 22 issue with the article, “From Crooked Stick to Modern Plow,” showed the first corn planter, built by Robert H. Avery, from plans that he drew while imprisoned in An- derson prison during the Civil war. Has Winning Idea Support as Practical Benefit to Farmers’ Families HE “Penny Library Post” movement is beginning to be agitated through- out the country through the efforts of a New York state farmer, M. W. Spencer of Greenwood, N. Y. Since 1910 his chief aim dn life has been to secure a 1-cent postage rate on books between the farm and the nearest vil- lage, seeking thus to stimulate the circulation of books in the country and place the farmer substantially on a par with the city dweller, who is al- ways in easy reach of a free library. Farmer Spencer has won some not- able converts, among them the Amer- ican Library association, the National Grange, the National Agricultural society, the president of the Carnegie board and the United States commis- sioner of education. To get these con- verts and to arouse general interest in the movement, Mr. Spencer has traveled many hundreds of miles at his own expense. “Unfortunately,” he says, “my effort to get a practical local rate for library books over rural delivery routes does not relieve me of the necessity of supporting my fam- _ ily, so I can not do all I would like to do.” Mr. Spencer’s plan has been tried out at Greenwood, a fund being col- lected sufficient to meet the difference between the postage charged by the government and the ‘l-cent rate. Farmers were notified that they could secure books from the Greenwood li- brary by paying 1 cent for postage. The response was marvelous. Books were ordered by telephone and letter and were returned promptly. Not content with seeing how it would work from the farmer’s stand- point, Mr. Spencer took a further step. He says: “It has been a part of my work, as the most serious student of this par- ticular problem in America, to drive a rural delivery rig on a typical route one full year. As to load I sub- mit the following: Total weight of horse, rig, driver and cargo, 1,500 pounds; weight of cargo of mail and parcels alone (average), 50 pounds. “I submit that this is a poor ratio of service to equipment and that those who fear that we are going to over- burden the rural delivery if we get a sensible rate for books need lose no sleep over the matter.” In some parts of the East attempts have been made to distribute books to farmers by “book wagons,” which travel over a regular route. Mr. Spencer points out that the daily trav- el of the rural delivery wagon—1,150,- 000 miles—is many times greater than that of all the book wagons since the first one started and that it would be foolish to establish new routes to duplicate a service that is already in effect. T T ‘||||||\T:i:; i | g P ‘l..,“giumfluummmum u!!!f!!!!!lmmr o ) (& 1118 Il ' '_|’ o ""'“ il Illnnnlllinm il L ‘m\ 'ls"",l‘.""‘l'.fffl|!!,""I lé"-'lll!'.ffllllllflllIl.lllllll"!z' Ml 4 mnumumllluulllmn'ml Whether bad roads are encountered only once in a while, or are a normal condition met every day, your motor truck should be able to ignore them completely. One of the chief virtues of Patriot Motor Trucks is their ability to “hit the low spots” as serenely and undisturbed as though the miles of mud holes were smooth surfaced pavement. Built for Farm Loads and Country Roads Patriot Motor Trucks are equally indifferent to conditions of road, load and weather. They do their work willingly and well, whether running on paved highway or through sloughs of stiff, clinging mud. Designed for rough work, built for bad roads, Patriot Motor Trucks everywhere are making unusual records for extraordinary perform. ance in farm service. Glad to send you the new Patriot Catalog. Write for it. 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