PACKERS* AND STOCKYARDS ADMINISTRATION. 577 



tained only 15 ounces of butter, the labels, in most cases, being 

 merely changed so as to substitute a statement of the contents as 

 being 15 ounces instead of 1 pound previously shown. It was con- 

 tended by other packers and distributers of butter that this was an 

 unfair and uneconomic practice, but that, if permitted, the complain- 

 ing parties must do likewise in order to maintain their trade. Upon 

 receiving the complaints, the Packers and Stockyards Administra- 

 tion took up the question informally with the national organization 

 of tlie meat packers, with the result that a committee was appointed 

 consisting of representatives of the parties immediately concerned, 

 together with other representatives of the industry and of a national 

 organization of creamery-butter manufacturers. ^ The question was 

 presented to this committee on the basis of its practical business and 

 economic aspects and resulted in the unanimous conclusion and 

 recommendation l)y the committee that the practice should be dis- 

 continued, together with an indorsement of the principle of stand- 

 ard containers. Specifically, the committee recommended for but- 

 ter that tlie contents of retail cartons be on the basis of pounds and 

 half and quarter pounds. The recommendations of this committee 

 were indorsed by the two national organizations referred to and 

 immediately put into effect by the packer against whom complaint 

 had been lodged. Thus all formal proceedings were rendered un- 

 necessary. As sales of butter in such short-weight cartons were said 

 to have been in very considerable quantities, it is believed that not 

 only was a desirable principle established but that consumers of 

 butter were afforded an immediate and substantial benefit in the 

 section where the short-weight cartons had been sold. 



DISCRIMINATION IN BUTTER-FAT BUYING AT COUNTRY POINTS. 



A different type of complaint with respect to the operations of 

 packers involves the charge of unfair discrimination in the pur- 

 chase by certain packers at country points of butter fat for manu- 

 facture into butter, it being charged, in some cases, that a packer, 

 through financial power or otherwise, has driven competitors out 

 of business by bidding up the prices of butter fat during periods of 

 competition and then, when the competitors have been driven out, 

 lowering prices to recoup. Such complaints disclose serious ques- 

 tions as to the extent to which competitive methods may be in- 

 dulged in without becoming unfair or unlawful. In one case, the 

 investigation of which was completed before the close of the fiscal 

 year, the complaint was found to be unjustified and the complainant 

 has been notified accordingly. 



PRICES OF REACTOR CATTLE. 



When the tuberculin test is applied to apparently healthy cattle 

 they sometimes react, showing the presence of tuberculosis other- 

 wise unsuspected. Such animals are usually sent to market for sale 

 and slaughter. It was found that even in large stockyard markets 

 where there was considerable competition otherwise arbitrary dis- 

 counts were being applied in the purchase of such animals merely 

 because they were " reactors," without regard to the actual grade and 

 quality of their carcasses. This apparently unjust discrimination 



