The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, November 29, 1920, Page 17

Packers” “Frameup” Is Exposed Deal 0. K.d by Palmer Would Give “Big Five” Grea’éer Monopoly, Says Federal Trade Comm1ss1on Washington Bureau, " Nonpartisan Leader. HEN Attorney General Palmer rushed in to save the big meat packers from the penitentiary, last winter, by framing ! up an agreement with them, registered in a friendly federal court, one chief clause in that bargain was that the packers should sell their interest in all the stockyards, thus breaking up their stockyard monopoly. - Federal trade commission experts who had been working on the packer problem for years were indignant at the agreement. They privately de- clared that it was a shell game—that the public would be tricked and the packers would keep and strengthen their hold on the stockyards, since the agreement was carefully drawn by the packers’ lawyers with that purpose in view. They pointed to the very language in the agreement under which the public was to be bamboozled. ' And a month ago, sure enough, came the announcement that the packers had perfected ;a plan for “divesting themselves” of their ownership in 15 principal stockyards of the United States. - The buyer was to be F. H. Prince & Co. of Boston. Every one who had followed the story of the federal trade commission’s investigation of the packers: knew about Prince. He was the fellow who —but let the federal trade commis- sion tell about that, in its official state- ment to Mr. Palmer, reporting strong- ly against the packers’ scheme: “1. The long-time stockyards rela- tions of F. H. Prince with the packers have been such that the plan as out- lined will not result, in the opinion of the commission, in a divorcement of the stockyards from packer interest. “2. The plan as outlined will result, in the opinion of the commission, in an " infraction of the monopoly law of the land greater and more serious than the existing infraction. “The facts as to the past stockyards relations of F. H. Prince with the packers are set out briefly in this re- port.and have been shown in detail in our report on the meat packing indus- try, which traces the history of Mr. Prince’s connection with the packers in the Chicago stockyards: - PRINCE A HENCHMAN OF THE “BIG FIVE” “(a) In the formation in 1890 of a holding company (a New Jersey com- pany) which paid $3,000,000 as a bonus to the Armour, Swift and Morris com- panies’on the claim that it was neces- sary to do this to induce them to main- tain their plants at the Chicago yards for a 15-year period beginning with © 1891; and which-holding company is- sued $27,000,000 in stock and bonds without adding any new .capital to its funds-or the funds of its subsidiaries; and “(b) In the formation in 1911 of a second holding company, the Chicago Stockyards company of Maine, by which the Prince and Armour inter- ests, by the investment of $1,000,000, secured control of the largely undis- closed surpluses of the prevmusly formed underlying compames agpgre- gating upwards of $13,000,000; and meantime concealed their connectlon~ with the transaction through the use of ‘bearer - warrants’ and of dummy officers and directors, with the result that the producers of livestock and the public authorities for years did not know that there was any pack- er interest in the Chicago stockyards, nor did the stockholders in the New Jersey company know that Mr. Prince, contrary to the prowsmns of the plan :to which he had secured their assent, was himself a beneficiary of the sur- pluses they had signed away.” The federal trade commission adds:. “That the plan now presented to the court will result in a greater monopolx-' zation of the stockyards services of the country than now exists is shown by the fact that it will amalgamate into one holding.company 15 of the prin- .cipal stockyards in which «the dif-- ferent packers now hold varying in- terests.— A single holding company will own all 15 yards. This will be a more extensive stockyards monopoly.. 15 YARDS CONTROL -, BUSINESS OF COUNTRY “These 15 yards handle 72 per cent of the animals received at all stock- yvards markets in the country: Stockyards Percent (based on proposed to receints of live- be combined stock in 1916) Tiouigyille i Lol s ine s 1.62 Chicago ... ..-21.18 New Orleans .................. L5 .28 Denver ....... 3.14 - El Paso .... .08 Fort Worth ... 3.14 Kansas City ... 8.95 Oklahoma Cluy :71:52 Pittsburg ... ... 175 St. Joseph . 441 St. Louis .. ... 6.24 St. Paul ... 2587 * Sioux City 3.86 Omaha ... 