S5555?75!5?w5P
The Commoner.
VOLUME 5, NUMBER t
16
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The Beef Trust
. ..... ,, ,... i.n niumfi riTinirrinirrini'rrviiVWii
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Tho arguments In tho United States spimcy in this case is an euxiliary to
sunromoTurt in the beof trust were tho conspiracy to refrain from bidding
conclu(lel Janiittpy 0. The Associated and to the creation of the monopoly
Press roport of tho proceedings says: which this whole case discloses.
Atto noy aeneral Moody said: "In "It is alleged in tho eighth para-
thc seventh paragraph of tho petition graph that for the purpose of aiding
it appears that tho defendants have in tho raising, lowering, fixing and
agreed upon this dovico: In pursuance maintaining of uniform prices for fresh
of tho conspiracy among themselves meat, the defendants collusively re-
thoir agents bid up the price of live strictcd and curtailed shipments of
stock at certain selected times to an meats to tno various muruuis uuuubu
abnormal point. This naturally in- out the country. The word 'collu3ive
duccB tho shipment from other states ly,' fairly interpreted, means that they
- .. . ii . l..i.. ...t.n M. niinfnllorl oiinmonlo luf nirrnnmntltd
duces tno snipment irum uim-r otuto
of llvo stock to tho points where the
4 I.. ....... i t i I yrt miinli
prico is niu up in quuiiuituo uiu-
Inrger than under normal conditions.
Then, taking advantago of this conges
tion of tho markets, they refrain from
bidding against each other in the pur
chase of livo stock, with tho result
that tho producers and owners of the
stock aro forced to sell at ruinous
prices. Thus, unlawful conspiracy to
refrain from bidding against each
other is mado doubly profitable, and
tho great profits which como from tho
transaction In turn increase the power
of tho combination and tend to fasten
upon tho people a monopoly. Tho con-
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curtailed shipments by agreements
with each other. Doubtless such a
uuusuuuuu uuuiuiiuiuu may uu euiuu-
ly legitimate. This consideration is
recognized in tho decree, which ex
empts tho curtailing of shipments made
in good faith to prevent the congestion
of raarUets.
"In paragraph eight penalties are im
posed against each other by defendants
for all deviations from the prices fixed,
which needs no special comment.
"These defendants are engaged in in
terstate commerce. The petition shows
a typical case of interstate commerce.
If tho business which they do, exclu
sivo of manufacture, is not interstate
commerce, there can be no such thing
outside of transportation. They buy
their raw material, which is gathered
together from all the cattlo raising
states and territories of the union and
sent to tho great live stock markets of
tho country. After they have trans
ferred that material Into the finished
product, they sell it throughout the
United States. Tho combination which
they have entered into is designed to
restrain all their business transactions
exclusive of manufacture, by the sup
pression of all competition therein,
both in their purchases and their sales,
both the fixing and maintaining of uni
form prices for their product, and, so
lar a3 possible, uniform prices for their
raw material, by obtaining such unlaw
ful advantages ne tnn,i f a
1.00 nopoly in a nnnnjQifv nf iif m,
55 L Zt W! i80?ious.y to
l.oo 7i :rT, "lu vuliUls steps or their un
1.00 "Staking and so deal with them that
1 ok tney can no rnnrnrrini , :i. j..