9.77 Wichita s can e 1.03 Motal sl e sl v 72.34 “The amalgamatlon of the yards _through this promotion by Mr. Prince" not only will be a greater monopoliza- tion of the stockyards business than now exists, but it contains elements to strengthen the packing house monop- oly until such time as the defendants are divested of their stock in the hold- ing company by order of the court. At present the packer defendants show an * ownership in these yards that amounts to 38 per cent of the total voting stock outstanding. The plan permits the defendants to hold up to 49 per cent of the holding company’s stock. - “Furthermore, some of the family estates, trust funds, or members of the five packer families who are not 'de- fendants in this case are nevertheless large holders in these stockyards. The - plan makes no provision for the di- vestment of the nondefendant packer interests, nor to prevent. further ac- quisition up to the complete control or total ownership of the stockyards hold- ing company by the nondefendant packer interests. “In brief, though the decree pro- vides for a total divestment of stock interest by the defendants, this plan | leaves the way open for them and the nondefendant packer interests tempo- rarily, and for the nondefendant pack- er interests permanently, to acquire absolute control of a holding company that will own 15 of the principal yards of the country, whereas now they have majority control of but 11 of the 15.” FIRST LABOR BANK The Brotherhood of Locomotive En- | gineers has opened a “labor bank” at Cleveland, Ohio, with a capital ‘of $1,000,000. $13 95 Goodyear Raincoat Free ear Manufacturing Company : 4048 oodyear Bldg., Kansas City, Mo, is makmg an offer to send a hand- some raincoat free to one person in each locality who will show and recom- mend it to their friends. If you want one, write today.—Ady. ADVERTISEMENTS 7; F LANNEL SHIRTS DIRECT FROM FACTORY Two wonderful Susquehanna Broadcloth Flannel Shirts—only $3.69. Direct from factory. . Would cost $6 or more elsewhere. Perfectly tailored. Cut extra full. Comfortably fitting. Winter weight. Soft turndown collar, Two extra strong, large pockets. Double stitched throughout. -~ Thoroughly shrunk. amazing bargain, Pny postman only $3.69 plus postage after arrival. money returned at once, Order by number For work or semi-dress. Then try them on. If not pleased, return at our_ expense; your A ber F'S 582. State Only two shirts to a customer size. Bpecily gray or blue. on this special offer. WAREWELL CO. Dept. F S 582 Philadelphia, Pa. For LIVE ano DRESSED Poultry and Eggs ¢ We are cash buyers. % “Correct Weight and Honest Our motto: No commission charged. Treatment.’”” We buy all kinds of produce. Prompt return of check and empties guaranteed. Prices and tags sent FREE. A trial will convince you that it pays to ship direct to us. Our outlet unlimited. AMERICAN PRODUCE CO0., MiNNESOTA™™ Make a Good Seed Bed and Grow Bigger Crops 5 It's easy eénough to produce straw but it’s hard to met the kernel without the proper care of soil. S KOVAR HARROW will loosen up the hardest kind of land—turns the soil and gives the air and sun a _chance to help qhe soil pro- duce—cultivation produces nitrogen—ni- trogen produces the kernel. Kovar Har- row is more than just an ordinary spring tooth harrow—it destroys pigeon grass, qu=ck grass, wild oats, Canadian thistle, sow thistle and weeds of- all kinds through cultivation. IMPORTANT ! Two New Kovar Products KOVAR CORN CULTIVATOR, whlch operates on the R HARROW CART wlth dust. vroof wheels and drawbar guiding axle. JOSEPH J. KOVAR, Owatonna, Minn., cessful plan as the harrow. KOV, S Y% Evener and'bon} \\\"fl‘ .I:odlh n.:::’p ':Ll Fuanoracronen of KOVAR LINE CONCORDIA COLLEGE SHORT COURSE . NOVEMBER 30 TO APRIL 1 Good Board, Room and Tuition — $175.00 High School Subjects Shorthand, Bookkeeping, Typewriting, Manual Training Drawing, Domestic Science . Voice, Violin, Piano, Band- ‘Write at once to CONCORDIA COLLEGE Moorhead, Minnesota . WONDERFUL BARGAINS IN U. S. ARMY GOODS ‘Write Dept. N. for illustrated catalog. DULUTH ARMY STORE 320 W. Superior St., Duluth, Minn. PAGE SEVENTEEN o COTS! COTS! COTS! Sagless steel army sanitary cots, elightly used, in perfect condition, worth “$7. 50 each, to close out”only $4 each. Mattresses’ like new, for the above cots, filled with aflk flnss. soft as feathers, While they last, only $4 BARRETT & ZIMMERMAN MIDWAY HORSE MARKET ST, PAUL, MINN, Mention the Leader When Writing Advertisers FEITE BFTETT TR S B el B o~ e e ettty J