1.00 transactions. The court met and an-
.., -. Dut-u a, device as th s in the
3.W case nf Mnnhmm i n '" tUL
"J 193 United States ?8." y'
i.R5 n beginning his argument todav
loo whore he left off last Friday Mr. Moody
.00 said none of tho agreements or aVh
r-uu-uull ullL LO commerce com
morce as distinguished from mtS
ture or production. They do not ac
complish fusion of property imerests"
he said, but are on the contra dm'
Ply agreements betweeu strangers to
each other's business affecUnf 7hp
freedom of action in certain Aspects
Thus, he said, the inquiry is narrows
down to only two questions for thTSi
termination of the court de"
Whether tho commerce in n
was commerce amo the stated Ti
customed to send sucl ?rnidW?fe ac"
rlous stock1 ds ra? t0nthe va"
poso of sale there S U!e pur"
wero severally018'
ness of buying such five stock Lff"
purpose of slauchforin J , , ' for tho
ing it into froailtfnSfi1"
agreement with each nthl . an
torn bidding iJSm each o?.,"1
and Home papers, aro not open to residents of Of supnressirm ni?6 L"rpe. and re3Ult
J papers name4 purchases." wunon in such
An r. . -
clearly alleged he said tho question
aroso as to whether the agreement re
lates to interstate commerce and pro
ceeded to argue that proposition.
Referring to the allegation in para
graph 10, Mr. Moody said: "From this
it appears that tho defendants are all
engaged in tho common effort to ob
tain unlawful rates, which they sub
sequently share or pool among them
selves, and that their scheme contem
plates not only the pooling of these un
lawful rates but tho exclusion of all
outside competitors from obtaining
them. There Is set forth, perhaps in
artificlally, a combination upon this
subject.
"No competition can long endure
against those who are secretly and in
defiance of tho law enjoying rates for
tho transporation of their property in
Interstate commerce which constitute a
preference over all others in the same
business. No more fruitful source of
monopoly can be found than the en
joyment of preferential rates. The
history of the country demonstrates
this."
Mr. Moody concluded at 3 o'clock
and was followed by Mr. Miller, who
closed the case for the packers.
Mr. Miller took up tho charge of re
bates and said the facts must be set
up in some way before the court could
take cognizance of them. There was
no specification, and a3 a consequence
the defendants could properly respond
only by demurrer.
"Suppose," asked Justice Harlan,
"the combinations alleged were con
fined to domestic commerce In the state
of Illinois, would you consider it a
restraint of trade?"
Mr. Miller replied in the negative.
Justice Harlan asked how it would
bo if there was a combination by coal
mine ownera to control the price of
coal.
Mr. Miller replied that it would de
pend largely upon the extent of the
combination and also upon whether
there were state anti-trust laws. The
present case, he argued, presents no
analogy to the Addystone-Pipe case,
for in that case there was a division
of territory among manufacturers. No
such attempt wa3 made in tho case of
the packers.
Taking up another line, he said cat
tle remain in the yards until sold, and
accordingly was tho property of tho
state for taxation and other state is
sues. Hence the purchase must be con
sidered an act of domestic commerce.
No commerce between the states was
involved.
Justice White asked a question as to
the effect of an agreement to fix tho
price of meat in another state, but Mr.
Miller contended that the charge in
the pending case did not go so far as
that. With reference to the charge
that the packers bid up prices at cer
tain places in oiaer to cause increased
shipments, Mr. Miller said if this was
true it was evident that cattle growers
would send to more desirable markets
and thus cheat the packers of the end
sought.
Degenerate
One day in the cloakroom of the sen
ate, apropos of a discussion whether,
from an intellecual standpoint, states
men of the present fall below the stand
ard set by those of the past, one of
the members told the following story,
says Harper's Weekly:
"Thero lived in Lee county, Ky., a
local sage by the name of Jesse Cole.
Jesse entertained the notion that tho
present day type of lawyer was not to
bo compared with the jurists of tho
old days.
"One day a3 he was entering tho
court house at Beattyville he noticed
a group of lawyers who were discuss
ing the points of a case that was to
coirie up that day. Ccle, disgusted by
their conversation, stepped up to them,
and said:
"'Gentlemen, thirty or forty years
ago te lawyers in thi3 state wero
men great, big, immense men, wear
ing fur hats as big as bushel baskets.
But now, gentlemen, I honestly believe
that a fellow could without the least
difficulty draw a tomato can over tho
head of any one of you!' "
f'
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